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News & Events

Milestones from CIFAL Japan's first full year of operation, and the calendar ahead.


Calendar 2026

Upcoming events

Selected highlights. For the full calendar and to register, please contact us.


Looking back

2026 — Our third year of operation

  1. · Youth

    Model UN Workshop in Iwaki

    A Model UN workshop in Iwaki in which junior- and senior-high students role-play as ambassadors to debate diverse views.

  2. · Governance

    Annual Board Meeting & Public Symposium

    First annual meeting of the CIFAL Japan Council, followed by a public symposium on human-centred leadership in Iwaki.

  3. · Flagship programme

    Human-Centred Inclusive Business Leadership Programme — launch

    The inaugural cohort of 100 leaders begins the six-month flagship programme co-designed with The Valuable 500 and Japanese business schools.

    Programme details

  4. · DiDRR

    Disability-Inclusive Disaster Resilience Clinic

    Hybrid clinic co-led with UNDRR and CIFAL Honolulu, drawing on the "Words into Action" series and Fukushima's reconstruction experience.

Looking back

2025 — Our second year of operation

From the 31 May 2025 inaugural symposium in Iwaki to the XXII CIFAL Global Network Annual Meeting, CIFAL Japan delivered 47 initiatives and reached more than 3,200 beneficiaries in its first full year.


  1. Inaugural Symposium & opening ceremony

    Public inauguration of CIFAL Japan in Iwaki, with keynote addresses from H.E. Amb. Luis Gallegos and Alex Mejia, and participation from national government, academia and civil society.

  2. ESG Roundtable with ESG-IREC, Osaka

    Roundtable on inclusive ESG governance and social impact leadership, hosted at the University of Osaka's ESG Integration Research & Education Center — activating the Osaka Network Office of CIFAL Japan.

  3. The Children's Conference of the Future in Support of the United Nations FUTURE SUMMIT at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai

    CIFAL Japan cooperated in running the children's conference organised by the Peace Communication Foundation, in which children discussed peace, multilateralism and the SDGs.

  4. "Words into Action" — disability-inclusive DRR workshop

    Co-led with UNDRR and CIFAL Honolulu, this workshop translated the global Words into Action guidelines into a Japanese and Asia-Pacific municipal context.

  5. Minamata Convention COP6 — youth delegation briefing

    CIFAL Japan supported a Japanese youth delegation to the sixth Conference of Parties of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Geneva.

  6. COP30 side event, Belém

    CIFAL Japan co-convened a side event at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, on disability-inclusive climate action and the leadership of local authorities.

  7. SYNC25 Tokyo — human-centred leadership forum

    SYNC25 convened leaders from business, government and civil society around universal well-being and inclusive leadership, setting the stage for the 2026 flagship programme.

  8. XXII CIFAL Global Network Annual Meeting

    CIFAL Japan joined sister centres from 30+ cities worldwide for the annual meeting of the UNITAR CIFAL Global Network, presenting its first-year impact and 2026 strategy.

Looking back

2024 — Our first year of operation

  1. Establishment Agreement signed in Iwaki City

    Chair MIDORIKAWA Hiroshi (Higashi Nippon International University), Iwaki Mayor UCHIDA Hiroyuki and Mr Alex Mejia, Director, UNITAR Division for People and Social Inclusion, responsible for the CIFAL Global Network, signed the Cooperation Agreement establishing CIFAL Japan — the first network-type CIFAL in the global network.

Press & media

Media enquiries

For interview requests, background briefings or images, please contact the CIFAL Japan secretariat via our contact form. We are able to respond in English and Japanese.