Strengthening the Governance of Culture to Unlock Development Opportunities: Results of the UNESCO-EU Expert Facility Project

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The Technical Assistance Program to Strengthen the Governance of Culture in Developing Countries began in 2010 through a partnership between UNESCO and the European Union and was designed both to strengthen developing countries’ cultural governance and to consolidate culture’s potential role in sustainable development and poverty reduction. The program was open to developing countries that had ratified the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and were eligible under the European Union Investing in People thematic program.

The new report presents concrete results from in-the-field projects in thirteen countries that have received highly specialized, expert technical assistance in implementing the 2005 Convention. Among project achievements is the creation of an expert facility dealing with fields covered by the Convention : cultural industries and policy and measures relating to cultural industries, artists, and cultural goods and services. The project permitted member states that applied for it to operationalize the 2005 Convention at the national level. The results have been very encouraging and should serve as a model for other partnerships of this type.