18 March 2026, Brussels, Belgium - CIFAL Brussels, previously called CIFAL Flanders, convened its annual Kick-Off gathering in Brussels, marking the start of a milestone year for the organization and its growing network of partners, practitioners, and changemakers. Under the theme "From Challenges Today to Resilience Tomorrow," the event brought together stakeholders from the private sector, public institutions, civil society, and the UN system for a day of forward-looking exchange, and to formally launch what the organization is calling CIFAL 2.0.
A New Phase for a Maturing Organization
Established in 2014 as CIFAL Flanders, this centre affiliated with UNITAR, offers a wide range of activities related to leadership for sustainability through training workshops, seminars, conferences, and online courses. More than a decade on from its founding, the organization has grown into one of Belgium's most active platforms for translating the UN's 2030 Agenda into concrete capacity-building action.
CIFAL Flanders, now Brussels is devoted to strengthening a just transition towards a sustainable society and economy through capacity building of all actors in society, and the 2026 Kick-Off made clear that this work is entering a more institutionalized and networked phase, with a formal Board of Directors now in place to provide strategic governance and continuity.
Mr. Peter Wollaert, Managing Director of CIFAL Brussels, led the day alongside contributions from the experts Mr. Jan Danckaert, Ms. Patricia Delbaere, Mr. Oskar Bonte, Mr. Xavier Vanrolleghem, and Mr. Peter Garré. Ms. Adriana Lopez, Global Coordinator of the CIFAL Global Network from UNITAR, opened the session online and shared insights on UNITAR and CIFALs’ priorities in a rapidly evolving global context. During the closing plenary, key milestones were marked with the presentation of the Board of Directors and the awarding of new SDG Ambassadors, led by Mr. Geert Aelbrecht, Vice-Chair of CIFAL Brussels and representative of BESIX, followed by closing words from Ms. Michaela Majcin Dorcikova from UNITAR’s Division for People and Social Development. Together, the speakers brought perspectives spanning the private sector, academia, and the broader sustainability ecosystem, reflecting the cross-sectoral character that has always defined CIFAL Brussels' approach.
The PCA2030 Trajectory: Building a Community of SDG Ambassadors
Central to the day's celebrations was the formal welcome of new SDG Ambassadors, organizations that have completed the highest level of CIFAL Brussels' flagship PCA2030 Trajectory. The PCA2030 Trajectory is a tailor-made training journey to become SDG-proof, with increasing levels of ambition from Pioneer, through Champion, to Ambassador, each rewarded by a UNITAR Certificate of Completion. Earning the Ambassador title represents years of structured learning, strategy development, and demonstrated integration of the SDGs into organizational practice.
The SDG Ambassador Community, is a dynamic learning network that brings together committed companies to advance their sustainability ambitions. The programme supports peer learning and aligns with the highest ambition level of the PCA2030 Trajectory. The cohort welcomed at the 2026 Kick-Off joins a community that has already participated in high-level engagements, including a working visit to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in New York, Flanders Investment & Trade New York, the Delegation of Flanders to the USA, and the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN.
Resilience as the Defining Challenge of the Moment
The Kick-Off's theme - "From Challenges Today to Resilience Tomorrow" was deliberately chosen to acknowledge the complexity of the current moment. With the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approaching and regulatory pressures from the EU's sustainability agenda intensifying, organizations across Belgium and beyond are grappling with how to build lasting capacity rather than reactive compliance.
In 2024, with support from the Government of Flanders, the ESG Frontrunners trajectory was launched to bring organizations together around key EU sustainability topics, including the EU Taxonomy, Double Materiality under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and practical approaches to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), with a focus on aligning strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2026 Kick-Off built on these themes, framing resilience not merely as the capacity to withstand disruption but as the active, ongoing work of embedding sustainability into governance, strategy, and daily practice.
Speakers throughout the day reinforced a consistent message: that the transition to a sustainable society cannot be driven by any single actor. It requires the kind of multi-stakeholder coordination that events like the Kick-Off are specifically designed to catalyze, bringing together companies, knowledge institutions, government representatives, and UN-affiliated partners in the same room, working toward a shared direction.
Embedded in the UN System, Rooted in Brussels
What distinguishes CIFAL Brussels within the broader landscape of sustainability training is precisely this dual grounding: affiliated with UNITAR, while remaining practically rooted in the Belgian and Flemish context it serves. Supported by 30 partner organizations and active both in Belgium and abroad, CIFAL Brussels has spent more than a decade building the infrastructure for that exchange, developing tools, training trajectories, publications, and communities that give organizations a structured path from awareness to impact.
The 2026 Kick-Off, with its launch of CIFAL 2.0 and its new governance structure, marks the beginning of the next chapter in that journey. As the deadline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development draws nearer, the urgency of the work only increases, and events like this annual gathering serve as a reminder that resilience is not something that happens by accident. It is built, together, through the deliberate and sustained work of exactly the kind of community CIFAL Brussels has spent over a decade cultivating. UNITAR continues to actively support the centre in its endeavours to empower and give individuals the necessary tools to be complete professionals.