UNIVERSITY-CIVIL SOCIETY COLLABORATION FOR IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN THE BRAZILIAN NORTHEAST Henrique Menezes, PhD, Federal University of Paraíba (corresponding author) hzmenezes@ccsa.ufpb.br Cidade Universitária, s/n, DRI/CCSA João Pessoa, PB, 58045-900 Xaman Minillo, Federal University of Paraíba, xamankorai@gmail.com Inalda Barros Béder, UNPD Analyst, inalda.beder@undp.org ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to present the activities of the research and community engagement project "Civil Society Participation in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals" which has been developed by the Department of International Relations at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) since January of 2015. The project has two main lines of action: 1. The dissemination of the UN development agenda, through courses and training offered to organized civil society groups, public managers, educational institutions and other interested political and civil associations. 2. Mapping all the research projects and engagement activities promoted by UFPB and categorizing them according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals with the purpose of collaborating with the implementation process of the goals in the region. During the last months, in partnership with the UNDP local representation, the Department of International Relations collaborated with more than 10 training courses for political actors on UN Development Goals in four states in the Brazilian northeast, with important results. In addition, the project developed a comprehensive evaluation of the research activities and other community engagement projects being developed in UFPB that can contribute to local development, categorizing these actions taking as reference SDGs. The idea is to encourage the dissemination of these projects in a way they can contribute to local administrations and create synergies with social and productive actors in the region. The Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) is one of the largest public universities in Brazil, with a huge budget and a significant number of research and engagement projects running nowadays. The university is located in one of the poorest states of the federation, Paraíba (23 rd place among 26 states in terms of HDI), in the Brazilian Northeast, the region which, as a whole, has the lowest levels of human development in the country. Therefore, the university can contribute actively and deeply in the process of regional development, creation of creative and intelligent solutions to local problems and, at the end, meeting SDGs Objectives.