Why development experts ought to prioritise culture

Often times, we have seen a number of macro-economic policies in Rwanda yield less significant development outcomes than what our economists and development experts in the Ministry of Finance predict.Not surprisingly, such should be the destiny of policies, later alone projects designed stringently within the realms of western modernisation.Rwanda, being a country that significantly depends on western aid, its development strategies rely, to a considerable magnitude, in the importation of western modernisation, in form Western technology, techniques, practices, and organisational and management methods, for application in almost all sectors of the national economy.Nevertheless, Rwanda has, in the last decade, pulled off a rare “hat trick” of rapid growth, by any measure: Gross Domestic Product has consistently grown, inflation has been restricted to single digit and national savings have increased consistently.As a way of improving the wellbeing of Rwandans, the government has invested heavily in infrastructure; electricity connections increased, classified national road network in good condition, access to clean water increased, and poverty significantly reduced.The ICT growth has also seen unprecedented internet penetration, and with over 49 per cent of the population having access to mobile phones. My opinion is that meaningful development with intrinsic value cannot be explained in terms of numbers only but the totality of a people’s way of life as deduced from material and non-material aspects of their life such as clothing, values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings and customs.Vision 2020, a living document that outlines ambitious plans for Rwanda, recognises “culture” but little attention is given on how culture can be used as a recipe in transforming Rwanda’s economy and livelihood of its people. Here is a section in Vision 2020 document on culture: “Rwanda will become a modern, united and prosperous nation founded on the positive values of its culture...”Granted! Culture is dynamic and sometimes transformative; some cultural scholars have gone overboard to hypothesise that “all successful models of development are essentially cultural.”These scholars are inspired by a worldview which reflects a people’s hopes and aspirations, determines their life goals; moulds their notion of what constitutes the good life and the type of society they construct to achieve it; shapes the institutions they create to sustain that society and influences their choice of solutions for the problems that confront it.The culture sector in Rwanda has been growing to the point that it now includes the cultural industries, albeit it has not set aside the manifestations that exist in the verge of mass and traditional production.If cultural activities are part or not part of the market, they have economic dimensions because they presuppose the use of resources as any other economic activity.Culture is an indispensable element for social cohesion and the reconstruction of an identity, an economic sector equally or even more important than any other productive sector of society.It goes without saying that the economic transactions that take place in the deepest heart of culture generate positive economic outcomes such as learning and knowledge.Cultural industries constitute a major part in the scope of development. In his book, Culture and human development: relations who move, German Rey (2000) stated that “cultural industries participate in both the construction of social identities and in promoting a fabric of symbolic production and cultural appropriation.In that fabric, development itself is depicted, the drama of modernisation is staged, and aspirations and collective demands of broad segments of society are mobilised.”Therefore, cultural industries are an integral part of development through their contribution to the economy, employment, and material welfare.To stitch together culture and development in a Rwandan context, one should start by addressing the ugly trend that makes western countries inventors of cultural and technological initiatives that are ultimately consumed by Rwandans.A major step in addressing the issue of a Rwandan cultural policy would involve commissioning professionals in the area of conservation of our heritage to present an inventory of our works of art, art forms, folk history or oral tradition and practices.More outstandingly, our cultural policy must change, and soon, before things fall apart and issues reach beyond repair. Cultural policy in Rwanda must update its role two-fold: first, it must broaden its vision of culture so that policy covers and fully acknowledges the forms of cultural expression channelled through cultural industries but taking into account of activities that are still away from the margins of commercial culture. Secondly, the state should take into account all players in the cultural industry value chain in the process of designing and formulating sector policies, as it is such players who may generate true assessments of the major problems they face.The specialists of different cultural manifestations fields should make sure that investment in content innovation is not absent of any governmental programmes.New mechanisms and negotiating arguments by the Ministry of Sports and Culture for obtaining budgetary resources must be available which, on the one hand, should keep with the economic contribution made by the sector and, on the other, meet at least two key objectives.These objectives are subsidisation and co-financing of all cultural activities that are not marketable and do not generate economic benefits, but do generate social benefits and to promote industrial processes of undeniable importance for the country’s economic and cultural development.By and large, our culture should be embedded in the holistic macroeconomic policy framework; from taxation to industrialisation policies, and from finance to insurance policies.Like anywhere else, in developed countries, it is prudent that our planners start underscoring Rwandan culture as a stimulus to our economic growth, employment and development.The writer is a cultural heritage analyst/philosophical studies consult.

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Why development experts ought to prioritise culture