The Sixth International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC6) took place in the city of Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 3 to 5 December 2024. The conference was hosted by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in collaboration with Jubail Industrial City, a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC).
The theme of the ICLC 6 was “Learning Cities at the Forefront of Climate Action”. The participants could explore a wide range of topics within the theme. In particular, the main discussions embraced such issues as developing strategies for multi-stakeholder coordinated action against climate change; strengthening education institutions and learning environments; empowering change agents, and fostering knowledge and skills to build green and climate-resilient cities. The participants of the Conference were represented by policy-makers, learning city mayors, lifelong learning and sustainability experts, private-sector representatives, non-governmental organizations, civil society, researchers, educators, and United Nations entities. All of them were able to work together and take part in interactive plenaries for debate and dialogue, parallel sessions for in-depth discussion, workshops, expert panels, site visits, and exhibitions.
In general, the Conference focused on such points as facilitating sharing of city-level responses to the climate crisis and initiatives for lifelong learning in climate action; fostering discussions on education for sustainable development and the role of lifelong learning in building resilient communities; promoting the creation of sustainable, resilient learning cities and the use of learning technologies for climate action; highlighting the specific challenges and roles of girls and women in the climate crisis and ensure inclusive approaches in policy implementation; and strengthening connections between education, sustainable cities and climate action SDGs, and broadening global partnerships for a unified environmental emergency response.
The expected outcomes of the ICLC6 include enhancing the capacities of city authorities and relevant stakeholders to develop, adapt and improve lifelong learning policies, programmes, and practices for climate action, resilience and the creation of sustainable cities and spaces. Moreover, as a result of the Conference, the new operational strategy of the GNLC has been adopted.
The Ukrainian delegation also took part in the Conference. Among the delegation members there were the director of DVV International in Ukraine Oleg Smirnov and representatives of the Ukrainian cities, members of UNESCO GNLC from Poltava, Sumy, Nicopol, Melitopol, Lviv, and Ternopil. It's worth mentioning that on December 2, the final session of the online workshops conducted in October and November on the Ukrainian lifelong learning issues took place. During the session, representatives of each of the Ukrainian cities belonging to the Global Network presented their communities' development plans in the field of lifelong learning. In addition to the presentations, the session included reflections moderated by experts from different countries and group discussions on the announced further actions.
We hope that sharing experience and ideas is one more important step in building sustainable environments and societies that learn lifelong to resist global challenges worldwide, and in Ukraine in particular.