'Putting Culture First'
In March 2008, the Commonwealth Foundation's Culture and Diversity Programme launched a major research project into culture, cultural policy and development, called "Putting Culture First".
The report is available for download at the bottom of this page. The primary research material canalso be downloaded.
Protecting and promoting one's own culture while recognising and valuing the existence of others has been a fundamental challenge through much of the Commonwealth's history. Maintaining cultural diversity, though, is more than an end in itself, and in recent decades global efforts have increasingly been made to recognise the other numerous connections between culture and development.
Some links, of course, are more obvious than others. Culture has been widely used as an instrument of development and governance, and the Commonwealth Foundation's Culture Toolkit documents examples of best practice, such as the use of radio to increase accountability in Belize. Similarly, there's a lot of value in the adoption of culturally sensitive and sustainable methods to pursue development goals, such as spreading the message of HIV/AIDs prevention through local cultural methods. The creative industries are increasingly being seen as generators of economic development, and potential supporters of sustainable livelihoods.
But how does 'culture' become intrinsic to development, rather than simply instrumental? Putting Culture First is a research project recognising culture as a foundational pillar of development, and seeking to identify what the principal connections look like in practice.
One departure point is a focus on cultural policy. A recent UNESCO Convention, entering force in 2007, promises to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. Issues such as copyright, international trade rights in the cultural sector and assistance for artists and cultural practitioners are all tackled by the Convention. In particular, though, it is through the affirmation of states' sovereign right to adopt and implement cultural policies aimed at fostering the growth of the creative industries that the Convention seeks to release the economic, social and human development potential of culture. In November 2007, Commonwealth civil society called upon member states to ratify and implement the Convention.
The Convention, however, focuses primarily on the creative industries; arts, literature, film, music and so on. Good cultural policy aimed at fostering creativity in these fields is increasingly being seen as a prerequisite for social development. But it is also entirely possible that cultural policy may not turn out to be the silver bullet some believe it to be, and that an anthropological interpretation of 'culture' as something more behavioural and everyday still holds weight. Engaging with different approaches to culture and development, as well as conceptualising related issues of creativity, identity, transformation, social cohesion and building a 'good society', are therefore paramount concerns for Commonwealth governments and civil society.
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