The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, launched, on March 20, 2023, at the Regional Institute for Higher Education and Research in Cultural Development (IRES-RDEC) in Lomé, the review of the cultural policy adopted in March 2011. This exercise will be marked by the collection of data on the strengths and weaknesses of this policy from cultural actors and other stakeholders , to pave the way for the formulation of new directions.
After twelve years of implementation, Togo’s cultural policy is subject to review. The launch of this exercise took place on March 20, 2023, during a ceremony in Lomé. It will be a question of submitting a questionnaire protocol to cultural actors and other stakeholders in culture in the different economic regions of the country and in Greater Lomé, to collect data that should make it possible to assess the level of achievement of the objectives assigned to the cultural policy being implemented. The data provided will be processed and terms of reference drawn up, with a view to updating the cultural policy. The proposals formulated by these actors will also contribute to the establishment of a more effective cultural policy. But, before getting there, a round table will bring together cultural actors, the guarantors of habits and customs, as well as representatives of other sectors involved in culture, to discuss the new deal, as well as the paradigms to be taken. taken into account when updating this policy.
In launching this magazine, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Kossi Gbényo Lamadokou, indicated that culture is one of the pillars of development in emerging countries and is at the same time the foundation, the factor and the purpose of sustainable human development. ” It gives us our identity in this world where everything tends to become universal. A true provider of jobs and wealth, it contributes to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) “, he specified. Mr. Lamadokou recalled that Togo is in the process of reform with the 2020-2025 roadmap and to do this, it is important to have the directives and tools necessary to achieve the expected objectives of the sector, in particular that of structural transformation, with a view to strong, sustainable, resilient, inclusive growth, creating decent jobs and leading to the improvement of social well-being. The Minister also reported that at the time of the United Nations 2030 agenda and faced with the many upheavals and changes that have occurred, twelve years after the adoption of the cultural policy, it is important that we take stock of the progress made, in order to define the appropriate and more suitable legal, institutional and operational frameworks, with a view to better anchoring culture in the various development policies. ” Moreover, learning from the consequences of the global health crisis linked to Covid-19 which has hit the cultural ecosystem as a whole hard and exacerbated its structural weaknesses and inequalities, including social gaps between gender and unequal access, it is imperative to carry out a readjustment of actions, while taking into account the resilience measures necessary for the consolidation of the cultural sector “, he explained.
The Director General of the Regional Institute for Higher Education and Research in Cultural Development (IRES-RDEC), Pr Kodjona Kadanga, for his part, recognized that for more than half a century, the importance of policies in the development of States has become a real global issue for which UNESCO has resolutely invested itself. And as proof, Professor Kadanga mentioned the first world conference on cultural policies organized in Mexico City in 1982, that of Stockholm in 1998, then recently, that of 2022 held again in Mexico City 50 years later and which enabled States to draw up the review and reinstate culture at the heart of development policies, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Francoise AOUI
