IFLA at UNESCO MONDIACULT 2025: Highlights and ideas for action

IFLA attended the World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025  to bring the voice of libraries to the table. Hosted by the Government of Spain in Barcelona from 29 September – 1 October 2025, this event has set the global agenda for culture in the years ahead.

 

Key messages:

• IFLA joins partners from the Culture2030Goal Campaign to launch the Culture Goal: Draft 1 at the UGLC Culture Summit
• Ministers call for culture to be considered as an independent goal in its own right in the post-2030 development framework, as well as make bold commitments on culture-based climate action and culture as a human right
• IFLA takes the floor as an observer in the thematic session on cultural rights to highlight libraries as ready-made infrastructure enabling a truly equitable distribution of opportunities to access, contribute to, and benefit from culture.

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The Culture2030Goal Campaign launches the Culture Goal

 

Building on the zero-draft launched at MONDIACULT 2022, the Culture2030Goal Campaign was excited to bring the first draft of an actionable, measurable culture goal into the global conversation. IFLA joined fellow members of the Culture2030Goal Campaign’s international steering group to launch the document at the UGLC Culture Summit on 27 September.

“A culture goal will help us create a common language and a shared framework for action and accountability – critically, one that is shared with actors outside of our sector.” – Secretary General Sharon Memis

• Find out more about the Culture Goal here: “The Culture Goal: from Necessity to Reality”, available in English, French, Spanish and Catalan.
• Have a look at the “Easy Guide on the Culture Goal” with infographics.

IFLA and the Culture2030Goal Campaign on the Agenda

IFLA then co-moderated an official MONDIACULT Side Event with the Culture2030Goal Campaign and National Commissions to UNESCO, including Poland and the UK. Campaign members especially highlighted the full set of targets and indicators in the draft goal.

Members called on partners from civil society, UNESCO National Commissions, and government at all levels to use this framework to prove that culture is not only “goal-able”, but necessary for achieving sustainable development across the agenda.

Joining our Members to Support Libraries

The IFLA team was delighted to be hosted by Catalan members and volunteers at the Biblioteca Garcia Marquez in Barcelona, winner of the IFLA/Systematic Public Library of the Year Award 2023.

We toured the library and discussed what priorities, challenges, and opportunities are being faced by our members in the region. We then joined the Chartered Community of Navarre and Library Cooperation Council of Spain in a side event that exploring the role of libraries as the minimum cultural service with great transformative power. It will help lay foundations for a shared library and information strategy that provides a roadmap toward a library policy that leaves no one behind.

Linking Libraries and Cultural Rights

IFLA was honoured to be able to take the floor as an observer in the thematic session focussing on cultural rights. Sharon Memis joined the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Minister of Culture and Media of Montenegro, the Deputy Secretary General for Culture of Malaysia, and the Permanent Delegatate of the Republic Gabon to UNESCO to share insight on the right to culture.

“Participation in culture is not a luxury – it is essential. And true, inclusive participation begins by meeting people were they are. Libraries are ready-made infrastructure enabling a truly equitable distribution of opportunities to access, contribute to, and benefit from culture”.

“Let us not overlook the power of the most democratic of cultural institutions—libraries. They are where cultural rights come to life” .