Algeria: Starting a dialogue on the governance of culture
A national training workshop will be organised in Algiers, Algeria, from 13 to 15 November 2019. Led by Christine Merkel, Member of the UNESCO Expert Facility, the workshop will discuss the process leading to the preparation of the Quadrennial Periodic Report on the implementation of UNESCO’s Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions (2005). A multi-stakeholder national team, whose role is to collect necessary information for the Report in an inclusively manner, will attend the training.
The workshop builds on the multi-stakeholder consultation on 1-2 October 2019, during which the participants discussed key features of the country’s cultural governance landscape including the 2011 laws on cinema, the 2015 law on the promotion of the book, available funds for creative workers, and the cooperatives in various disciplines (e.g. theatre, living art and dance). The consultation also recognized the need to support regional festivals that celebrate local cultures as well as expand access to cultural offerings in rural areas. The meeting touched on the status of the artist in Algeria: the National Council for Arts and Humanities was identified as the lead to pursue Artists’ Identity card, a system to allow artists to access social security and pension benefits.
This periodic report due in 2020 will be Algeria’s first submission since the ratification of the 2005 Convention in 2015. It will highlight achievements and challenges in the governance of culture and creativity and will start a dialogue on cultural policy-making and monitoring between various stakeholders.
The capacity-building activities are part of the project “Reshaping Cultural Policies for the Promotion of Fundamental Freedoms and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The project, which includes 16 beneficiary countries amongst which Algeria, aims to strengthen the human and institutional capacities of governmental and civil society actors in order to monitor and report on policies and measures that protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions.
