Article
UNESCO Launches a New Project to Help Creatives Seize the Opportunities Offered by the Digital Environment
I have really struggled with involving other Ministries in our activities and the elaboration of strategic documents. I am really interested to learn how other countries are doing this.
The digital environment presents both challenges and opportunities for the cultural and creative industries. Unfair pay, piracy, and censorship are just a few of the issues.. The new digital environment also presents a unique possibility for more people to engage and participate in cultural life. However, this depends on ensuring that strong laws and policies are in place to protect artists and cultural professionals and in turn safeguard the diversity of cultural expressions.
With generous support from France, on 20 September 2022, UNESCO launched a new project to help three countries - Georgia, Uganda and Zimbabwe - adapt to the new digital environment by implementing policy-driven capacity building activities for creative professionals. All countries are focusing on strengthening the skills of cultural professionals for better access to the digital sphere.
Guided by the , this new project began with a peer-to-peer exchange between France, Georgia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. France offered insights on the design of their national roadmap and shared their experiences and lessons learned. Georgia, Uganda and Zimbabwe then presented their plans for the implementation of activities in line with the Open Roadmap.
More than 20 people participated in the launch representing the national teams, including Ministries of Culture, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other Ministries related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT), labour and trade.
Throughout the discussion, it became clear that multi-stakeholder participation is essential for the advancement of creative policies for the digital environment, including the involvement of relevant Ministries, civil society organizations, as well as the private sector and cultural and creative professionals themselves.
Moreover, the opportunity to share peer-to-peer learning experiences among pilot countries is extremely valuable and appreciated by those leading the implementation of the Open Roadmap. The launch successfully facilitated the exchange of good practices for policy making, and allowed all countries to see that the opportunities and challenges of the digital environment go beyond national borders; since all creative professionals in the three participating Member States face identical challenges.
UNESCO will continue to support information sharing and peer-to-peer exchanges between participating Parties as the implementation of the project unfolds.
