In 2023, 760 decisions were made in the regions based on SDG data

The authorities of the subjects have begun to use the data of the regional control centers (SDGs) more often for decision-making, follows from the report of the autonomous non-profit organization (ANO) “Dialogue Regions”. Vedomosti got acquainted with him.

In total, according to the ANO, for six months, the LRCs processed almost 2.5 million complaints and proposals from residents of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Most often they concerned the issues of road surface repair, improvement and housing and communal services (22, 16 and 15%, respectively). The appeals also touched upon the sphere of social policy (5%) and ecology (8%).

But the decisions made are aimed at “fixing systemic problems through changes in the budget or legislation” and are different from fixing local tasks like fixing streetlights or cleaning up fallen trees. This “affects a specific area as a whole,” the Dialogue Regions notes. In the first half of 2023, based on SDG analytics, 760 management decisions were made, which is 67% more than in 2022 (455). Most often, SDG data was used by the Kursk and Belgorod regions (21 and 20 management decisions, respectively). The leading regions in this indicator also included Bashkiria, Perm and Krasnodar Territories, Arkhangelsk, Yaroslavl, Smolensk, Kaluga, Vologda Regions and St. Petersburg – 18 management decisions were made in each of them.

As an example of the use of SDG data in ANO, the situation with providing children with diabetes with continuous glucose monitoring systems in the Kaluga region is cited. In the spring, the costs were included in the regional budget. Another example is the situation in the Belgorod region, where, due to the shelling of the border Shebekino, some residents had to be relocated. They were assigned federal payments of 10,000 and 50,000 rubles. But a significant part of these people could not get them, since they are registered in other settlements. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on the basis of the data received from the TsUR, according to the ANO, organized payments from extrabudgetary sources: for this, an interdepartmental commission was formed and the procedure for providing documents confirming actual residence was determined.

The use of data-based analytics is becoming a common mechanism in the country’s governance system, says Kirill Istomin, First Deputy General Director of the Dialogue of Regions. SDGs should not just “highlight the problem, but go right away with a solution option”. President Vladimir Putin proposed in April that the experience of the SDGs be extended to the municipal level. These centers receive good feedback from citizens, he said at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Local Self-Government. Putin stressed that digitalization increases the “level of quality” and effectiveness of feedback between citizens and authorities.

SDGs were created by the presidential administration to solve its problems, but from time to time they really turn out to be useful to regional authorities, political scientist Vitaly Ivanov notes. The development of the SDG system to some extent facilitated the work of the authorities, which began to better understand the demands of society and respond faster to them, political scientist Rostislav Turovsky believes. “The problem may be in creating inflated and unrealistic expectations in society. After all, SDGs are not magicians, but information systems. Therefore, in their development, they will inevitably hit the ceiling,” he told Vedomosti.

Statistical documents clearly show that the LRCs manage to form a large document flow, which is used, among other things, in decision-making by the authorities, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov believes. Sometimes responding to complaints has an effect and increases the loyalty of citizens, sometimes it creates a contrast between expectations and decisions, and sometimes a stream of signals is generated by professional complainers who are initially critical of any government, he told Vedomosti.