CIFAL Victoria annual report 2023

In its second year of operations, CIFAL Victoria increased training hours and UN-accredited course offerings exponentially while also furthering collaborations with our partners and community members.

CIFAL Victoria launched on March 22, 2022 with a mandate to deliver training activities and research that build on UVic's commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).  

“This is an exciting time for us. CIFAL Victoria is already carving out new pathways and creating learning opportunities by linking our region to global communities. We are proud to be advancing the goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

— Kevin Hall, UVic president and vice-chancellor, and chair of  CIFAL Victoria

"CIFAL Victoria continues to grow with several new partnerships, specialized courses and research initiatives that are catalyzing knowledge into leadership and action for more equitable and sustainable futures.  We are excited for our collective work ahead in the pursuit of Agenda 2030."

— Crystal Tremblay, Director of  CIFAL Victoria

By the numbers

From January to December 2023, CIFAL Victoria activities included:

Training hours

Participants

Events & partners

events hosted

partnerships

• Academia: 60%
• International organizations: 15%
• NGOs: 20%
• Other: 5%

List of CIFAL Victoria partners

• Academia
  • UVIC Faculty of Engineering
  • UVIC Faculty of Law
  • UVIC Gustavson School of Business
  • UVIC Department of Geography
  • UVIC Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE)
  • UVIC Centre for Global Studies
  • UVIC Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health
  • UVIC Division of Continuing Studies
  • UVIC Co-Op and Career Services
  • UVIC Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation (LTSI)
  • Ocean Networks Canada (UVIC)
  • University of Newcastle
• International organizations
  • UNESCO Co-Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education
  • Society for Participatory Research In Asia (PRIA)
  • Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom Arctic Research Programme (CINUK)
• NGOs
  • The British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC)
  • How to Change the World
  • Zonta Club of Victoria
  • Let’s Talk Science
• Other
  • Claremont Secondary School
    

     

• North America: 16
• Europe: 3
• Africa: 1

• UN accredited courses: 11
• Workshop: 6
• Seminar: 2
• Conference: 1
• Webinar: 1

• Hybrid: 3
• In-person: 12
• Web-based: 3

2023 spotlight

Inuit youth climate action summit

Young Inuit leaders from Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories gathered with UK and Canadian collaborators for a summit at UVic. The group explored creative and meaningful ways to recognize the links between climate change, displacement and mental health through unikkausivut (Inuit forms of storytelling). 

CIFAL-accredited course examines local action for UN SDGs

The Fall 2023 cohort of the CIFAL-accredited course, Geography 411, "Community-based Participatory Research: Local Action for UN SDGs" wrapped up their learnings by giving final presentations to their community partners. 

UVic student-led program highlighted in UNITAR publication

UNITAR publication, Youth Championing the SDGs - Living with Climate Change recognizes the student-led initiative which encouraged UVic campus community members to explore creative ways to share their personal experiences living with climate change.  

SDGs at UVic - Dashboard

CIFAL Victoria created a data dashboard to highlight the training initiatives to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, developed by staff, faculty and leadership at the university of Victoria.

A total of 104 initiatives were identified and uploaded onto a public dashboard that can be navigated through different filters such as: departments, SDGs and level of integration.