Through a training and updating programme in management, mediation and cultural policies for women and young creators, the organisation Mujeres en las Artes "Leticia de Oyuela" has launched the project "Strengthening the capacities of women and young creators towards an inclusive cultural policy in Honduras".
This project, implemented with the financial assistance of UNESCO Fund for Cultural Diversity (FIDC), seeks to strengthen the role of civil society in the formulation of cultural policies, prioritising the participation of women and young creators.
The training programme is intended to be an opportunity for updating and exchange on key issues for the management, mediation and construction of cultural policies from the territories. The beneficiaries are artists, producers and cultural agents from four regions of Honduras; they are established professionals and emerging young people in disciplines such as performing arts, oral storytelling, alternative creative techniques, urban art and local identity manifestations, among others.
The first phase of the project consists of a virtual training course delivered by international experts in 10 sessions between March and June 2022. Around 100 participants have signed up for the course. It will consist of three modules: cultural management, by Mr Jordi Prado (Spain); cultural and artistic mediation, by Ms Gemma Carbó (Spain) and cultural policy advocacy, by Ms Lucina Jiménez (Mexico). This programme is the first activity of the project, which ultimately seeks to generate a network of women and young people for the development of regional and national cultural policy strategies, as well as to create a platform for the promotion, dissemination and advocacy of an inclusive cultural development policy, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
The inauguration session of this programme took place on 5 March 2022 and was attended by representatives of the organisation Mujeres en las Artes "Leticia de Oyuela" and Ms. Caroline Munier, Culture Programme Specialist of the UNESCO San José Office in San José, with representation before Honduras.
The project we are launching today focuses on the training of women and young people, two key populations to harness the full potential of the cultural and creative industries. The field of culture, , indeed, offers opportunities to diverse population groups that often suffer from diferent forms of social, economic and political exclusion; for that reason, it is considered as an essential field for the reduction of inequalities.
The IFCD is a mechanism for international cooperation and financial assistance within the framework of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and aims to foster the emergence of dynamic cultural sectors in developing countries. The project presented by the Association Women in the Arts "Leticia de Oyuela" was one of the six projects selected worldwide to receive this assistance, among more than a thousand proposals received from more than 102 countries. Through this project, UNESCO intends to continue supporting Honduras in promoting the participation of civil society organisations in cultural governance, especially in the field of cultural and creative industries.