The first edition of the annual Regional Sustainability & Development Forum will be launched on the seventh and eighth of September 2023 in Cairo under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, in the presence of a group of social leaders and influencers in sustainability and community development in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon, as well as a group of corporate social responsibility experts.
The Forum is collectively organized by “Aspire Community Transformation” a leading consulting & training company in the field of Sustainability & Development, “Blue Green” which specializes in corporate social responsibility consulting in the Middle East.
The annual Regional Forum for Sustainability and Development comes in its first edition under the theme “Where Sustainability meets Innovation” This event aims to bring together various stakeholders concerned with regional sustainability and development. The forum will focus on discussing the latest sustainability & CSR global trends, exploring cooperation opportunities, and fostering partnerships to implement and develop regional initiatives aligned with the goals of sustainable development. The forum is an effective opportunity for cooperation and partnership with the best practitioners and experienced institutions, in addition to supporting the young generation of social leaders and raising awareness in this field.
Speakers and experts participating are from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Germany, India and the Netherlands. It will also witness various workshops such as Gender Mainstreaming, the role of corporate social responsibility following the worldwide shifts in social and economic landscapes, Design thinking, personal social responsibility, and social cohesion between refugees and host communities.
The forum aims to communicate and cooperate between civil society organizations, Governmental entities, and private sector companies concerned with comprehensive development from across the region. It also aims to enhance ways of learning in the field of sustainability and corporate social responsibility on the public and private scale, as well as enlightening young minds of new trends in designing development programs. Besides, it strengthens the role of pre-university education in general, especially technical education, in achieving development goals in light of the major economic challenges and changes to support the production and manufacturing sectors, which depend heavily on technicians, and they are the most targeted groups for the development of this sector, and then comes the role of civil society institutions that This category qualifies professionally, educationally and administratively.
On the sidelines of the forum, a training camp will be held, attended by representative youth delegations from the participating Arab countries (a regional camp for community leadership), with the aim of developing community leadership skills by providing training and counseling sessions for them, provided that a report on the most important recommendations and initiatives is reviewed and shared in the regional forum .’Aspire Community Transformation’ (The organizing body) designs and implements innovative solutions for the public sector that align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with programs that drive social and cultural transformation, focusing on education, gender, social inclusion, capacity building.
The Forum model adopts an attractive approach that relies on real-life simulation and the application of practical information while using innovative tools such as sports and art in order to promote ways of development, which can achieve tangible leaps in the level of performance that are difficult to achieve using traditional techniques and methods that provide theoretical education only.
The forum also follows the methodology based on discovery, intentional networking, and experience, accessing the latest global trends in sustainability and corporate social responsibility, networking with sustainability experts in the region, and experiencing the power of sustainability tools in practical hands-on ways.
In addition, a number of major international, regional and local institutions and entities in the sectors of sustainable development, business, education, training and consultancy are participating in the forum, such as the International Labor Organization, the “World Coaches” organization of the Dutch Football Federation, TransformUs, Taqat Foundation, Wataneya Society, First Abu Dhabi Bank and MedFest Egypt.