11-13 November 2019, Madrid & Malaga, Spain – UNITAR convened the sixteenth annual steering committee meeting of its global network of affiliated training centres to review past performance and achievements, as well as to discuss work plans for the following year, explore synergies amongst CIFAL centres and other units of UNITAR. The meeting was inaugurated by Mr. Nikhil Seth, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNITAR, who highlighted the importance of working with local authorities globally to resonate and act upon the mandate of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.

This year’s steering committee meeting had the honor of counting with the presence of members of UNITAR’s Board of Trustees Including Mrs. Taos Ferouki Ambassador of Algeria to Madrid and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Ambassador Luis Gallegos Permanent Representative of the Republic of Ecuador to the UN in New York, and Dr. Diana Chávez, President of the Private Sector Regional Centre for the Support of UN SDGs.

On November 11 and 12, the XVI Annual Meeting was held at the headquarters of CIFAL Madrid and the Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE). During the two days, working sessions took place and CIFAL Directors visited CIFAL Madrid’s state-of-the-art center for road safety training. On this special occasion, CIFAL Madrid and RACE presented the “SDG Mobile Learning Center”, which aims to serve as a space to share knowledge on the SDGS and on topics like road safety through innovative and engaging techniques.

On November 12 and 13, the meeting was held at the headquarters of CIFAL Malaga to continue the discussions and the planning for the year 2020. At this time, UNITAR also welcomed two new Centers: CIFAL Istanbul in Turkey hosted by Bahçeşehir University and CIFAL Dakar hosted by the Municipality of Dakar in Senegal. These new centers aim to train and build capacity in the areas of economic development, education, gender issues and empowerment, disaster preparedness and road safety.

The CIFAL Global Network is UNITAR’s network of affiliated centres dedicated to provide cutting-edge training aimed at strengthening the capacities of government authorities and key change agents from local and sub-national levels to design and implement innovative solutions to global challenges. The CIFAL Global Network was created in 2003 as a cooperation model between UNITAR and local governments, as well as with other partners at the local level. As of November 2019, the CIFAL Global Network is comprised of 20 training centres located across Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas. In 2018 the CIFAL Global Network trained 23,190 beneficiaries around the globe.