Events

On 25 May 2022 the Government of Flanders approved a subsidy of EUR 200,000 to the Red Cross Flanders for urgent humanitarian aid. This will help the victims of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

The Consulate General of Belgium in Cape Town and Flanders Southern Africa are organising a documentary screening of "Pride is Protest" in the presence of the Flemish director Marieke Dermul on 31 May in Cape Town. The event is organised in the framework of #idahot2022. After the screening, Dermul will engage with journalist Carl Collison and the audience, in a talk led by Khanyisile Phillips. RSVP by 29 May.

Join us on Wednesday 25 May for a screening of the documentary “Pride is Protest!”, followed by reflections on the importance and relevance of the Pride movement in South Africa in a panel discussion and through poetry performances by South African and Swedish poets.

17 May is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (#IDAHOT), and the theme for 2022 is: “Our Bodies, Our Live, Our Rights”. The LGBTIQ+ community chose 17 May to mark the date in 1990, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. The day is celebrated with events in 130 countries, including 37 where same-sex acts remain illegal today. To show our support for the LGBTIQ+ community, the buildings of the Flemish public administration and several of Flanders’ Diplomatic Representations abroad are flying the rainbow flag.

On 24 March 2022, the Delegation of Flanders in Malawi launched four new projects focussing on access to markets for smallholder farmers. Strong partnerships of NGOs partnering with SMEs like Kwithu Kitchen and Thanthwe Farms or the Lilongwe University of Natural Resources, coupled with a focus on value chains such as groundnuts, soya, honey, fish, tomatoes, onions and beef, are optimal for guaranteeing markets to farmers for their produce.

On March 24, 2022, the seventh Joint Committee for Cooperation between Flanders and South Africa took place. The Flemish delegation met at the Errerahuis, the official residence of the Minister-President in Brussels, and the South African delegation took part in the meeting virtually. The Governments of Flanders and South Africa have maintained good relations for more than twenty-five years.

On Tuesday 15 March, the Bilateral Consultation between Flanders and South Africa took place online, co-chaired by National Treasury and Flanders Chancellery and Foreign Office. Partners participating included the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the South African Weather Service (SAWS), the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the University of Cape Town (UCT), the Water Research Commission (WRC), the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). Also the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) attended the meeting.

The Government of Flanders launches a Call for Proposals (CfP), inviting multiple non-state actors to submit proposals that seek to support the implementation of provincial plans of Tete, Mozambique, focusing on the demand side for the improvement of SRHR service delivery to the general population, with specific attention to inclusiveness towards vulnerable groups.

The Government of Flanders has committed 2.4 million Euro (approx. R41m) to a project aiming to strengthen the adaptation capacity for a green and resilient economy in South Africa.

The project was designed in consultation with national counterparts in South Africa, including the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), as well as industry-facing national agencies such as the National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). The funding was approved in response to a proposal by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). UNIDO will also be the international implementer of the project.

On 1 January, a project with the Water Research Commission (WRC) was launched in Limpopo, South Africa. This project is entitled 'Adaptative response and local scale adaptation for improving water security and increasing resilience to climate change in selected communities in Giyani', and was awarded a subsidy of EUR 2,391,986 by the Government of Flanders. The subsidy is part of the Country Strategy Paper for development cooperation drawn up between Flanders and South Africa for the period 2017 to 2021.