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(06/05/10) Embracing culture in development

The success of development policy depends on its understanding of cultural sensitivities. The two are inexorably intertwined. This emerged from the International Colloquium held in Brussels in April 2009, and was followed up by the Spanish Presidency of the EU in an International Seminar on Culture and Development, held in Girona, Spain, on 4-6 May.

The main objective of the seminar was to integrate culture into European development policy, as a means to attain development objectives. Best practices were shared and analysed to see how best to implement cultural objectives in development actions.

Previously, development policies aimed at delivering key economic benefits and focused almost exclusively on growth. Socio-cultural aspects only came into the picture in the 1970s when beneficiary countries claimed that not enough attention was being given to defending their cultural identity, or for that matter, their views on how development should be handled. Francesca Mosca, Quality of Operations Director of the EU’s EuropeAid Co-operation Office, highlighted this point when she stressed that there can be no ‘sustainable economic and social development without properly taking into account the cultural dimension’.

Thanks in part to a globalised world and greater interconnectivity between regions and continents, the approach to development co-operation has changed dramatically. It has now evolved into a more equal partnership, where needs are listened to, and policies adapted to meet new realities. Indeed, culture has risen sharply up the development agenda, with the EU’s Deputy Director-General for Development, Christian Leffler, emphasising that ‘culture should be a core feature of EU development policies’, and that it ‘has a strong value as a social and economic driving force’.

"There is no such thing as aid effectiveness if we cannot be receptive, imaginative or creative when dealing with local cultures and traditions." Christian Leffler, Deputy Director-General of DG Development

While everyone agrees that combating poverty and hunger is something development co-operation has to prioritise, the people who are affected by poverty and hunger, and the communities they live in, are made up of cultural elements that remain irreplaceable in keeping their social fabric in tact. Previously, cultural aspects of development were seen as barriers in achieving the purely economic objectives of development – such as an ancient burial site getting in the way of new road construction. This point was driven home by Deputy Director-General Leffler: ‘A number of ambitious development programmes have failed in the past because of the lack of understanding and adaptation to local cultures. There is no such thing as aid effectiveness if we cannot be receptive, imaginative or creative when dealing with local cultures and traditions.’

This way of seeing culture as an obstacle is now outdated, and modern development policies take cultural needs into account. Mr Leffler underlined this notion when he said that ‘culture is embedded in the heart of development itself’. However, despite the obvious benefits culture has on development policy in areas such as education and social inclusion, it has not yet been extended to include all areas of development policy.

 

Incorporating culture into the MDGs

While progress has been made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), civil society organisations have often criticised the technocratic approach development policy has taken in meeting the targets.

The United Nations Millennium Fund took a step in the right direction towards alleviating civil society’s worries by including the culture and development window in the fund, with a budget of approximately €95 million for 18 projects. Some European countries ( Finland, Spain, Denmark and Sweden for example) have now put together strategies to intertwine culture and development for future programmes.

Indeed, in these troubled times of economic downturn, culture can provide a much needed respite and trigger economic growth. For example, in Europe in 2003, the cultural sector accounted for 2.6% of GNP, and grew 12.3% more than the average growth in Europe between 1999 and 2003. In addition, while total employment rates in the EU fell in 2002-2004, the cultural sector enjoyed a 1.85% increase in the same period. Cultural sectors have significant economic potential in developing countries as well. In Mali, for example, the direct economic weight of the cultural sectors reached 2.38% of the GDP in 2006, which is subsequently reflected in terms of employment in around 115.000 jobs in 2004, approximately 5.85% of the overall active population in Mali.

The benefits of cultural inclusion were emphasised in a panel discussion during the seminar on the linkages between culture and economy. ‘Creativity is the source of innovation and innovation is the source of development,’ said EuropeAid’s Mosca. Through supporting culture, economies can be diversified; the generation of exports can bring in foreign currency and create income for the most underprivileged areas. This could, in turn, help combat poverty, and move towards achieving the MDGs.

Delegates at the seminar highlighted the fact that in order for culture to become a cross-cutting priority in development co-operation, it must be mentioned in the same breath as the environment, human rights or gender equality. The main problem with integrating culture into development policy is that there are no specific guidelines on how to organise cultural mainstreaming. Methodologies need to be implemented and a change of mindset has to occur to detach the new from the old.

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