• Date:

  26 Sep 2019

• Time:

  9:30 am - 2:00 pm

• Location:

  Allstate Northern Ireland | 10 Mays Meadow | Belfast, BT1 3PH

• Price:

  Free

Building Bridges is a unique All-Ireland networking forum, bringing civil society organisations working on Development Education together with responsible businesses to find ways to collaborate to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are a global commitment to combat the world’s biggest challenges such as poverty, inequality and the climate crisis to create a more just, inclusive and sustainable world by 2030. Given their scale and ambition, realising these Goals requires all players (governments, civil society, academia, and the business sector) to champion this agenda and work together in partnership.

We need to step out of our comfort zones and create new models of meaningful partnership across sectors. In order to provide a networking opportunity that fosters dialogues and explore collaboration to address the SDGs between the Development Education sector and the business sector, the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) is hosting the forum in partnership with Business in the Community Northern Ireland (BITCNI) via Bridge 47 – an EU project that seeks to build global citizenship in pursuit of the SDGs.

Participants will:

• Gain a deeper understanding of the SDGs
• Learn how civil society organisations and businesses are responding to the SDGs
• Be inspired by other cross-sector partnership examples and stories
• Network with like-minded people and explore ways to work together to address the SDGs
• Gain practical tips and recommendations on how to build cross-sector partnerships

Event programme

09:30 – 10:00 | Registration

10:00 – 10:20 | Opening Plenary Session

10:20 – 10:35 | Keynote Speech by Frank Geary, Director of IDEA

10:35 – 10:50 | Keynote Speech by Gillian McKee, Deputy Managing Director of BITCNI

10:50 – 11:20 |Panel Discussion on Cross-sector Partnership Examples

11:20 – 11:40 | Networking Break

11:40 – 12:50 | Parallel Roundtable Discussions on the SDGs led by IDEA members

12:50 – 13:20 | Closing Plenary Session

13:20 – 14:00 | Networking Lunch

Full programme will become available closer to the forum date. For more information, contact: ji.hyun.kim@bridge47.org or gillian.mckee@bitcni.org.uk