Sustainable Development Needs Smart Citizens: IFLA to Take Active Role at UN SDG Forum in Santiago

By Violeta Bertolini — Mon, 04/16/2018 - 20:33

​Libraries promote an inclusive model of development by giving all individuals the information they need to learn, find work, and live healthy lives. This requires the right policies not just globally, but also at the regional, national and local levels. This is the message IFLA will be bringing to the Second Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development 2018, held in Santiago, Chile, on 17-20 April 2018.

The forum provides an important opportunity for governments across the Latin America and Caribbean region to discuss progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to hear inputs from experts.

For IFLA, this is an opportunity both to underline the role of meaningful access to information in development, and the need for a package of policies that helps libraries deliver this.

IFLA will play an active role, represented by Adriana Cybele Ferrari (Brazil, FEBAB President), Jonathan Hernandez-Perez (Mexico, Associate of IFLA's International Leaders Programme, CNB President) and Maria Violeta Bertolini (Advocacy Communications Officer, IFLA Headquarters), as well as members of the Chilean library community, including the Colegio de Bibliotecarios de Chile, and local participants of IFLA's International Advocacy Programme (IAP).

Libraries as Partners for Development in LAC

Side event "The Importance of Access to Information to Achieve Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean"

As well as participating in discussions with civil society and government representatives, IFLA is proud to be organising a side event, on 19 April from 13:00 to 14:30 (local time), explaining the link between access to information and development. We are grateful to the Hernán Santa Cruz Library at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for hosting this discussion.

Alongside speakers from ECLAC and UNESCO, IFLA will talk about the contribution of libraries. IFLA representatives will highlight IFLA’s successes so far, through the International Advocacy Programme, in raising awareness of the SDGs, and ensuring that libraries are recognised as partners for development in national policies and strategies.

Find out more about IFLA's work on libraries and development, the Development and Access to Information (DA2I) report, and follow us during the event on Twitter and Facebook.