By Sanjida Sultana

The “Local Collective Action for Accelerating SDGs” initiative (August 2025–January 2026) aims to localize the Sustainable Development Goals by translating national SDG priorities into locally owned development actions in Dumuria and Ulipur upazilas, covering 27 unions and 243 wards. The approach emphasizes bottom-up, participatory planning through volunteer-led facilitation, community engagement, and strong coordination between Union Parishads, Upazila authorities, government agencies, NGOs, and development partners. Through transect walks, focus group discussions, workshops, and SDG-linked prioritization exercises, communities identify local problems, service gaps, vulnerabilities, and development needs, which are then consolidated into union and upazila action plans aligned with national SDG frameworks. Pilot cases—such as waterlogging and ecosystem degradation in Dumuria and poor road connectivity and service access in Ulipur—demonstrate how locally identified priorities can be linked with relevant sectoral actors to address livelihoods, infrastructure, climate resilience, and basic services. The initiative also introduces an SDG Village Selection Framework to ensure transparent, evidence-based targeting based on deprivation, vulnerability, inclusion, institutional readiness, and feasibility. Overall, the programme highlights that effective SDG acceleration depends on inclusive community ownership, clear coordination between union and upazila levels, and practical co-creation mechanisms that connect local priorities with policy dialogue and scalable solutions