About the Conference
“Dialogue for the Future 2021” was an international networking conference that provided a forum for ideas and exchange between civil society actors and experts on sustainability and digitalisation. Changemakers from 10 countries met to network and brainstorm how to implement innovative international projects and start a successful cross-border cooperation.
In 2021, the conference is held in a hybrid format and divided into two phases. The first phase of „Dialogue for the Future 2021“ kicked off with a warm-up event on May 31st, consisting of a panel discussion about partnerships and networking. Our online networking conference was conducted online during 3 – 5 of June and focused on organisational and digital sustainability in the frames of the Agenda 2030. During the online conference, participants could take part in two parallels with eight exciting topics for the civil sector, panel discussions, facilitated networking sessions, a keynote and good practice presentations from experts and other NGOs, two meetings with the German Federal Foreign Office and an engaging Design Thinking workshop. The event finished with a project idea presentation and ceremony, where a professional jury decided who received one of five mini-grants of up to 1000€.
Everyone who presented an idea during the online event in June was invited to the second phase of the conference in Germany. The offline project bootcamp will take place in Mid-September in Berlin. Here you will strengthen the relationship with your project partners, visit Berlin-based NGOs and brainstorm your future project. We will support you in the application process for the funding programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”.
Who Could Participate
Dates
5th of May
31st of May
1st of June, 10am CEST
3rd—5th of June
›Dialogue for the Future 2021‹
Why Agenda 2030
On 25 September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted at the UN summit in New York. The broad sense of the agenda is captured by the “five Ps”- people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the agenda link the principle of sustainability with economic, ecological and social development. Civil society plays a crucial role in the implementation of the agenda and can use the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to guide them towards change. As a call to action, they offer directions on how to develop green and sustainable solutions. Given the important role civil society actors play in taking responsibility and working towards a more sustainable way of life, it seems only fitting to build on the work we have done so far and make sure the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs are at the center of everything we do.
Main dialogues
Digital sustainability
With sustainability being at the heart of everything we do, knowing how the non-profit sector can leverage and use new technologies to advance the Agenda 2030 is crucial.
In this day and age, the creative deployment of technologies has to be part of the solution. Sustainability means anticipating the future and taking responsibility for our actions. Digital sustainability means learning to adapt ourselves and harnessing our most powerful modern tools to drive this change. In the sessions of this parallel, participants learnt more about the effective use of online communication. They discovered how projects and events can be held in a Covid-friendly online format.
Organisational sustainability
For the non-profit sector the context in which we work and exist has changed dramatically over time and life has arguably become more complex.
With this year‘s conference we wanted to rise to the challenge and focus on organisational sustainability as one of our main dialogues. The dynamic dimensions of organisational sustainability can be hard to grasp but we wanted to discuss how progress can be sustainable and how a simultaneous focus on social, environmental and economic goals can be achieved. We helped participants understand better how they can put the theory to practice and make their workplace more sustainable in every sense. In doing so, participants were able to build on what they learnt at last year’s conference.
Flashback 2020
Our partners
Organised and supported by
