ALOHA+ CHALLENGE 2020 BENCHMARK REPORT: HAWAIʻI’S VOLUNTARY LOCAL REVIEW OF PROGRESS ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Voluntary Local Reviews are annual reporting mechanisms to illustrate local action toward achieving the SDGs, and complement the Voluntary National Review process to report national-level progress through inclusive stakeholder engagement, review of goals and targets, and analysis of the data using the common framework of SDGs. The intention to conduct a Hawai‘i Voluntary Local Review was announced at the July 2019 US Conference of Mayors hosted in Honolulu, and launched with a statewide stakeholder input session at the Hawai‘i Green Growth Local2030 Hub annual partnership event followed by consultations with experts from across sectors. Students and citizens contributed to the Voluntary Local Review by participating in Volunteer Week Hawai‘i, the state’s largest volunteer campaign, which compiled volunteer hours and impact metrics by communities towards the goals.

UN General Assembly High-Level Event: American Leadership in Advancing the SDGs

Governor David Ige and Senator Brian Schatz were featured panelists alongside UN Foundation President and CEO, Amb. Elizabeth Cousens, President of the Brookings Institution, John Allen, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and other academic, public and private sector leaders at a high-level event at the United Nations General Assembly. The panel highlighted Hawaiʻi’s sustainability and climate leadership, and launched the release of the executive summary of Hawaiʻi’s first statewide Voluntary Local Review.

UN HLPF Side Event 2020

The collective action Hawaiʻi is leading through the Aloha+ Challenge was spotlighted globally during a virtual side event of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development.

The event included a diverse panel of Hawaiʻi, Pacific and global development practitioners and highlighted Hawai‘i’s local action as a model to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including a discussion on Hawaiʻi’s Voluntary Local Review (VLR).