ultural life is essential to human wellbeing and dignity. Inclusive fulfillment of culture enhances our quality of life, offers a vital point of connection for individuals and communities, and is a key element in pursuing sustainable development demands. Essential to attaining cultural life, and a driver of sustainable development, are the symbols of our cultural heritage—both tangible and intangible.
Through the Mondiacult 2022: Declaration for Culture, 150 UNESCO Member States called for culture to be integrated as a specific goal in the post-2030 development agenda. They committed to “...foster an enabling environment conducive to the respect and exercise of all human rights, in particular, cultural rights and cultural heritage … in order to build a more just and equitable world and reduce inequalities.”
Cultural heritage can be defined as a collective inheritance that people wish to carry forward, adapt, and use creatively as the basis of their self-determined development. It informs and enriches contemporary culture as an inextricable part of society that shapes our diverse and constantly evolving cultural life. It is “living” and active in the here and now. This can be seen in The British Council’s Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth program in Vietnam, Kenya, and Colombia. These projects are community- and people-led; cocreated and managed with local partners with a range of on-the-ground collaborations made up of local NGOs, community groups, heritage organizations, and indigenous communities. All of these support local communities by promoting their own cultural heritage, leading to inclusive economic growth and improved social welfare and wellbeing that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 8.
A focus on cultural heritage can change perspectives, highlighting the path to the future. What people wish to protect; what they value; what informs their art and self-expression; and what they wish to pass on to future generations, will shape their perspectives on development. It is rooted in places and societies as heritage projects naturally support culturally sensitive approaches and solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. They’re well placed to make local people active players and ensure projects are relevant to them. Heritage can open up difficult conversations, amplifying the voices of marginalized people. By giving value to alternative ways of telling uncomfortable histories, such conversations unsettle ongoing legacies of colonialism, persisting inequalities, and marginalization as well as support the building of new collaborations.
As we approach the UN SDG Review Conference in September, and head towards the next COP in December in the UAE, there is a global opportunity to explore and learn from various approaches to sustainable development. The existing SDGs framework is facing significant challenges in a post-COVID world.
In July 2023, The British Council brought together a range of its cultural heritage projects and organizations in Kenya to explore the theme of cultural heritage and Sustainable Development through an international Learning Gathering. During the gathering, we explored two aspects of cultural heritage that can enable sustainable development in a post-COVID world:
- Cultural heritage is at the heart of human development. The fulfillment of people’s right to cultural life is an essential part of sustainable development because cultural life, in all its forms, is essential to human wellbeing. People all over the world want the spaces around them to be developed in ways that reflect their history—most simply where they’ve come from and where they hope to go. Cultural heritage shapes a person’s values and sense of who they are; their understanding of the present and how it came about; their visions of what different people believe the future should look like; and how they feel that change should be achieved.
- Cultural heritage is a dynamic focus for a sustainable future. This approach brings communities together based on the principle of mutuality and co-creation. We call this the Cultural Relations approach. Cultural Relations serve sustainable development by creating trust, mutual understanding, and sustained cooperation which then promotes peace, justice, and tolerance. By building reciprocal and sustained relationships with external parties, people are better able to fulfill their cultural rights and realize community development objectives. Anchoring these networks in a shared understanding of cultural diversity, empowers people to lead on development that meets their own aspirations while protecting and advancing the rights of others and contributing to action on global environmental and development challenges.
Sustainable Development thus involves the interaction of different communities and organizations from both the local area and across national and cultural boundaries. For those relationships to flourish and be equitable, and for development to succeed and be appropriate for its context, a deep understanding of cultural differences needs to be at the center of the process.
Incorporating heritage into sustainable development can provide pathways that will transcend the paternalism that has defined past development paradigms and support more inclusive and effective solutions with self-determination at the fore.
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Sustainable Development Through the Lens of Cultural Heritage
Photo via Adobe Stock.
September 20, 2023
Inclusive sustainable development requires we learn from other experiences. Incorporating cultural heritage into sustainable development has the potential to help overcome many of the challenges we currently face to progress, particularly in the Global South, write Nikki Locke and Ian Thomas.
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ultural life is essential to human wellbeing and dignity. Inclusive fulfillment of culture enhances our quality of life, offers a vital point of connection for individuals and communities, and is a key element in pursuing sustainable development demands. Essential to attaining cultural life, and a driver of sustainable development, are the symbols of our cultural heritage—both tangible and intangible.
Through the Mondiacult 2022: Declaration for Culture, 150 UNESCO Member States called for culture to be integrated as a specific goal in the post-2030 development agenda. They committed to “...foster an enabling environment conducive to the respect and exercise of all human rights, in particular, cultural rights and cultural heritage … in order to build a more just and equitable world and reduce inequalities.”
Cultural heritage can be defined as a collective inheritance that people wish to carry forward, adapt, and use creatively as the basis of their self-determined development. It informs and enriches contemporary culture as an inextricable part of society that shapes our diverse and constantly evolving cultural life. It is “living” and active in the here and now. This can be seen in The British Council’s Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth program in Vietnam, Kenya, and Colombia. These projects are community- and people-led; cocreated and managed with local partners with a range of on-the-ground collaborations made up of local NGOs, community groups, heritage organizations, and indigenous communities. All of these support local communities by promoting their own cultural heritage, leading to inclusive economic growth and improved social welfare and wellbeing that aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 8.
A focus on cultural heritage can change perspectives, highlighting the path to the future. What people wish to protect; what they value; what informs their art and self-expression; and what they wish to pass on to future generations, will shape their perspectives on development. It is rooted in places and societies as heritage projects naturally support culturally sensitive approaches and solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. They’re well placed to make local people active players and ensure projects are relevant to them. Heritage can open up difficult conversations, amplifying the voices of marginalized people. By giving value to alternative ways of telling uncomfortable histories, such conversations unsettle ongoing legacies of colonialism, persisting inequalities, and marginalization as well as support the building of new collaborations.
As we approach the UN SDG Review Conference in September, and head towards the next COP in December in the UAE, there is a global opportunity to explore and learn from various approaches to sustainable development. The existing SDGs framework is facing significant challenges in a post-COVID world.
In July 2023, The British Council brought together a range of its cultural heritage projects and organizations in Kenya to explore the theme of cultural heritage and Sustainable Development through an international Learning Gathering. During the gathering, we explored two aspects of cultural heritage that can enable sustainable development in a post-COVID world:
- Cultural heritage is at the heart of human development. The fulfillment of people’s right to cultural life is an essential part of sustainable development because cultural life, in all its forms, is essential to human wellbeing. People all over the world want the spaces around them to be developed in ways that reflect their history—most simply where they’ve come from and where they hope to go. Cultural heritage shapes a person’s values and sense of who they are; their understanding of the present and how it came about; their visions of what different people believe the future should look like; and how they feel that change should be achieved.
- Cultural heritage is a dynamic focus for a sustainable future. This approach brings communities together based on the principle of mutuality and co-creation. We call this the Cultural Relations approach. Cultural Relations serve sustainable development by creating trust, mutual understanding, and sustained cooperation which then promotes peace, justice, and tolerance. By building reciprocal and sustained relationships with external parties, people are better able to fulfill their cultural rights and realize community development objectives. Anchoring these networks in a shared understanding of cultural diversity, empowers people to lead on development that meets their own aspirations while protecting and advancing the rights of others and contributing to action on global environmental and development challenges.
Sustainable Development thus involves the interaction of different communities and organizations from both the local area and across national and cultural boundaries. For those relationships to flourish and be equitable, and for development to succeed and be appropriate for its context, a deep understanding of cultural differences needs to be at the center of the process.
Incorporating heritage into sustainable development can provide pathways that will transcend the paternalism that has defined past development paradigms and support more inclusive and effective solutions with self-determination at the fore.
