To promote and to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals together – that is the ambition of more than 80 Belgian civil society organisations, companies, and representatives of the public sector that signed the Belgian SDG Charter for International Development in Brussels. VVOB is among the first signatories (see small image: VVOB General Director Bart Dewaele (left) and Minister of Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo (right)).
Praise from UN and World Bank
The Belgian SDG Charter for International Development outlines the commitment of Belgian civil society, the public sector and the private sector, on the basis of the 5 P’s of sustainable development: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships. The new Belgian SDG Charter is supported by more than 80 Belgian civil society partners, companies, and the public sector, as well as by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (see image below) and World Bank President Jim Kim, who praised the Belgian initiative in a video message:
"We must promote inclusive economic growth, and invest more in people. Partnerships such as the Belgian SDG Charter play an important role in bringing everyone in our society together around a common goal. It ensures that our plans and ambitions will be fulfilled. I thank you for the commitment."
Championing SDG 4
As confirmed by SDG 4, ensuring inclusive and quality education for all is a crucial investment in people. Over the next five years, VVOB will focus on the quality and inclusiveness of four educational subsectors, identified by SDG4 as specific target areas:
- equitable and quality early childhood education, and the transition of learners to primary education;
- equitable and quality primary education, leading to relevant learning outcomes;
- equitable and quality secondary education, leading to relevant learning outcomes;
- equitable and quality technical and vocational education and training, and the transition of students to the world of work.
Equity, particularly gender equity, and inclusivity in education are at the forefront of VVOB’s interventions.
It’s a match
The Belgian SDG Charter defines the roles the private sector, civil society organisations and the public sector each play in achieving the SDG’s.
As a civil society organisation, VVOB sees itself being particularly active in ‘facilitating peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge and expertise’, for example through facilitating professional learning networks in Rwanda between head teachers. As is our mission, we also ‘support and strengthen the provision of public goods and services in domains linked to the SDG's', in our case: education.
VVOB is a partner of ministries of Education worldwide, and as such we also contribute to developing the capacity of the public sector to achieving the SDG’s. As stated in the Charter, we especially ‘facilitate and foster the exchange of expertise and collaboration between efficient, responsive, transparent, accountable and inclusive institutions’. We also stimulate a ‘human rights based approach’ to education of national and local authorities and thus aim to ‘ensure the development of and universal access to social services’, i.e. education.
VVOB looks forward to achieving the SDG's together with its Belgian colleagues and counter-parts.
