In 2024, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) played a pivotal role in strengthening international collaboration for the collection, harmonization, and analysis of SDG-related data across Indonesia. A key milestone occurred on April 23, 2024, when ITS, as an SDGs Center officially recognized by Bappenas, hosted a meeting with representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The discussion addressed pressing regional challenges in gathering reliable SDG data, including issues of comparability, consistency, and integration across provinces. By facilitating this dialogue, ITS underscored the need for collaborative networks that not only improve regional action planning (RAD) but also ensure that SDG evaluation processes are evidence-based, inclusive, and aligned with both national and global standards.
Expanding beyond policy dialogue, ITS also created opportunities for young people and academics to directly engage with SDG data in practice. In February 2024, ITS organized the UMAP Discovery Camp Winter 2024, a cross-university program involving ITS and several partner institutions across Indonesia and Asia. This program introduced students and early-career researchers to hands-on experiences in SDG monitoring through site visits, case studies, and collaborative workshops with local governments and NGOs. By bridging theory with practice, the program not only enhanced participants’ data literacy but also fostered an appreciation for the complexity of SDG implementation in diverse local contexts.