UNITAR
Housed in the Division for People and Social Inclusion, UNITAR’s Network of International Training Centres for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL Global Network) now boasts a new record of 18 centres, as of 1 February 2019. Slated to expand still further over the course of this year, the Network serves as an ever-more-valuable arm of UNITAR throughout the world, helping to build capacity for sustainable development at the grassroots level across all continents.
The first CIFAL – in French, Centre International de Formation des Authorités et Leaders -- was created in 2003. Now located across Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Americas, CIFALs serve as regional hubs for capacity development, bringing together the public, private, and civil sectors to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the local level. They represent a unique multi-stakeholder approach, working to increase knowledge-sharing between local governments, state governments, UN entities, foundations, universities, and the private sector. Hosted and funded by a local partner, with institutional and programmatic support from UNITAR, each Centre is specialized in a unique way, and is strategically tailored to local needs and context. As such, CIFALs act as vital force-multipliers for the work of UNITAR and for the larger advancement of the 2030 Agenda across the globe.
Understandably, the UN tends to engage mostly with national governments. However, UNITAR recognizes that cities are on the front lines of a myriad of issues related to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In their day-to-day work, mayors and local governments contend with all manner of issues related to urban governance and planning, economic development, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and cross-cutting areas such as migration, conflict resolution, leadership development, and counterterrorism. To achieve the 2030 Agenda, national leadership will be key, but city and local leadership will remain equally indispensable. Through its CIFAL Network, UNITAR is committed to reaching and empowering these vital local actors.
Looking forward…
For 2019, the Network is already well underway in its endeavours to expand not only in breadth – through the addition of new centres in strategic locations – but also in depth. Out of UNITAR’s approximately 56,000 training beneficiaries per year, the CIFAL Network trained 23,190 individuals in 2018. With 219 activities already scheduled for this year, that number is only expected to grow.
The opening of the eighteenth Centre – CIFAL Dakar – in February, heralds UNITAR’s increased focus on enhancing the Network’s geographic coverage, particularly in Africa and the MENA region, as well as among countries in special situations. We also shortly expect to sign agreements for a CIFAL Amman, a CIFAL York (in Canada), and a CIFAL Turkey. In accordance with the UNITAR Strategic Framework, the CIFAL Network will engage in a renewed drive in 2019 to maximize our potential in more and more places, and most especially, to “reach the furthest behind first”.
At the strategic level, the Network’s plan of action for 2019 also includes a deepening of its activities in several key areas. These include an enhancement of learning methodologies and increased use of cutting-edge technology; a revitalization of communications strategy, both within Centres and across the Network as a whole; and the convention of a Network-wide task force to implement more creative and expansive strategies for funding this consortium of unique, people-driven institutions. The first few months of 2019 have seen this work begin in earnest, and UNITAR looks forward to seeing the fruits of the Network multiply in 2019 and beyond.
UNITAR