AFRICAN
ITINERANT COLLEGE FOR
CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT
MECHANISMS FOR CULTURAL
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS
PRESENTED BY:
BURAMA K. SAGNIA
Coordinator, African Itinerant College for
Culture and Development
C/o United Nations African Institute for
Economic Development and Planning
B.P.: 3186
DAKAR, SENEGAL
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION 3
II.
THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE 3
III.
THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL
FACTORS ON
DEVELOPMENT
7
III.a The Constraining
Influences 7
III.b The Supportive
Influences 8
IV.
THE FRAMEWORK FOR A
CULTURE-SENSITIVE
APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT 11
V.
DEVELOPING CULTURAL
INDICATORS
OF DEVELOPMENT 14
VI.
FRAMEWORK FOR CULTURAL
IMPACT
ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT 17
I. INTRODUCTION
A broad assessment of the impact of development should take account of not only quantitative indicators but equally the qualitative, relating to the social and cultural dimensions.
Much progress has been made in coming up with
standard guidelines for social and environmental impact assessment, but to
date, the framework for cultural impact assessment is largely contextualized
and specific to certain organizations or projects. What is required is to
survey the current practices of relevant organizations and projects and
document what tools and processes they have in place for assessing the cultural
impact of their development programs. Then, new tools might have to be
developed to make up for any deficiencies or weaknesses in the existing tools.
The set of new and old techniques and tools should lead us to the development
of relevant guidelines and procedures for integrating cultural impact
assessment tools into development frameworks and processes.
An assessment of the impact of development on
cultures can only be effectively carried out when an evaluation of the baseline
situation is made during the design phase of the project. That way, the impact
of the project can be measured and assessed against the objectives and
expectations mapped out at the onset.
The situational analysis before project commencement
should be able to inform the development agents as to which cultural factors
have constraining or supportive influences on development. On the basis of that
analysis strategies for taking account of culture in project delivery could be
drawn and factored into the project implementation framework.
Cultural indicators could be developed to determine
the extent to which cultures have been positively or negatively influenced by
development.
This presentation will attempt to briefly throw
light on the various issues mentioned above with a view to stimulating debate
on the need for an international set of tools and guidelines for effecting
cultural impact assessment of development with a view to preserving our rich cultural diversity in the face of economic
globalization.
II.
THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Culture is a common word that has long been debated
by many social and cultural anthropologists, and like many words, it comes with
many conceptual problems, much of it vague, some of it contradictory. As a
result, many definitions of culture exist.
In the light of the conceptual confusion any
discussion about culture generates, more often than not the following questions
are posed:
·
There
are several definitions and interpretations of culture – whose definition are
we going to use – peoples definition or expert definition?
·
In
every country there are several subcultures. Which culture is going to be used
for promoting development, and which ones are going to be left out?
·
How
can music, dance, drama or painting be considered as important factors for
social and economic development?
·
As
culture is not static but dynamic, undergoing transformation and change and
constantly responding to collective human needs and conditions, what aspects of
culture are we going to integrate into development – obsolete and dysfunctional
aspects of culture or contemporary cultural institutions, beliefs and value
systems?
·
Is
culture a dimension of development, the basis or spring board or foundation of
development, an external element to be grafted onto or integrated into development,
or an intrinsic and organic part of development?
·
Are
there tools we can use to practically incorporate culture into development? And
·
How
can we measure and evaluate the process of change resulting from the
integration of culture into development?
There are several conceptual issues inherent in any
discussion of culture on its own or culture and development, and unless these
are addressed from the onset, experience shows that it is always difficult to
make any significant headway.
Before any discussion about culture and its impact
on HIV/AIDS and Sustainable Development in Africa, it will be necessary to
first of all understand the conflicts and tensions going on within and without
Cultures and how these conflicts result in conceptual misunderstandings or
misinterpretations of the role and impact of culture on sustainable
development, or HIV/AIDS situation for that matter.
The temptation to create a theory on the stages of
evolution that civilization has to pass through has always existed (Spencer,
1896). These early theories posit that all cultures internally go through an
evolutionary process, in a time-bound scale. In that process cultures generate
elements, add them on, adjusts itself and moves on in a dynamic fashion. In
this evolutionary process, cultures will shed along the way dysfunctional
elements which are either detrimental to their growth and survival or do not
conform with their existing needs and requirements. In order words culture
constantly responds to our basic human needs. Thus we create cultural practices
or institutions to carry out activities as a response to our basic needs or
conditions.
It is therefore evident that the evolutionary
process that cultures go through creates internal tensions and conflicts which
could sometimes disrupt their cohesive elements. However, there is a certain
degree of resilience that enable cultures to withstand this internal conflict
and move on. It is not a static entity for it is always moving on at a historic
pace that is hardly noticeable. Thus certain practices and institutions
prevalent a century ago or even few decades ago might not be observed in this
century.
While the natural internal conflicts inherent in all
cultures go on, there is a more artificial but rather insidious conflict
dimension presented by two conflicting schools of thought on the role of
culture in development.
In fact, culture can be defined so broadly as to be
almost meaningless to development. For example, some view culture as a
collection of quaint superstitions, inflexible practices, empty rituals and
primitive moral values. For these people, culture is a barrier to change,
something to be overcome or eliminated if people are to achieve progress. This
school, which for convenience sake we choose to label as “development-negative”
culture school of thought, fundamentally criticize the shortcomings of African
culture in the face of the challenge of scientific and economic development in
the search for the well being of humankind.
This means that African culture contains elements
incompatible with economic, technological and scientific development as
achieved in the West and East Asian countries. That is why some theorists of
this school became internationally popular such as Madame Axelle Kabou (1991)
who asked the highly improbable question through the title of her publication
“Et si l’Afrique refusait le developpement” (What if Africa refused
development) and Mr. Daniel Etounga Manguelle (1990) who also reiterated a
similar question in his publication, “L’Afrique a-t-elle besoin d’un programme
d’ajustement culturel?” (Does Africa need a cultural adjustment programme?”).
They both question the adequacy of African culture
to respond to current economic and technological trends and therefore recommend
a form of cultural “adjustment” so as to raise African culture to the
exigencies of development. Those holding this view fail to recognize the
organic and dynamic nature of African culture which lends itself readily to
change and modification and serves as a container for those new ideas and
technologies found to be consistent with its dominant features.
However, given that the manifestations of culture in
art, music, drama, dance, painting, folklore, literature, material and
architectural heritage are important in the assertion of a society’s cultural
identity, but for the purpose of establishing a direct link between culture,
HIV/AIDS and sustainable development, we must venture beyond the traditional
areas of concern to culture, as emphasized by the ‘development-negative’
culture school of thought, and also address its broader definitions in terms of
society’s institutions, beliefs, value systems, its processes of governance,
legitimatization, legal systems and participation, all that web of intricate
links and transactions that define a society’s character as well as promote or
delimit its pattern of social and economic development.
This is the position advocated by the second school
thought that emphasises the development-positive elements of African culture
for achieving a self-reliant and self-sustained development. This school which
has been favoured so far at least at the level of the reflexion, considers that
no development can be achieved without the understanding, approval and
participation of the people concerned with their moral and material values and
their vision of the world. Any transfer of technology and model of development
which does not take into consideration some societal and cultural parameters
many encounter some form of rejection from the target beneficiaries.
While we can take note of the conflict and tensions
culture goes through as part of its internal evolutionary process and the
insidious confrontations between the development-negative and
development-positive schools of thought on the role of culture in development,
we can now move on to examine the external conflicts and tensions cultures are
confronted with as they come into contact with each other.
Where cultures come into contact with each other,
there is more often than not a process of borrowing to enrich each other. The
art of one culture borrowing from another does not in any case denote a
“superior” culture or an “inferior” culture. One culture can exert a dominant
influence on another because the dominant one has a “high performance” rating
but not necessarily superior than the other. Therefore, no culture borrows from
another culture an inferior element that has no high performance value to
enhance its own development. Hence cultures will borrow and absorb only those
elements of another culture that can enrich them and reject and discard along
the way, elements that are detrimental to their development.
On the basis of the above premises, it could be
generally recognized that where formal (western) institutions and development
models are not in congruity with the local environment, cultures and value
systems, they will fail to command society’s acceptance or trigger local
ownership, both of which are important catalysts for enforceability and
sustainability.
Traditional institutions on the other hand, because
of their congruity with local cultures, beliefs and value systems, can command
legitimacy, participation, accountability and self-enforcement. Despite these
advantages, they however, have drawbacks. They sometimes harbour dysfunctional
practices and do not always evolve in response to changes brought in from the
rest of the world. And without renovating by shedding dysfunctional traditional
practices and hearkening to new challenges and changes in the global
environment, they will cease to be viable and dynamic.
Therefore, for culture to impact positively on
HIV/AIDS and Sustainable Development, neither a totally transplanted formal
(western) institution or development model nor traditional fundamentalism by
sticking to obsolete and negative aspects of African culture, suggest viable
options. What is necessary is a process of reconciliation, which would
eventually lead to a convergent synergy of both indigenous and foreign.
In this regard, it is not suggested that traditional
institutions be westernized or got rid off nor does it mean indigenizing
western institutions or models but rather reconciling and encouraging convergence
between adaptive western (formal) institutions or development models and
renovated traditional institutions, cultural practices and models.
Renovation of traditional institutions is advocated
here on the grounds that no culture is an island of its own and cultural
knowledge itself is very diffuse subject to multiple interpretations of its
inheritors and open to contact with other cultures. In this regard, every
culture exercises renovation functions shedding dysfunctional aspects while
hearkening to new challenges and opportunities in the global environment.
III.
THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL FACTORS ON DEVELOPMENT
A major goal of development is to improve the
quality of life of populations concerned. Until recently, development agents
regard cultural factors as of no concern to their work. Their constraining
influence led to failures in reaching the poor. It was this that eventually
created interest in socio-cultural aspects of development. If development
programmes cannot move forward without a change in the behaviour of the people,
it is imperative that the planning process takes this aspect into
consideration.
III.a The constraining influences of cultural
factors
In any local situation, there are features that can
aid, hinder or even completely frustrate well-meant development programmes. The
obstacles that development efforts confront are numerous:
Attitudes
and values
There is a tremendous fascination for new things in
many cultures. People find the possibilities for change simply irresistible. Nonetheless,
in some cultures conservatism is the dominant ethos with people conditioned to
view certain innovations with suspicion.
Sometimes there is an obstacle to change that comes
from an attitude of fatalism, which his common in traditional societies. In
rural India for instance, the existence of a belief that illness is a
good-given fate is responsible for inadequate use of medical and health
facilities.
In some rural communities in Africa, the low-level
of awareness of HIV/AIDS has led the epidemic to be described in different
ways:
-
Has
no cure
-
A
fatal disease without boundaries
-
A
disease that depletes human immunity cells
-
One
that has come from urban areas
-
A
disease sent by God to punish people for sexual promiscuity
-
AIDS
– sign of last days
-
A
symbol of the end of the world
Traditions and Customs
Experience indicates that a project has little
chance of success if it runs counter to the traditions of its intended
beneficiaries. When it comes to time-honoured practices, people cannot be
persuaded to abandon them easily. People accustomed to their traditional life
styles are generally intolerant to external interference.
Needs
Development workers have frequently observed that
the cooperation of local people in the initial stages of a project during their
stay dissipates after their departure. The people cooperate because they wish
to accommodate the development workers. However, their ideas of which
improvements are needed usually differ from those of the outsider, the
development agent.
Belief Systems
When new programmes touch the sensitive area of
faith, resistance is inevitable.
In most rural African communities for instance,
illness is given a spiritual meaning. It is interpreted to be the work of angry
spirits or a socerer. The performance of rituals and religious ceremonies is
therefore considered vital to the treatment of the disease.
The villagers sometimes see no reason to turn to
doctors and visit clinics in far-off places for either preventive or curative
treatment. They belief that their own methods of coping with these diseases
which are in line with their concepts of disease causation are adequate.
This factor explains why traditional medicine is
still a trusted mode of health care delivery in local or rural communities.
The Social Structure
All societies are composed of organized groups,
including tribes, clans, families, classes and castes. The groups share common
goals and patterns of conduct. Each member of the group has an assigned role,
with deviations from the established norm viewed unfavourably. Often, these are
closely-knit entities, bound by inter-personal relationships of many kinds.
But, the possibilities of conflict are always present. Life is not all harmony
and peace in the village community. Conflict in the form of factions, vested
interest and other strife can affect the introduction of change or development
initiative, if it threatens the existing social and political power structure.
III.b The Supportive role of Culture
Evidence to support the fact that certain cultural
factors hinder development is indeed abundant. Some of it has been examined in
the preceding chapter. Against the backdrop of this array of powerful cultural
obstacles, the task of promoting development would appear to be almost
impossible.
Indeed, innovations that are not compatible with
indigenous cultural elements face resistance and, not infrequently, many fall
on the wayside. People are generally hesitant to accept new things for their
novelty value alone. However, modern in their outlook they may be, people are
reluctant to follow anything that could be construed as a violation of their
customs and beliefs.
Nonetheless, even among the most conservative
groups, there is always a yearning for some improvements in their human
condition, welfare and quality of life. Certain cultural factors motivate this
desire and permit the accommodation of change. Some of these factors will be
examined.
Urge for Change
People in traditional societies are increasingly
becoming aware of the possibilities for a better life. They now seem to be
losing their former aversion to risks inherent in switching over to new ideas
from outside. The demand for schools, clinics and other services has gone up
sharply everywhere, particularly in rural areas and among people long regarded
as having no aspirations for such services at all.
The contribution of cultural factors to the development process, whether real or potential often remain overlooked: it has been commented that:
All too often culture is
seen as a bullwark of conservatism rather than recognized as a tool for
positive change. While anthropologists have documented the conflict between
development and culture, they have been less helpful in applying
anthropological principles to discover the positive relationship between them.
Anthropologists should be at the forefront of development by leading the
discovery of how long established cultural pathways of interaction, established
roles, institutions and value-incentive systems might be employed as levers for
positive change. The study of culture as an object for intellectual curiosity
versus its value as a viable process, for enhancing human survival must be
balanced.[1]
Motivations that work
People in local communities
are pragmatic. It would be naive to imagine that they cannot see the difference
that change can make to their living. Once they become convinced of the
advantages in following a cause different from that they have followed
traditionally, they will often go against their age-old beliefs and customs. For
instance, when better hospital care is available, many patients make use of it
in addition to traditional health care. Education is equally accepted
universally in all societies, as it is seen as a worthwhile goal for their
children.
Change-inducing social forms
and values
If innovation and change
fits into the well-established traditional framework, their chances of being
accepted improve. An innovation that cannot be grafted into the existing
structure is likely to meet resistance. Many opportunities for introducing
change have been missed by development agents simply because of their ignorance
regarding cultural patterns. The enthusiasm of the outside expert frequently
leads to oversight of the realities recognized by the villager.
Participatory development
has been central to the philosophy of work in traditional societies everywhere.
This philosophy and methodology have however eroded under the growing threat of
individualism, hence undermining cooperative spirit and structures of these
societies. Still, villagers often come out to work cooperatively on many
village development projects. People in the rural areas will often unite to
construct a school building so that their children can have a better future.
Again, it is common for villagers to stand united as one when it comes to
preserving some vital community interests in the face of danger from the
outside world. However, this potential has often been damaged by development
agents anxious to impose their ideas of what constitutes an ideal development
organization.
The Importance of Timing
Many innovations, including
those considered highly desirable, often fail to gain societies acceptability
because the time for them has not yet arrived. Until the need for innovation is
clearly recognized by the people, it is better for the development agent to
hold back and wait for the opportune moment. Efforts to force the pace of
change when people are not ready can be counter productive.
People are more responsive
to suggestions for change in situations that they fail to control on their own.
For instance, in an arid region, where cattle herders were initially
indifferent to extension efforts, but when the areas suffers from drought year
after year and they lost most of their cattle, the development plans of the
same development agency will appeal to them more.
The following observation in
this context offers useful insight.
To introduce an innovation
when a local cultural system is facing serious difficulties provides a strong
base of support because change is required for adjustment. The special
occurrence particularly the crisis is therefore an ideal time for innovation
introduction.[2]
Using Supportive Elements
The cultural factors that
till a few years ago were seen as an obstacle no longer offer the same
resistance. Indeed, it has now been realized that it is possible to turn
constraining elements into influences fully supportive of the change process.
Forces favouring change and
those favouring the status quo coexist in all cultures. Once these different
forces are identified, the task of inducing change becomes easy.
This strategy has been
elaborated as follows:
When a village is faced with
a suggestion for change, there exists a balance of forces. On one side of the
scale are those forces which are against change – conservatism, apathy, fear
and the like; on the otherside of the forces for change – dissatisfaction with
existing conditions, village pride and so on. Successful community development
consists largely of choosing those projects where the balance is almost even,
and then trying to lighten the forces against change or to increase the factors
making for change.[3]
The planning of change in
this manner would obviously require a deeper understanding of the local
cultural factors.
For instance, constraints on
the use of various public services do not always arise from mere blind
adherance of the people to their beliefs, customs and traditions. Some of the
constraints arise from the inability of development agencies to put new
knowledge at the disposal of people in ways that they understand and have no
difficulty in making use of.
IV.
THE FRAMEWORK FOR A CULTURE-SENSITIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT
Anthropologists and other
social scientists have over the years accumulated a considerable amount of data
and knowledge concerning peoples and their cultures. Do these insights have
useful lessons for development agents? Can there be such thing as a
culture-sensitive approach? Or does each project confront local conditions
which are so unique that there can be no common experience to provide a basis
for some guidelines?
As has been mentioned
earlier on, to be able to effectively carry out an assessment of the impact of
development, it would be useful to provide the framework for that assessment
even before the commencement of implementation. In that way the parameters for
requirements and expectations could be set against which outcomes could be
guaged.
What follows therefore is a
set of guidelines that development actions could follow with a view to ensuring
the cultural integrity and diversity of the communities affected by
development.
Begin with a Situational
Analysis of the Socio-Cultural Context
There is enough evidence to
show that the most successful programmes are those that adapt to and work through
the local social and cultural pattern. If it is to succeed, the programme must
necessarily be based on a thorough knowledge of the people and their culture.
Before launching the
programme, a study of relevant cultural factors must first be completed and
there are various pre-design studies and methods well tested in the social
sciences which could be used such as socio-cultural and historic profile
surveys, participatory inquiry, national cultural assessment strategies, etc.
Such profiles will provide
useful information on matters like existing forms of organization,
communication, leadership and motivation, belief system and values, indigenous
knowledge systems, etc.
Problems that many projects
encounter later at the implementation stage can be averted if the possible
sources of resistance are known in advance. The preliminary study may take time
and this explains why some development workers side-step it but it enables
development workers to pinpoint strategic points for intervention. It will also
enable them to devise the best methods to approach the community.
Ensure Participation and
Involvement of Target Beneficiaries
Development agents often
have very little in common with the target beneficiaries of development. Their
backgrounds are sometimes dissimilar, and for that reason their priorities for
development are different. When development entirely follows the path
determined by the outside expert, the poor tend to remain on the fringes of
development.
Therefore, the full
participation of local people should be invited in the consideration of
problems that confront the community. This requires the use , not only of
existing channels of communication but also the creation of new ones so that
participation occurs effectively.
Experience indicates that
projects do better when their target populations are involved at all stages of
the development process. On the contrary, disastrous results follow when the
views of people are ignored.
Establishing a Convergent
Survey between the Indigenous and Foreign, The New and the Old
It may often be necessary to
induce a community to abandon its traditional ways of doing things so that new
practices may take their place. However, experience suggests that it is far
more practical to retain the old while introducing the new at the sametime.
When people discover that new elements do no particular violence to the
traditional and begin to associate them with meanings that are valid in their
own culture, the process of replacement of the old by the new is greatly
accelerated.
At other times, it might be
necessary to adapt the new to the local environment with a view to enhancing
its acceptability and enforceability.
A good example of this
principle is the introduction of modern medicine. In this context, a change
from the traditional to the new is typically seen as a struggle between the
doctor and the traditional medicineman. The doctor possesses scientific
knowledge and modern techniques but the medicineman possesses extensive
knowledge of the health culture of the community and efficacy of various herbs
and medicinal plants located in the environment of the local community. Both
are useful resources for healthcare delivery. However experience shows that the
medical doctor tries to establish supremacy over the local medicineman because
his methods are superstitious and cannot be scientifically validated.
The two can work together,
learning from each other in the process. The medical doctor can indeed learn
much from the medicineman to be successful in the local environment. Equally,
through training workshops, the local medicinemen can learn to improve upon
some of their methods and hence be easily integrated into the national
healthcare delivery system.
Empowerment of the Local
Communities
Empowerment of communities
is an outcome of a successful capacity development action. It gives the local
community the ability to take initiatives, exert leadership, display
confidence, solve new problems, mobilize resources and undertake new actions.
Using the indigenous knowledge systems of communities, local structures and
institutions and traditional modes of communication all are geared towards
tapping the local resources for sustainable development. In the case of
indigenous knowledge systems, development agents have generally ignored their
use until recently. Their deep-rooted belief in the infallibility of modern
scientific knowledge prevents them from seeing the potential uses of local
knowledge and may produce disastrous results.
In recent years the
development community has become aware of the many possible applications of
indigenous knowledge in furthering development programmes. Whether it is in
environmental or natural resources management, aquaculture, agriculture and
animal husbandary, etc. local people possess a vast reserve of indigenous
knowledge which should be preserved and mobilized towards meeting their
developmental aspirations by development agents. Thus the preservation and
promotion of such a rich cultural diversity should not be destroyed or ignored for
the sake of a western-model of development imposed from outside.
Traditional social and
political organizations meant to serve the wider interests of the community
have existed through the centuries in practically all countries. In some cases
they have however, been rendered weak or redundant by the forces of
modernization, but they can still be adapted to the purposes of development. In
some countries in Africa the traditional socio-political organizations have
been mobilized and strengthened in support of development programmes with great
success. Since the location of these organizations in the traditional setup
makes them familiar and acceptable to the people, they can serve as a link
between the village and the development programmes of the agent. Community
organizations have proved their worth as ways of organizing people around their
interests and meeting their needs. It would therefore be unwise for development
agents to ignore the potential reserve base for human resources development.
The goodwill and cooperation
of the general population must be gained if a project succeed. It is however,
not possible that every member of the community be approached individually and
persuaded to switch to the recommended new practices. Often, the practical thing
to do is to secure the support of individuals whose advise the community is
likely to heed most. If certain people who have either formal authority or
informal influence can lead their support to the project, other people in the
community will ordinarily follow their example. On the otherhand, if the
community leaders feels sidelined, the project can be jeopardized.
Communicating development
ideas can make a difference between acceptability and rejection of innovation.
In considering new ideas and practices for adoption, the consideration that
weighs most with people are whether the new situation will affect them, and
how. In this regard, development agents should ensure that the development
ideas are presented to people in such a manner that they are able to see for
themselves the likely benefits. Even the most acceptable innovations will not
succeed unless there is some manner of informing the people about them in a way
that will convince them to try. Development workers will therefore do well to
prevent development information in the forms that the people in villages
understand. Instead of acting as a constraining influence, indigenous cultural
patterns will thus turn into a force for positive support to the modernizing
changes.
V.
DEVELOPING CULTURAL INDICATORS
OF
DEVELOPMENT
The compatibility of a
development project with the local culture could be established with reference
to a number of composite factors known as indicators. However, indicators
useful to development agents will not necessarily be meaningful for the
populations concerned, who may be prompted to work out their own ways of
discerning the cultural impact of development by drawing on their own
experience.
Another interesting point to
note is that currently, indicators available for assessing the impact of
development projects mainly through national accounts systems are in most cases
of an economic nature, and they provide limited opportunity for assessing the
cultural impact.
What is more the cultural
domain is too vast and heterogenous and the cultural dimension of development
too diffuse for it to be possible to construct arrays of indicators and
statistical series that would be perfectly coherent, reliable and satisfactory.
Again, in most developing countries national accounting is somewhat unreliable
because of the scale of the informal sector of the economy and the weakness of
the available statistical instruments. There is therefore no quantitative
methodology of economic derivation that is sufficiently relevant to enable the
cultural impact of development to be taken into account.
This deficiency of
quantitative indicators does not mean that they cannot be useful in assessing
the cultural impact of development. Clearly, the evaluation of any project must
include all the available and necessary information: economic indicators,
demographic indicators, education indicators, health indicators and cultural
indicators. However, some of these indicators are still insufficiently
developed in developing countries such as Africa and they can only be estimated
by long and costly field work.
As the culture and
development interrelationships are complex, alongside quantitative indicators,
there is also the need to develop qualitative indicators to identify the
differences, forms and forces (values and beliefs) and to ascertain their
distribution, convergence or opposition in the social and cultural field. This
means coming up with qualitative indicatiors to identify the strategic factors.
Several organizations have
developed internal frameworks or instruments for assessing the cultural
integrity of projects. The table below presents the outcome of research in this
domain by the Canadian International Development Agency (1995).
|
Indicators |
Barriers |
Questions to ask |
|
Participation |
· Top down project design · Disunity and jealousy in
community · Dependency on aid an
authority |
· Who is participating in
the project? Leaders? Marginalized? Men? Women? Old? Young? · How are they
participating? · Is participation coerced
or reluctant or free and eager? · Does participation flow
from local institutions? Is it sustainable? |
|
Use of local
instititutions |
· Development worker
ignorance · Dysfunctional local
institutions |
· Is there institutional
support for the project? · Have new structures or
organization been created in connection with the project? If so, are the new
structures rooted in the institutional life of the community? |
|
Using Local Knowledge |
· Intellectual arrogance of
development agency · Lack of alternative
learning models |
· How is the world
organized? What are the knowledge categories? · What causes things like
disease and natural disasters to happen? · Is knowledge research or
authority based? · Who is included in “We”
and who is included in “They”? · Is there a benign,
vindictive or indifferent creative force at work in the world? · Are people controlled by
shame or guilt? · What is the relative
importance of time compared to relationship? |
|
Integrated into the social
structure |
· Poor understanding by
development worker about how decisions are made · Lack of understanding of
power relations |
· What are the key
decision-making institutions in society? · Who are members of these
institutions? · Where do young and old
interact? Rich and poor? Men and women? |
|
Grounded in
culturally-based vision |
· Narrow, non-inclusive
vision within community · Imposed model from outside |
· Is the project part of a
larger vision of growth and development; does it have a place in their plans
for the future? · How is the vision
developed and shared? · Are there images, symbols
and metaphors which arise naturally from the commitment and dedication of the
people towards the project. |
|
Recognition and use of
culturally-based artistic communication |
· Misunderstanding of
culturally important rituals · Perception that symbols
and artistic communications is not important |
· Who creates and performs
local music? Paintings? Sculpture? Handicarfts? · Are there new songs and
artistic styles being generated? · What is being sung about?
What is being painted or carved? · Does the project serve the
entire person, the intuitive, the creative, the synthesizing as well as the
logical, the rational and the analytical? |
|
Appropriate consideration
of gender issues |
· Distorted traditional
patterns · Traditional gender roles
and expectations |
· What are the respective
roles of men and women? · What do women have
responsibility for? · How do women feel about
their role? · What was the role of women
in history compared to today? |
|
Related to religious and
mythic roots |
· Identifying religious and
mythic roots · The quasi-scientific
approach of development planning |
· What is the purpose of
life? · What is the relationship
between the known and the unknown universes? · What must one do to be in
harmony with other? With the world? · What is it to be healthy? · What happens when things
get out of balance? How are they fixed? |
|
Culturally appropriate
integration of new ideas |
· Lack of means to introduce
new ideas · Gatekeepers preventing new
ideas that would threaten power |
· How are new ideas
introduced into the society? · How can one be creative in
the cultural framework? · What makes change
acceptable? |
|
Ownership |
· Lack of perceived
relevance · Disunity in the community Disunity and jealousy in
community |
· Who takes ownership for
the project? · Is the project referred to
by most people using “our”, “we” or “us”? · Are people proud of their
culture and where they have come from? · Are people able to build
on pride in who they are and connect it to project? |
VI.
FRAMEWORK FOR CULTURAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Within the framework for the project implementation, ideally the mechanism for assessing the economic, social and cultural impact of the project should be mapped out.
Currently, much progress has been made in the
economic and social field in developing indicators which are today well-tested.
In the cultural field, although best practices are
available and associated with development agencies, there is still no standard
internationally acceptable framework and set of tools well tested as those in
the economic and social sectors. It might be worthwhile to survey current practices
of relevant institutions and suggest what needs to be done to further develop
this area.
Review of Current Practices
Some institutions within the United Nations System
and the Civil Society have developed instruments to evaluate the cultural
impact, among others, of their development programmes and projects. A few of
this will be cited:
·
The
World Bank
In 1984, the Bank tried out the ‘beneficiary
assessment’ technique with a view to improving the design and implementation of
its projects.
The objective of this technique is to understand a
project from the point of view of its intended beneficiaries in the belief that
if the project is planned and implemented with the knowledge of people’s
values, responsive to their needs and adapted to their behaviour, it is more
likely to be successfully implemented and lead the way to sustained
development.
The underlying assumption of this approach is that
planners and managers of development projects do not normally have a deep
enough understanding of the world they are trying to change. This understanding
is found primarily among those who inhabit that world. To gain this
understanding, planners and managers need to seek assistance from third
partners who can simultaneously understand the goals of the project and know
the values and perceptions of its intended beneficiaries.
However, it seems that the ascendancy of the purely
economic approach has been an obstacle to the general application of this
technique, as has been the difficulty of recruiting competent local researchers
capable of ‘sufficient empathy to inspire confidence, while maintaining the
right and necessary distance for objectivity’.
·
The
World Health Organization
The WHO developed a ‘Cultural Self-evaluation’.
Methodology, Questionnaire designed to be used as a checklist for evaluating
the cultural integrity and impact of its programmes and projects.
·
Canadian
International Development Agency
CIDA has developed a Manual for field workers and
its staff for guiding them in assessing the cultural sensitivity of its
programs and projects.
·
United
States Agency for International Development
USAID developed the ‘Social soundness Analysis’ as a
method of evaluating the impact of projects it wish to consider for support.
The objective was to assess the compatibility of the
project proposed which the potential beneficiaries own socio-cultural context,
to increase the potential for the project benefits to spread using the target
beneficiaries.
The way forward
In the light of the inadequacy of current tools
which are specific to particular organizations, there is the need to do certain
things:
-
To
undertake detailed baseline data survey of current practices and the techniques
and tools available, with an assessment of their achievements and limitations
on their enforceability;
-
This
survey should provide us with the information to develop new methodological
instruments which can be able to have general application. The new tools will
take note of the deficiencies of the old tools and consolidate them into a
standard instrument;
-
The
new instrument should now allow us to develop international guidelines and
processes for integrating cultural impact assessment tools into development
frameworks and processes;
-
This
entire process requires international cooperation between national,
international, bilateral, civil society and community-based organizations to
work together;
-
Such an international agenda and process
should be an interesting and worthwhile project for the International Network
for Cultural Diversity. INCD should start organizing its own regional and
country specific projects as a way of standard-setting if it is to wield
authority in this field of cultural diversity.
[1] Nat Coletta (1990) “Tradition for change: indigenous socio-cultural forms as a basis for non-formal education and development”, in Ross Kid and Nat Colletta (eds), Tradition for Development: Indigenous Structures and Folk Media in Non-Formal Education (Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany).
[2] Conrad M. Arsenberg and Arthur H. Niehoff, Introducing Social change: a manual for community development (Chicago and New York, Aldine Atherton, 1971), p. 170
[3] I.C. Jackson, Advance in Africa: a study of community development in Eastern Nigeria (London, Oxford University Press, 1956) p. 30