Effective Strategies for SDG Localization in Canadian Communities: A Case Study of Peterborough, Ontario
Trent University
How they used Delve
A Trent University master's researcher uploaded Otter.ai transcripts of 23 interviews with municipal staff and sustainability practitioners into Delve and used it for inductive thematic analysis: coding, inducing the major themes, and categorising the relevant codes under each theme, with participants approving their quotes before publication.
“Following the completion of the cleaning process of the raw transcriptions, transcription documents were then uploaded to a second AI tool, Delve, which I used to analyze the data, perform the coding process, induce the major themes in the data and extract and categorize relevant codes that went under each theme.”
- Field
- Sustainability studies / local government
- Data
- 23 semi-structured Zoom interviews (35 to 80 minutes) with city staff and local sustainable development practitioners, recorded and transcribed with Otter.ai
- Approach
- Case study with inductive thematic analysis; interviews transcribed with Otter.ai, cleaned, then coded in Delve to induce major themes and categorise codes under them; participants approved their verbatim quotes
- Data types
- Interviews
Abstract
This research aimed to capture the experiences of cities that have endeavored to localize the SDGs in their areas. Literature review and one-on-one interviews with SDG practitioners have been conducted to glean best practices and effective strategies to develop recommendations for how cities in Canada should plan to localize the SDGs in their areas. The research uncovered themes in relation to building on existing initiatives, stakeholder management, data management, and the role of personal rapport and connections in professional settings. This research also revealed an important tension between the top-down approach of adopting a unified federally devised framework and a bottom-up community indicator approach. Finally, the research uncovered opportunities to increase support for local organizations and city governments embarking on localizing the SDGs through engagement with academia and partnering with faculty and graduate students at the local university to incorporate graduate research into SDG localization efforts and tap into funding opportunities. The research also resulted in a flow chart that is gleaned from interviews and the literature review to describe a step-by-step process that cities and communities could deploy to localize SDG targets and indicators. Author Keywords: Indicators, Localization, Measurement, Strategies, Sustainable Development Goals, Voluntary Local Review
Citation
Mohammad Mahmoud Alazraq (2023). Effective Strategies for SDG Localization in Canadian Communities: A Case Study of Peterborough, Ontario. Trent University (Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies thesis).