CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CDEA is a creative think-tank that promotes the use of culture as tool for sustainable development. To solve the numerous social, political and economic challenges faced in Africa, it is vital to address the cultural dynamics and nuances that these social challenges exist in. The traditional solution to solve challenges in Africa has been to push for more donor funding and invest in education. Whereas money and education are important, we must address the cultural components of existential issues to achieve sustainable development.CDEA believes that culture is as an enabler of sustainable development that provides peoples and communities with a strong sense of identity and social cohesion and contributes to more effective and sustainable development policies and measures at all levels. Therefore, there is need to have policies responsive to cultural contexts that can yield better, sustainable, inclusive and equitable development outcomes.CDEA’s work promotes Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 27:

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits 2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author CDEA’S global objective can further be illustrated using the alternative framework for sustainable development shown below