One hundred international students gathered for SDG Action Festival in Breda

Starting in the Chapel
During the week of 21 to 26 April, the groups met in person for the first time on the BUas campus. Under the guidance of twelve lecturers from the partner universities, the students spent two days working on the concrete details of the pop-up event in the Chapel. The space was set up as one large event agency with twenty tables for the twenty student groups.

On the first day, everyone arrived feeling a bit apprehensive and unsure of what to expect. A number of Portuguese students had booked an Airbnb in Hoeven and cycled to Breda, which took an hour. They had decided to do everything 'the Dutch way'. We started with a panel discussion with some provocative statements about the role of the new generation (and the old generation) in issues such as climate change and poverty alleviation. The panel consisted of Ajay Kapur, director of the Academy for Leisure & Events, Anna Koens, member of the BUas Sustainability Team, Peter van der Aalst, MT member for Internationalisation, and Lieve Hezemans, Municipality of Breda.

Getting to work!
Initially, there was some awkwardness – meeting in person is quite different from being online, where you can safely sit behind your laptop and choose whether to turn your sound and camera on or off. That is a lot trickier in real  life. It was wonderful to see how some groups really clicked, and how even the first friendships between students from different countries began to form. At the end of a day full of stimuli and impressions in the beautiful Chapel on the BUas campus, a group of second-year students took over. They engaged the students in a team-building event: a human bingo and a photo game to get to know the city of Breda. Afterwards, there was a pub quiz and, to round off the day, a pre-King’s Night party at café Old Dutch, organised by ESN Breda, complete with the famous Dutch bitterballen!

And back to the Chapel
The next day, everyone was up early. Once again, we started the day in the spacious Chapel, which still served as an event agency, with twenty round tables set up for the mixed student groups. A great sight to see. But first, there was an inspiring lecture by Wim Vermeulen on the importance of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and how to communicate about them. There was an impressive video of a woman from the future (2050) speaking to us from Paris, thanking us for our efforts to think about our planet. It was a great starting point and motivation to contribute through the pop-up events of the SDG Action Festival. The most important message from Wim Vermeulen: 'Trust the signal, not the noise'.

Not only serious and hard work but also informal contact is the strength of this project. There were pizzas for lunch. Domino's pizza had opened its kitchen especially for us. The pizzas were delivered two batches and distributed among the hard-working student groups. In addition to working, a number of groups went to their clients to pick up items (flyers, flags, etc.) and to do some extra shopping for their pop-up event. Additionally, there was a lot of DIY and painting to get everything ready for the next day.

D-Day: SDG Action Festival in Breda
Thursday 24 April was the big day. We had permits for various locations in the city of Breda. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. After weeks, if not months, of beautiful weather in the Netherlands, this was the worst day with rain. However, it was very educational for that very reason. What do you do with your concept? With the location? How did you prepare? Some groups decided to find an indoor location on campus instead of outside in the city.

Materials were partly borrowed from the municipality of Breda, partly from their own clients, and partly from BUas. One of the groups spent the entire morning cooking and preparing snacks from various countries for their pop-up event. The SDG Action Festival 2025 Breda could begin!

From 13.00 to 16.00, the pop-up events took place. All the lecturers involved set out to visit as many events as possible: from De Hoge Vucht (De Nieuwe Veste) in the north of Breda, to Van Coothplein further south in the city. All groups received visits and were assessed on their preparation, concept, and execution. Due to the weather, the number of passers-by was somewhat disappointing, with some exceptions. At De Nieuwe Veste, it was much busier than expected. The student groups felt a great sense of responsibility and all did their very best for their client and for the Sustainable Development Goals.

At 16.00, it was time to clear everything up – wet and cold but satisfied. It went like a charm. The only thing left for the students to do was edit their after-movies. All twenty groups had to upload them by 11.00 the next day, because that was when the jury would meet.  

Award show in XR Stage
Friday was the day of the certificate and award ceremony. Photos from the entire week were shown on the huge screen in the XR Stage. Meanwhile, the jury was busy evaluating the after movies: twenty videos, each lasting one and a half minutes. It was difficult to make a choice. The jury consisted of Bart Derolez, initiator of the Stretch project from Belgium, Carmen Rasmussen from Breda Internationals, Cecile Frijns from UNICEF Breda, and Lieve Hezemans from the Municipality of Breda.

All students and lecturers were also very curious about all the videos, so these were first shown on the big screen in the XR Stage. It was impressive! Fun and high-quality videos of all the pop-up events. The jury then announced the five nominees. These five groups were allowed to give one more short presentation about their pop-up event, after which the jury deliberated. Finally, the winner was announced.

The winner was the group that had developed their pop-up event for Zonta, an organisation that focuses on women's rights. The event was based on the concept of ’Mind the Gap’, to make people aware of the gap that still exists between men's and women's salaries. The students made this very clear by letting people experience it for themselves. This group evolved into a well-functioning team that successfully achieved this result.  

All students received a certificate of participation. Afterwards, it was time for photos and an informal closing event; drinks and a bite to eat from a Mexican food truck. Enjoying the sun (finally...), friendships were strengthened or new ones were made. More than a hundred students and colleagues couldn't get enough. We continued for two hours (!) longer than planned, enjoying drinks and chats. Perhaps this was partly because the tacos and quesadillas took a little longer than planned to arrive. But they were freshly prepared, one by one. Most people were then able to head straight to King’s Night celebrations!

King's Day
It was quite a planning puzzle in advance (the week fell between Easter and King's Day), but all university programmes and holidays were coordinated, and King's Day became part of this week as a Dutch cultural experience. Colleagues from the various universities were taken on a boat trip, starting at Baai. And the weather was on our side again. Lovely fresh, sunny spring weather that kept getting warmer and warmer. Our Portuguese, Finnish, and Belgian colleagues dressed in orange! Orange tompoezen (pastries) on board and off we went! This made the week complete.

We never dared to dream that what started a few years ago as an introduction between various universities, initiated by VIVES Belgium, would result in the third edition of the SDG Action Festival. The collegiality and commitment of all the lecturers involved made this possible. Each in their own way. It is fantastic to be part of this. Roll on the fourth edition in Lapland in 2026!

Written by: Dorothé Gerritsen