Programme

Morning - Plenary

John Elkington

Pioneer of the global sustainability movement (United Kingdom)

- Pieter Timmermans (VBO/FEB)
- Nicolas Van Nuffel (Perspective 2030)
- Launy Dondo (Youth Council)
- Marc Leemans - ACV/CSC Chair

Session 1 - SDGs and the supply chain | Sustainable chains, due diligence (NL/FR) - VBO/FEB & The Shift
Presentation of corporate and sectoral initiatives regarding the environment and social due diligence. Different sectors and small and larger companies are covered. Come and listen to the diamond, textile and wood industries, among others.

Session 2 - Plastic soup and tap water (NL) - Hidrodoe
We explain to you what Hidrodoe does as SDG Voice. We take you along to a super fun science show 'Most harmful food' where we tell you about plastic soup. In an interactive quiz we test your knowledge about what you just learned about plastic soup. The three best scores of the quiz do a water taste test where you can try to taste the difference between bottled water and tap water. After that you paint your carafe at a workshop from which you then enjoy drinking tap water at home or at work.

Session 3 - Educating about sustainable development and world citizenship in my training (FR) - Coordination of meeting and accommodation centres
Educating for sustainable development and training for citizenship are much talked about subjects. How to integrate them in your training sessions? Discovering or rediscovering these concepts, reflecting together and adapting one's practices, and giving meaning to the different teaching methods are on the programme of this workshop. Ensure personal and comprehensive education to enable young people to become citizens.

Session 4 - SDG Gaming: build and manage your school (NL) - Via Don Bosco
With this game you will become the principal of one of our schools for a while! Each team is responsible for a fictitious school and has to take care of the educational path of 12 students, each with their own specific needs. As the game progresses, participants will realise how important it is to ensure access to quality education for all and how education contributes to the development of a sustainable and just society.

Session 5 - Capabilities for Future Resilience (EN) - AMS & Randstad Belgium
Resilience is the capacity of individuals and groups (like families, communities, organisations, cities, societies, or nature) to cope effectively with the impact of major, rapid changes (like disasters, crises or emergencies) and to return to a healthy state afterwards. In this session, AMS and Randstad will share a preview of Future Resilience Index they have been designing and piloting, which measures employees’ perceptions about their own resilience in the workplace and the extent to which their organisation supports the resilience of individuals, the organisation and society, across 10 measures.

Session 6 - Scenarios for using SDGs in your municipality (FR) - Associations 21, SPW Sustainable Development Department and Espace Environnement
Municipal experiences rooted in SDGs are emerging in Wallonia and Brussels. You will have the opportunity to discover 3 (out of 6 proposed experiences) and meet in small groups with resource persons with whom you will consider concrete examples of SDG integration locally.

Session 7 - SDGs and materiality (NL/FR) - FISD
At the beginning of 2019, a number of companies, public services and other organisations, with the support of FISD, carried out a materiality exercise in the context of the SDGs. Both the interest for the company and its stakeholders are included in a materiality determination. The workshop will start with a brief explanation of what a materiality exercise entails and allow a number of companies and other organisations to talk about what they have already carried out within the project.

Session 8 - 100 years of International Labour Organization: the impact of the 2030 Agenda on the realisation of labour rights (NL) - United Nations Association
The International Labour Organization (ILO), the first UN specialised agency, is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. This is why the workshop will make the link between the SDGs and human rights, and in particular labour rights and standards. Several experts will debate the importance of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs for strengthening labour standards and improving working conditions worldwide.

Session 9 - I am more than my receipt / Workshop: citizens in conversation with supermarkets (NL) - Rikolto
What is the importance of SDG 17 (partnerships) to work on SDG 12 (responsible production and consumption). Consuming more sustainably is not just a question of consciousness. Most of us are aware of the global challenges, and the impact of what they buy and eat on those challenges. That consciousness is actually quite good. But that's not what your receipt tells (your supermarket). Your receipt says what you've bought. Your receipt shows what you pay for. Your receipt says a lot... but not everything. It doesn't say that you care about the environment, good working conditions and a fair price for everyone. Maybe you receipt says mostly that you were in a hurry. That you can't find your way around the product offerings. Because, really... Wat is sustainable and what is not? What can the supermarket do to help you? In a conversation between consumers and supermarket owners, we explore what is possible, and look for recipes to mainstream sustainable consumption.

Session 10 - The Sustatool (NL) - CSR Flanders
Through cases from the care, construction and food sector and from local governments, we show how we link SDGs to action plans and back with the Sustatool as an interface. The workshop participants will act as stakeholders who may, for example, assess the prioritisation of SDGs and the relevance of actions (via live voting on Mentimeter).

Session 11 - Pension money and the SDGs: they lived happily ever after (NL) - Fairfin
Pension is in essence: the right to a dignified life after your career. In Belgium, the pension system is based on several pillars, in which important shifts have taken place in recent years. Less social security, more accumulation of pension rights through capitalisation. In this workshop FairFin, together with the participants, will reconstruct the patchwork of the Belgian pension system, and expose the main issues and risks. Together we brainstorm on the best possible spending of pension funds over 30-40 years. If we are increasingly dependent on capitalisation for pension accrual, why don't we use these savings banks to realise the SDGs?

Session 12 - Belgium's progress towards the SDGs (NL/FR) - Federal Planning Bureau
Presentation of indicators for monitoring the SDGs defined by the Interfederal Statistical Institute, as well as proposals for synthetic indicators. Review of their progress towards the SDGs.

Session 13 - The SDGs in practice: SDG pilot municipalities speak out (NL) - The Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG)
Several municipalities involved in the VVSG SDG pilot project talk about their project, share concrete examples of how they integrate the SDGs in their municipality and give a number of useful tips

Session 14 - Health for humanity through the SDG’s @ Janssen Pharmaceutica (EN) - Janssen Pharmaceutica
How can the SDGs help achieve sustainable healthcare for everyone? This interactive and informative workshop will discuss the opportunities and challenges in a multinational context. 

Session 15 - Mission 2030 – Multiplayer game on the Sustainable Development Goals (NL) - De Aanstokerij
You don't build a sustainable future on your own. How do you make the SDGs comprehensible to everyone in your organisation, including employees who are not involved with CSR on a daily basis? ‘Mission 2030’ is a serious game in which the players discover the vision behind the SDGs by experience. A motivational activity that makes you think about how we can work on sustainable development, from the individual to the policy and social level.

Session 16 - Meaningfull Youth Participation: a glocal approach to achieve the SDG's (EN) - VVN Youth
In this interactive workshop participants will receive the basic principles of youth participation as well as processes in which young people are already involved and will be provided with usefull steps towards including young people their voices in work at all levels.

Afternoon

Session 17 - How to become SDG-proof? Launch SDG training manual (EN) - CIFAL Flanders
Launch and presentation of the new SDG training manual (NL/FR/EN) of CIFAL Flanders & the National Lottery. After the presentation, the participants have to interactively solve a few of the exercises from the handbook. The exercises are relevant for local government, organisations, educational institutes and companies. Each of these target groups are taking as the starting point for the concrete cases dealt with in the exercises.

Session 18 - How to integrate SDGs in education: action plans and tools (FR) - EFDD (Education and Training for Sustainable Development) & COREN, Collectif des écoles en Développement durable
Are you involved in primary or secondary education? Do you feel like introducing sustainable development into your school? Come and discover the possible entry points and tools to get involved at your level in this process. Priority target groups: teachers, educators, school principals, public authorities in charge of teaching/education, associations and other actors in the field of education.

Session 19 - Responsible Management Education: developing sustainability intelligence (EN) - AMS & Breda University of Applied Sciences
In this workshop, participants will be familiarized with the roles that management education and leadership development play in spurring sustainability. Specifically, participants will learn about the three components of sustainability intelligence: naive, native and narrative intelligence. These components are introduced and participants will make a diagnosis of their own performance on the three components of sustainability intelligence during the workshop.

Session 20 - Sustainable entrepreneurship thanks to charity (NL) - World Mission Help
Corporate Social Responsibility is gaining in importance, but many companies do not know where to start. The NGO World Mission Help (WMH) therefore launched its CSR Compass: a company is linked to a sustainable development project and receives additional advice on how to do business in a more sustainable way together with its employees. The SDGs are central to these projects, but a company can also contribute to them through making internal adjustments. During the session some tips will be given and WMH will explain how companies can work together with a charity organisation on a better CSR policy and a better world.

Session 21 - The future of the clothing industry: sustainable and ethical? (EN) - Jeugdraad/Conseil de la Jeunesse/Generation T
We would have liked to organize a workshop on ethical and sustainable fashion. This subject concerns us directly because our generation consumes four times more clothes than our parents' generation. Moreover, this subject is entirely in line with the various SDG's, SDG 13 & 8 more specifically. We would like to present another approach to fashion, based on minimalist production, with more ecological materials and a more transparent production chain, with respect for ILO standards on working conditions.

Session 22 - Sustainable development and human trafficking: how can fundamental human rights be taken into account? (FR/NL) -  Samilia Foundation, PAG-ASA and Federal Public Service for Justice
What is human trafficking for economic exploitation? How does this form of trafficking differ from or resemble forced labour?
How does the elimination of human trafficking fit into the Sustainable Development Goals? On what grounds should the business sector and NGOs address this as a priority? Which sectors of the formal or informal economy are most conducive to its development? What are the risks/impacts for companies using trafficked labour?
So many questions to which a panel of experts in the field will try to provide us with enlightening answers.

Session 23 - SDGs: child's play? Children and young people in Agenda 2030 (NL) - Perspective 2030 & PKIO (Children's Rights in Development Cooperation Platform)
What would the SDGs look like if children's rights did not exist? On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, PKIO and Perspective 2030 are organising a workshop on children and young people in Agenda 2030. During this workshop you will discover the place of children and young people in the SDGs, get inspiration from the experiences of young people who have talked to policy makers on a local, national and international level and learn interactively how to get started with child and youth participation.

Session 24 - Sustainability and poverty. Elements for the 10th Biennial Report of the Centre for Combating Poverty (NL/FR) - Steunpunt Armoede (Combat Poverty Service)
A consultation process on sustainability and poverty is currently underway within the inter-federal centre for combating poverty, insecurity and social exclusion, in function of its 10th biennial report to be published in December 2019. During this consultation process in 2018-2019, people experiencing poverty and their associations entered into dialogue with other actors in the fight against poverty (social organisations, environmental organisations, administrations of various levels of government, academics). The SDGs served as a framework for that consultation, and the principle 'To leave no one behind' used as a guideline. During the [workshop], the Centre, together with a number of participants in that consultation (from the various stakeholders), will propose a number of observations and recommendations that emerged from the consultation over the past year and a half. The [workshop] will make it possible to extend the consultation to other stakeholders, which had already included many different stakeholders. The feedback and discussion material will thus serve to further enrich the draft texts of the biennial Report. The Biennial Report will be submitted to the various governments, parliaments and their advisory councils at the end of December as a contribution to their political debate and political action in the context of sustainability and poverty.

Session 25 - Getting started with the SDGs via the VOKA Corporate Social Responsibility Charter (NL) - VOKA
The VOKA Charter for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (VCDO) offers your company the opportunity to work on sustainable enterprise in a result-oriented and continuously optimising way through a tailor-made action plan. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals provide the universal framework for this. At the end of the year, you will present your achievements to a team of independent experts and receive the VCDO after a positive assessment.

Session 26 - Future of work (EN) - Perspective 2030, FOS - Wereldsolidariteit & vakbonden ACV, ACLVB en ABVV
The international Labour Organisation (ILO) is celebrating its 100th anniversary and recently published an elaborated report on the Future of Work. What changes have an impact on our future society? How will this affect the labour market? Should we give free hands to the digital private sector ? The workshop connects the results of the report with Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. 

Session 27 - Impact investing: up to the challenge? (EN/FR) - Foundation for Future Generations & University of Antwerp
Impact investors can play an important role in achieving the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), catalyzing significant resources for projects with societal impact. An increasing number of these investors are integrating SDGs into their strategy. However, behind Impact Investing lie very diverse approaches. Tensions can be observed between impact objectives and the need for return, between short-term and patient capital, between a holistic approach to SDGs and "SDG-picking". The workshop will aim to (1) better understand impact investing and its landscape, (2) present its potential contribution to the SDGs, (3) discuss some key challenges to maximize its impact for sustainable development.

Session 28 - Ex-ante evaluation of impacts during policy preparation (FR) - Federal Planning Bureau & Impact Assessment Committee
When preparing policies, it would be useful to reflect on their impacts on all SDGs and to adapt these policies to achieve the most positive impacts. There will be some case studies, and brainstorming on the use of the existing procedure and the regulatory impact assessment.

Session 29 - The SDGs in your municipal policy (NL) - VVSG
Together with 20 municipalities, the VVSG embarked on an SDG pilot project. Based on the results of that project, we will tell you how you can integrate the SDGs in your municipality, for example by strengthening support and the new multi-year planning.

Session 30 - SDG Learning Network (NL) - DO Vlaanderen (Sustainable Development Flanders) & ILVO (Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Research)
In 2018-2019, about 15 organisations from Flanders participated in the SDG Learning Network organised by the Department of Chancellery and Administration. The six sessions dealt with the SDG framework, a detailed SDG analysis up to and including the development of an approach for one's own organisation. Several organisations also appealed for guidance. The workshop will discuss the learning programme and results after one year of action with regard to the introduction of SDGs in their organisation. For example, the Province of East Flanders set up a similar programme for municipalities on their territory and ILVO started its own participatory implementation process, around which they would be happy to share their experiences.

Session 31 - How standards contribute to implement the SDG’s in your organization? (EN) - NBN
The SDGs represent an ambitious plan to enhance peace and prosperity, eradicate poverty and protect the planet and are recognized globally as essential to the future sustainability of our world. Standards are globally recognized guidelines and frameworks based on international collaboration. Built around consensus, they provide a solid base on which innovation can thrive and are essential tools to help governments, industry and consumers contribute to the achievement of every one of the SDGs. During this workshop we will demonstrate the link between the SDGs and standards and how standards can contribute to implement the SDGs in your organization.

Closing of the SDG Forum
Marie Christine Marghem
Ministre de l'Energie, de l'Environnement et du Développement durable