The contribution of culture has been invaluable during the current period of crisis as a tool of resilience. For this reason, the culture sector must be considered a key player in economic recovery and the reconstruction of the social fabric in the post-emergency period.
In this sense, UNESCO collaborated with the Educational and Cultural Coordination of the Central American Integration System (CECC-SICA) in the elaboration of a series of recommendations for the implementation of the Collaborative Response Strategy for culture in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative seeks to strengthen institutional capacities to foster the formalization of the sector and its access to social security.
According to the Director of the UNESCO Office in San José,
The Strategy reflects the efforts made by each country to protect its cultural sectors from the sanitary and socio-economic effects of the pandemic, while maintaining access to culture and guaranteeing the exercise of cultural rights despite this difficult situation.
At its extraordinary meeting on September 29, the Council of Ministers of Culture of the CECC-SICA approved the Strategy, which recommends reinforcing the regulatory frameworks and general cultural policies, as well as the data systems on the arts and cultural sectors for the strengthening of cultural governance. In order to support the cultural sectors, it is recommended to work on the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage, especially of indigenous populations and people of African descent, which is threatened by the vulnerability of the elderly to the COVID-19.
The Strategy includes recommendations for economic revival through regional cultural integration. It points out to the importance of developing cultural tourism products in the region, taking into account the 17 World Heritage sites and the 11 elements inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, among other elements.
UNESCO, represented by the Director Esther Kuisch-Laroche, was invited to participate in this meeting of the CECC-SICA, which was attended by the Ministers of Culture of the eight countries of the region.