Burkina Faso presents its second periodic report on the implementation of the 2005 Convention

After a consultation meeting held on 30 November 2016 in Ouagadougou and a training workshop in Bobo Dioulasso between 24 and 26 January 2017, a restitution workshop was held on Tuesday 25 April 2017 at the Ouagadougou City Council, in the presence of the national team responsible for drawing up the periodic report.

"This is a work that is to be commended both for its content and for the highly participatory approach adopted", said Mr. Aristide Ongone Obame, FAO Representative in Burkina Faso and the Leader of the Sectoral Framework for Dialogue on Culture, Sport , Hobbies. This is how we can summarize what Burkina Faso achieved in 5 months.

Involving key stakeholders in the government sector, civil society, cultural sectors and the media, the periodic report was drafted with the support of two members of UNESCO's bank of experts Francisco d'Almeida and Valeria Marcolin .

Every four years, countries that have ratified the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions commit to submit a report on the policies and measures implemented, the emerging issues and the challenges encountered.

Burkina Faso, which ratified the Convention in September 2006, submitted its first report in 2013. As part of the project "Enhancing fundamental freedoms through the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions", financed by the Swedish Government, UNESCO is helping to strengthen the capacities of countries to better assess their needs through in-depth dialogues between government officials and civil society actors on cultural policies to be carried out.

The partners present at the restitution were able to attest the quality of the work carried out, culminating in the drafting of a report analyzing more than 37 measures related to the implementation of the Convention and addressing all its monitoring areas of intervention: cultural policies, international cooperation, cooperation with civil society, culture and development, preferential treatment, media diversity, etc.

"Today, due to the cross-cutting nature of this Convention, other Ministries, civil society actors and cultural operators are invited to participate in the policy monitoring process for the diversity of cultural expressions", underlined again Aristide Ongone Obame.

The workshop identified a number of measures aimed at strengthening the diversity of cultural expressions in Burkina Faso. Among the main recommendations, the creation of an inter-ministerial consultation framework and a multi-party monitoring mechanism on the implementation of the Convention. The precariousness of the cultural sector with regard to public and private financing, the  dependence on foreign aid and the development of audiences have also been the subject of exchanges, and accordingly recommendations have been formulated. The operationalization of the Fund for Cultural Development and Tourism represents a concrete first response to these challenges: "I would like to reassure you of our determination to continue our efforts. I will be attentive to the recommendations that will come out of this workshop and will be taken diligently to implement them, "said Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism Mr. Tahirou Barry.

The second periodic report will soon be formally submitted to UNESCO and published on the 2005 Convention website, thus helping to raise awareness of Burkina Faso's experience in promoting the diversity of cultural expressions. It will also enrich the Second Global Monitoring Report of the 2005 Convention, to be published in December 2017, based particularly on the analysis of all the periodic reports submitted.