Culture and development: have your say

The Commonwealth Foundation's Culture and Diversity programme invites you to shape and influence its future work on culture, development and cultural policy.

 

  • Culture and development: have your say

    Ahead of next year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and Commonwealth People's Forum (CPF) in Trinidad and Tobago, the Foundation is seeking to develop and promote greater understanding of how culture is linked to development. We want to facilitate real and meaningful dialogue between the governments and civil societies of Commonwealth member states on culture and development, and we can only do so with your help.


    As ongoing follow up to the Commonwealth Foundation's 'Putting Culture First' research project (click here to find out more), we'd like to invite you to join a discussion on the following themes and share your views on culture and development. The discussion is open to those from all backgrounds, and requires no prior experience or expertise in the field. We're as interested in hearing from people with development experience as those with a background in culture.

    • Is culture really the missing link in development?


      • Culture matters. It’s everywhere around us in everyday life, and influences so much of what we do. But while people increasingly claim that culture matters in development, what does this actually mean in practice? How can something often seen as amorphous be linked with development policies, whether national or international? In fact, can they even be linked meaningfully? If culture is to become a fundamental pillar of development, what groundwork do we first need to do? How can practical connections be made and what are the limitations?
    • What’s the creative sector like in your country?


      • What is your experience of the creative sector in your own country? Does film production flourish, but musical creativity struggle? How about literature and publishing? How far is the domestic market penetrated by foreign imports? Does home-grown talent have an outlet and a way of surviving or even flourishing? And what does the creative sector contribute to your society? Does it give the audience more than entertainment, or the artist more than a source of income? Finally, what has your government done to foster and support the creative sector and what else could it do?
    • Culture and trade: friends or enemies?


      • Is there a natural antagonism between promoting the diversity of cultures and free trade? Some have seen the recent UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions which asserts the special nature of cultural products and expressions beyond economic value as an attempt to balance out the two, and to reaffirm the importance of culture for development. But is the solution simply a case of keeping two natural enemies – culture and trade – at arm’s length from each other, or is there a way we can harness culture’s potential to contribute to the development of the creative economy?
    • Culture: creative force or drag on progress?


      • Cultural diversity is increasingly being acknowledged across the world as a potential resource and source of strength and resilience in many respects. But when traditions within local cultures come into contact – and often conflict – with principles such as universal human rights and universally-agreed development goals, tension and trouble seems to brew. How can we protect and promote basic human rights, for example related to gender and sexuality, without infringing upon the right to difference and respect for one’s own culture? And how do we tackle instances where culture is seen to act as a drag on progress, such as limiting gender equality? Or is there something more forward-looking about creative people, who can often be at the vanguard of social change and transformation?