Democratic Republic of the Congo: Harnessing the cultural industries' potential for development
In its Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2011–2015, the DRC expressed its willingness to create a national cultural policy.
The country’s achievements include creating a collective society for the management of intellectual property rights, finalizing a national book policy and transforming an existing fund for cultural promotion into an institution for public funding and organizing a cinema week that enabled a mapping of the film sector to be carried out.
The country has however encountered many challenges, such as lack of adequate legislative and regulatory frameworks, limited access to culture, limited qualified cultural actors.
Acknowledging that a coherent cultural policy is essential for development, the Government, through the Ministry of Culture and Arts, sought technical assistance from UNESCO to improve the professionalization of the culture sector and to develop a cultural policy.
The aim of the project was to assist the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) in its efforts to support the role of cultural and creative industries in development, leading to the adoption of a Declaration on Cultural Policy.
The main result of this project was the elaboration and approval of the DRC’s Declaration on Cultural Policy by the National Assembly in August 2013. This Declaration defines the scope, principles and objectives of as well as guidelines and recommendations for a national cultural policy.
Key Components of the Declaration include the following elements:
- Elaborate and implement a program of priority legislative work aimed at regulating the cultural sector by creating laws on the status of artists and on investment in the production of cultural goods and services;
- Elaborate measures to support cultural enterprises such as professional training, support and promotion of cultural enterprises, legal framework, financing and taxation;
- Revise an intervention strategy for a fund to promote culture and support artists;
- Reorganize the secretariat of the Ministry of Culture and Arts based on the principle of complementarity and efficiency.
Please consult here a summary of the overall results of the missions and the future steps to be taken.
During their first country mission, the experts:
- took part in information sessions with stakeholders from the Ministries and the public sector, as well as with national experts, cooperation partners and artistic and cultural groups;
- helped to identify key areas of action for the culture sector, notably the music industry;
- carried out a series of preparatory activities with a view of developing a relevant cultural policy and accompanying sector strategies, notably a training workshop on cultural policy design;
- helped to design a methodological framework in cooperation with the national team for the establishment of a draft Policy Declaration.
During the second country mission, the experts;
- raised awareness among public officials in charge of culture about the importance of associating civil society, and especially cultural operators and their associations;
- brought together working groups combining public representatives and cultural operators to elaborate a preliminary cultural policy declaration; .
- assisted in the finalization of the declaration with the national team, before its presentation to the main national stakeholders for validation;
- participated in the organization and activities of a workshop on the music sector and produced a series of specific recommendations.