The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities "APLA" concluded a series of workshops on the localization of sustainable development goals "SDGs", with the aim of informing local authorities of APLA's efforts with this regard and paving the road or launching APLA's action plan and the selection of future target groups. A group of 117 representatives from 62 local authorities covering the different areas of the West Bank attended and participated in this process as part of the Local Governance Reform and Development Program with the Belgian Agency for Development, funded by the Belgian government.

The SDGs Coordinator at APLA, Eng. Rawan Tayeh, clarified that APLA has finished recently preparing the plan for localizing SDGs at the level of local authorities in Palestine, in addition to developing a website specialized in the localization of SDGs to act as a key platform for all initiatives and efforts of Palestinian local authorities in achieving sustainable development. The aim is to open opportunities and horizons for Palestinian local authorities to engage in global initiatives and capitalize on the available opportunities to implement priority programs and activities.

The training lasted four days, supervised and conducted by the consultant Naser Al-Sheikh Ali, who gave a general overview on SDGs and the Global Agenda 2030, as well as its localization using regional examples. Ali pointed out the key challenges facing local authorities with regards to the localization process, their roles and contributions. In addition, he presented the main aspects of the SDGs localization plan in Palestine, as well as the voluntary reports of the State of Palestine, and other voluntary reports from neighboring countries.