Burkina Faso: Making art and culture education a reality
Through its Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Sustained Development 2011–2015, Burkina Faso has recognized cultural and creative industries as a national priority for development. Despite the Education Act in 1996 and the 2008 National Policy on Culture, progress has been slow, due to weak national legislations in the area of culture, limited financial and human resources, lack of recognition for the legal status of the artist. In order to promote the power and relevance of cultural and artistic education for young people, authorities from Burkina Faso sought technical assistance from UNESCO. Two international experts were selected to help Burkina Faso achieve this objective, in close collaboration with a national inter-ministerial committee composed of both cultural and educational ministerial representatives.
The aim of the project was to assist the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Burkina Faso in valorizing arts and culture in the educational system and integrating cultural and artistic modules into the national education curriculum, thus paving the way for the preparation and adoption of a new national strategy.
The Strategy for the Development of the Arts and Culture in the Burkina Faso Education System was presented and validated in July 2012 during a public multi-stakeholder workshop.
The Strategy was then adopted by the Government in October 2015.
Please consult here a summary of the overall resultsof the missions and the future steps to be taken.
During their first country mission, the experts met and consulted around fifteen stakeholders involved with cultural and artistic education:
- the Ministers for Education and Literacy, for Secondary and Higher Education, and for Culture and Tourism;
- directors of higher education institutions;
- representatives of public training institutions, museums and schools;
- personalities from the Burkina Faso cultural scene; and
- representatives of international cooperation organizations working in the field of culture and/or education in the country.
These meetings helped to survey existing practices within the education system with a view to elaborating a preliminary strategy addressing country challenges. The outline of the strategy was elaborated with relevant stakeholders.
During the second country mission, and a comprehensive consultation process with various stakeholders (including notably the relevant Ministries of Culture, Education, and Higher Education, teacher unions, UNICEF and ECOWAS), the strategy was evaluated and revised.