The development dimension
2
require coherent multidisciplinary policies, determination in their implementation, financial and human resources devoted to the creative industries and an environment conducive to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and intellectual property rights. The African Cultural Common Market is intended to be the framework for the reorganization and restructuring of the African cultural spaces and market. The African Union established the Economic, Social and Cultural Council in March 2005, with full establishment of the African Economic Community expected to take place in 2025, aiming at strengthening the linkages between cultural, economic and social policies. On the other hand, the cultural sector and the creative industries are gradually becoming an instrument for the achievement of broader development goals and are able to receive funding. Four African countries — Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal — integrated culture into their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) as “major axes”,11 highlighting the contribution that the cultural sector can make to poverty reduction. In the case of Ghana, at the first PRSP emphasis was placed on the development and promotion of the music and film industries. More recently in 2009-2010 the creative community has been proactively working on its successor, the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II, putting emphasis on the creative industries as potential sources for employment generation, wealth creation and skill development. The government is committed to promoting research into existing policies, and reviewing the legal framework for the cultural sector with the aim of expanding opportunities for specialists in the creative industries to acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and resources. Creative industries became one of the indicators for production and employment in the GPRS-II, focusing on creating opportunities for distribution, exhibitions of creative products (visual arts, crafts, fashion, etc.) and the promotion of live performances nationally and internationally. This policy development has encouraged the private sector and other stakeholders to initiate target programs. Progress made so far indicates that the cultural sector attracted substantial donor support in 2008 for various activities identified under the GPRS-II. Since 2007, UNCTAD has been interacting with the government, the creative community and the local World Bank office to strengthen the creative economy in Ghana as a feasible development option. 11 12 13
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Sagnia (2006). UNCTAD (December 2006). UNCTAD (June 2009).
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The PRSP for Mali links culture with religion, social harmony and security as a major focus for the country’s poverty reduction efforts. This is in recognition of the potential of Malian culture in promoting traditional and religious values with a view to creating a climate of social harmony and security. In recognition of the tremendous potential of Nollywood, the home video film industry of Nigeria (see box 9.4), the Nigerian PRSP identifies culture as a priority poverty reduction strategy. Senegal also recognized the potential value of crafts to the national economy and included it as one of its principal poverty reduction strategies. In 2006, the Second Meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministers of Culture gathered ministers from 79 States from the ACP regions, and sent a clear political message reflected in the adopted resolutions emphasizing that cultural policies are essential components for the development strategies of ACP States and that cultural diversity is a factor of social cohesion and stability at the national and international levels. The ministers reaffirmed the relevance of the Dakar Declaration for the promotion of ACP cultures and their cultural industries. In this regard, a multi-agency project proposal for “Strengthening the Creative Industries in Five Selected ACP Countries through Employment and Trade” was approved in 2007. The project is under implementation by ILO, UNCTAD and UNESCO with funds from the European Commission and institutional support from the ACP secretariat. The beneficiary countries for this pilot project are: Fiji, Mozambique, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia.12 In 2009, the European Commission convened a policy-oriented international colloquium “Culture and creativity as vectors of development” in the context of the EU-ACP policy. About 800 participants gathered in Brussels, including not only government officials but also members of the creative and artistic community with the aim of advancing cooperation on culture and creative industries, including through negotiations for Economic Partnerships Agreements.13 In April 2008, UNCTAD launched its Creative Africa Initiative during its Ministerial Conference UNCTAD XII held in Accra, Ghana, with the objective to promote African creative industries through partnerships, ownership and international cooperation. Some African governments, especially Ghana and Nigeria, committed to move ahead the Creative Africa concept and to put in place a strategy for enhancing