Culture takes its rightful place next to other development issues at 2007 Commonwealth People's Forum
"You won't realise your potential until you know who you are."
Hazel Brown of the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women was speaking before the Culture in Development workshop of the Commonwealth People's Forum (CPF).
She adds, "The most critical aspects of development and transformation will involve the preservation, retention and transformation of our unique cultures." It is that spirit of preservation, exploration and innovation that the participants of the CPF workshop on culture and development will try to distill into a message for the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
The Commonwealth includes 53 nation states. Within each of those is a multitude of tribal, local and regional cultural traditions. Participants in the culture workshop are spending two days exploring the richness, opportunities and challenges inherent in such diversity.
Each of the speakers on the culture panel stressed both the positive and negative aspects of culture. They said that sustainable development requires understanding and use of the unique cultures within each nation.
While some speakers talked about the importance of cultural understanding for development success, others stressed the potential for cultural traditions to drive and shape development.
Emily Drani from the Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda told participants about projects in Uganda to explore traditional herbal and dietary practices for treatment of people with HIV/AIDS and malaria. Drani says the value of culture goes beyond potential economic development as well.
"In Uganda, there is a tendency to equate development with monetary gain," she says. "But what about the other aspects of culture - the motivation, pride, dignity - that are not measured in shillings?"
Drani says developing countries have much to offer the world in terms of creative traditions and cultural mores. The 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was drafted, in part, to defend people's right to protect and preserve those traditions.
Jim McKee of the Coalition pour la Diversité Culturelle says in a global marketplace, unique traditions are increasingly shared among nations. But he says as the monetary value of culture is understood, the voices of local traditions and creativity are in danger of being drowned out by the cacophony of western digital media.
"This workshop signals that culture is becoming more important in and to the Commonwealth," says Andrew Firmin, Programme Manager for Culture and Diversity at the Commonwealth Foundation and workshop co-organiser. "For the first time, culture takes its rightful place in the Commonwealth next to all the other development issues."
