About CIFAL Barcelona

CIFAL BARCELONA

International Training Centre for Local Authorities/Actors

"Security and coexistence in a changing world"

CIFAL Barcelona is an international Training Centre that supports local authorities in developing security policies based on coexistence to achieve better cohesion in multicultural urban environments.

CIFAL Barcelona facilitates knowledge sharing among local actors on appropriate safety and security policies at the municipal and regional level.

History
CIFAL Barcelona is the result of an agreement between UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research) and the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya), through the Catalan Ministry of Home Affairs, in order to participate in the UNITAR Decentralized Cooperation Programme and to be part of the associated global training network called the CIFAL Network.

As part of the Network, CIFAL Barcelona acts as a unique venue for training local authorities worldwide on public safety and security issues.

CIFAL Barcelona emerged from the conference on "Promoting coexistence and security in the context of the information society" held in September 2004 in the framework of the Forum of Cultures and the World Urban Forum in Barcelona.

Objectives
 Facilitate information sharing and exchange of experience between cities and regions on safety and security issues
 Facilitate policy making on key aspects of public and private security
 Support local decision-makers in developing approaches and tools to manage coexistence in a multicultural environment and implement a new local security agenda
 Promote a multidisciplinary culture of security based on dialogue and conflict resolution among social actors.

Target audience
Local authorities and local decision-makers worldwide

Capacity-building approach
CIFAL Barcelona’s training activities are founded on knowledge management techniques optimizing peer-to-peer exchanges. This methodology provides a participatory and multidisciplinary approach to learning. CIFAL training programmes involve local expertise, best practice sharing and the research of models related to security.

The Centre of Security Studies
CIFAL Barcelona benefits from research carried out by its sister institution, the Centre of Security Studies (CES). The CES is a partnership jointly established by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Generalitat de Catalunya, public universities of Catalonia and other public and private institutions working in the field of safety and security. The purpose of the CES is to conduct research and promote good practices in the field of safety and security at local, regional, national and international levels.

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