2023: 10 initiatives to celebrate 10 years CIFAL Flanders
On the 21st of March, CIFAL Flanders organised the ‘SDGs in the election campaign 2024’ congress. The congress brought together more than 130 guests to listed to the vision on the SDGs of the Flemish political parties and 8 umbrella and network organisations.
The working visit to Rwanda in March 2023 consisted of the certification ceremony of Ruti Group, a social enterprise that became the first SDG Pioneer in Africa, the first international conference on ‘Reshaping education for sustainable development’ and a meeting with CIFAL Kigali.
The first SDG Summer Academy took place at Irish College in Leuven on 24 August 2023. We had the privilege to welcome 80+ multistakeholder participants and 20+ prominent and influential speakers. The day was filled with an interesting keynote on system change, 4 panel debates, and 6 interactive workshops.
The academic year 2023-2024 marked the first edition of the micro degree ‘Sustainability Coordinator’, a collaboration of CIFAL Flanders and HOGENT. 52 students enrolled to build their competences on SDG-implementation. Maya De Deyn, Marijke Janssens and Peter Wollaert of CIFAL Flanders are part of the team of lecturers.
In September 2023, CIFAL Flanders celebrated its 10 year anniversary in the City Hall of Antwerp. We welcomed more than 75 guests during a guided tour of the City Hall Antwerp, 9 interesting keynotes and a networking reception with an SDG anniversary cake.
The first seven Flemish local authorities became SDG Pioneer. The Pioneer programme of CIFAL Flanders, VVSG and IDEA Consult guided the cities and municipalities in their SDG strategy. Brugge, Harelbeke, Huldenberg, Kalmthout, Kontich, Landen and Lebbeke received their UNITAR Certificate of Completion at the SDG-Forum in Brussels.
CIFAL Flanders and Global Goals Community collaborate to implement the PCA2030 Trajectory in the Netherlands. Through capacity building for all actors in society, we contribute to make the Netherlands more SDG-Proof!
NEW SDG PUBLICATIONS
In 2023, CIFAL Flanders launched the new edition of the Start-to-SDG Guide at the SDG-Forum in Brussels. This year will also mark a new guide on International Corporate Social Responsibility. Further, the first academic paper on the PCA2030 Methodology was presented at the conference at MIT ‘Transatlantic Symposium on Sustainable Development in Higher Education’.
november 2023: Working visit geneva
A delegation of 25 participants: board members, partners and the team of CIFAL Flanders will visit Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2023. This working visit will include a meeting with the Belgian Ambassador and Flemish representative to the United Nations and visits to ILO, CERN and Palais des Nations.
In the beginning of 2024, CIFAL Flanders will publish its impact report, focusing on 10 years of impact in Flanders and abroad:
- 30,000+ beneficiaries
- 700 lectures/workshops/events/training courses
- 11+ countries… and more nationalities in (online) training sessions
- 35+ partnerships and co-founder SDSN Belgium
- 160 UNITAR Certificates of Completion
- 56 internships via Glanders Trainee Programme
- 1,000+ Start-to-SDG Guides downloaded
- 9,000+ contacts in our database
- 5,500+ subscribers to our newsletter
- 1,000+ followers on Facebook and 1,450+ on LinkedIn