CIFAL Istanbul Pariticipates in The Sustainable Brands Türkiye 2024

Prof. Çisil Sohodol, CIFAL Istanbul Director, has shared her remarks on the panel titled “Trust and Impact: Good communication Guide for Sustainable Brands” on 17 September, 2024 at The Sustainable Brands Türkiye 2024.

The Sustainable Brands Türkiye 2024 conference is part of the global Sustainable Brands network, aiming to advance sustainable business models and practices. The conference emerged as one of the most significant events in the sustainability field in Türkiye. The conference addressed many key topics shaping the future of business, offering participants an inspiring experience.

The event featured more than 20 international speakers, including notable figures like Thomas Kolster and Karen Silverman, who discussed topics related to sustainable growth, innovation, and corporate transformation. At the event, discussions focused on how brands could reduce their environmental impact, shift consumer behaviors toward sustainable lifestyles, and utilize innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence in the process. Additionally, topics like waste management, supply chain optimization, and corporate governance were addressed, aiming to broaden the adoption of sustainability practices across the business landscape.

The purpose of this event is to enable participants to gain insights from expert speakers and innovative panels; to assist them in learning new sustainability strategies and developing creative solutions that can be integrated into their business models. This approach aims to help brands contribute to long-term value creation and to have a positive impact on society and the environment.

The conference also offered interactive workshops and panel discussions aimed at helping brands craft sustainable strategies.

Remarks by CIFAL Istanbul Director, Prof.Dr. Çisil Sohodol

In a compelling panel titled “Trust and Impact: Good communication Guide for Sustainable Brands”, Prof. Sohodol began her speech by emphasizing that sustainability is not only an environmental concern but also an economic and social necessity, highlighting the importance of the relationship between these two concepts. She emphasized the critical role of accountability and honesty in brand communication and remarked, “It is impossible to achieve sustainable success without building this trust.” Sohodol highlighted that to build trust in sustainability, brands must find a balance between conveying information and evoking emotions. She also stated that sustainability is not just a trend but an indispensable element for the future of business. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of the art of storytelling, illustrating how brands can effectively communicate their sustainability efforts within the company, which is key to crafting a genuine and impactful narrative.

Prof. Sohodol, Director of CIFAL Istanbul, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) International Training Center for Authorities and Leaders, also explained that to truly understand sustainable communication, it is essential to grasp the intersection between sustainability and communication itself. She highlighted that the issues embedded in sustainability and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent chronic global challenges urgently requiring solutions to create a better world. The first step in addressing these issues in improving our behaviour patterns. She emphasized that without cultivating an ecosystem of behavioral change, it would be impossible to achieve success in sustainability or any of the SDGs.

Otto & Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center will train regional peacebuilders through a one-year Rotary Peace Fellowship held at Bahçeşehir University.

The event for the signing ceremony of the Otto & Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center was held on 8^th February 2024 at Bahçeşehir University Future Campus. The center provides a certificate program for peace and development for professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to have sustainable peace.

The certificate program aims to focus on various aspects of peacekeeping, peace-making, and peacebuilding processes by equipping community leaders with advanced knowledge and skills that focus on pivotal issues pertinent to the MENA region. These include land and identity disputes, climate change, food insecurity, refugee integration, and community development.

CIFAL Istanbul, as the local training center of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), will provide further academic studies, field visits, seminars, and workshops for the program fellows, deepening the program’s perspective. Program participants will employ the theoretical knowledge that they gained into the practice for a nine-month social change project within the region and conclude their fellowship with a capstone seminar to present the results.

Sustainable Peace in the Middle East and North Africa region.

BAU President Prof. Esra Hatipoğlu points out the critical position of BAU by saying “Bahçeşehir University brings deep local expertise in the Middle East and North Africa, embodying a commitment to multiculturalism and understanding” and she added that “Our collaboration with Rotary, a renowned leader in peacebuilding, merges academic rigor with hands-on knowledge, allowing us to address conflict transformation with a practical, grounded perspective and transitioning peace from a hopeful aspiration to an achievable goal.”

The fellowship at Bahçeşehir University in Otto & Fran Walter Peace Center is open for applications who are dedicated peace and development leaders from the MENA region to upbring qualified, educated leaders to establish peace in the region.