The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. Culture as a People-Centered Path to Development: Best Practices from Fragile Areas—An Overview of Actions in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan

Abstract

This text outlines the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation’s approach to culture as a tool of Prosperity, which contributes to the creation of favourable conditions for socio-economic development. It argues that such an approach must necessarily be people-centred and attentive to ownership and inclusivity, especially when dealing with culture, understood as a process and product of human expression. To promote culture in development involves prioritizing people’s meanings, goals, tools and, more broadly, societies’ right to self-determination and to establishing their own development priorities. An attention to culture and cultural diversity in development favors a process in which multiple parties come together and leverage their respective tools to achieve shared and more sustainable results. An array of projects carried out by AICS in the Region focused on in this volume, exemplify how, from a methodological and operational standpoint, Italian actions are designed to generate economic activity and participation for and through culture, placing people at the center.

1 AICS Approach to Culture and Development

Culture is a priority for AICS and the Italian cooperation. Since its inception, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation has been investing in the cultural sector, disbursing approximately 90 million euros in grants over the first seven years of its activity (2016–2022). These resources support projects carried out in four main areas of intervention, which include the protection and safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the development of cultural and creative industries, the development of sustainable tourism, and the promotion of education and participation in the cultural sphere.

More specifically, Italian cooperation values culture as a tool of Prosperity, one of the four pillars of the Agenda 2030, focused on “improving livelihoods and ensuring that all can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives” (https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda). On the path towards achieving prosperity, the economic and social dimensions of development are intertwined and not easily distinguishable, and this is all the more evident when focusing on culture as a process and product of human expression. Indeed, expanding on the UNESCO 2003 definition of intangible cultural heritage,¹ culture may be understood as the ongoing process through which people interpret the reality they live in, as well as the expression and representation of such reality.

Cultural goods and services are the by-products of this process, since they are directly linked to people’s creativity, skills and knowledge. This renders cultural products economically sustainable and likely to favor the diversification of the market, as they are resistant to automation, due to the intellectual labor inherent in the cultural and creative process of production.

On the other hand, from the standpoint of social sustainability, supporting culture and the multiplicity of cultural expressions means supporting the identities and values of communities and of society at large, in a way that strengthens social cohesion and resilience. Moreover, such an understanding of culture necessitates recognition of the diversity of cultural expressions in relation to different contexts and communities, and peoples’ diverse positioning in relation to what is expected from development.

By combining creative skills, production and distribution activities of cultural goods and services, the cultural sector generates employment and income, and contributes to building a democratic public sphere, open to the expression of creativity and cultural diversity. Therefore, to promote culture means to promote development as a people-centered process that gives priority to people’s meanings, goals and tools and, more broadly, prioritizes societies’ right to self-determination and to establishing their own development priorities, from the perspective of ownership and of inclusive growth.

An attention to culture and cultural diversity in development favors a process in which multiple partners come together and leverage their respective tools to achieve shared results. Beyond being a means of prosperity, culture plays an important role in accomplishing the change of register that underlies the 2030 Agenda, encouraging the transformation of aid relationships between donor and beneficiary into cooperation practices among partners. Culture-based development is the bedrock of cooperation as a process of mutual learning and knowledge exchange, a form of partnership in which partners grow together, with each party contributing according to its own means.

2 Socio-economic Development: Ownership and Inclusivity in the Field

The path to achieving sustainable social and economic development goals is a complex one, and respect for ownership and inclusivity is an ongoing challenge, which strives to recognize and leverage the diverse and ever-changing interests, needs and complementary roles of the multiplicity of stakeholders involved. Such a challenge is all the more evident when working with culture, which is a dynamic process of defining and re-defining meaning, carried out by communities. From a methodological and operational standpoint, and with regard to ensuring a people-centered approach that aims at ownership and inclusivity, the main features of AICS’ approach in designing and implementing actions on culture are ground-based programming, rooted in an extended presence of regional offices in the field, and the implementation of partnerships with local public and private stakeholders. Such an approach ensures a thorough knowledge of the territory, of its stakeholders, of its tangible and intangible cultural heritage and its needs. Moreover, the presence of AICS experts and field officers on the ground ensures the ongoing monitoring of the projects, not least in view of their necessarily continuous adaptation and re-alignment to the changing contextual conditions of partner societies and their needs.

Among the various areas of intervention, the protection of cultural heritage is a strength of Italian Cooperation, due both to the excellence of the Italian system of expert partners in the field of conservation, restoration and valorization of cultural heritage, and to Italian Cooperation’s long-lasting experience in projects concerning cultural heritage. The Italian approach boasts a history that digs its roots in the Culture Counts conference held in Florence (1999), co-promoted by the World Bank and the Italian Government in which, in an innovative way at the time, the role of culture in sustainable development was affirmed as a multifaceted resource.

Following this approach, AICS’ actions on culture aim at increasing, on the one hand, cultural employment, cultural businesses and public and private financing to the culture sector, on the other hand they aim at supporting cultural knowledge, cultural participation and participatory processes. Finally, from a wider perspective, the Italian cooperation supports the economy of culture by developing and reinforcing the governance of culture. Indeed all of the projects presented in the following of this contribution foresee the elaboration, or the support to the elaboration, of local development plans or sector management plans by and in collaboration with local authorities.

3 Generating Employment For and Through Culture

AICS’ projects in the field of Culture and Development directly and indirectly generate job opportunities. Such opportunities are either for cultural professionals in the heritage and tourism sector, as well as within other connected sectors, or for non-cultural professionals and unskilled laborers in the heritage and tourism sector.

Most of AICS’ projects leverage existing skills in the culture sector through capacity building and professional training, mainly targeting specialized technical personnel in public national and local institutions, such as local ministries of culture, universities and specialized centers. Recurring training topics relating to the thematic sector of the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage are: restoration, museum setup, heritage digitization, valorization tools and practices, as well as training in business management to support the creation of cultural enterprises.

Best practices in capacity building and professional training, aimed at expanding the cultural job market within the Region focused on in this volume, are the interventions AICS carries out in Lebanon and in Jordan. These interventions support the creation of institutions, national and regional in their scope, which specialize in the restoration and recovery of cultural heritage and in determining the curricula of local professionals on the field. Such projects, centered on training activities for professionals, have a snowball effect, accelerating the expansion of the cultural job market. AICS Amman’s project Creation of a Regional Institute for the conservation and restoration of cultural Heritage in Jerash is an example. Carried out by AICS Amman, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the University of Roma Tre, and in close coordination with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, this project supports and assists Jordanian institutions which are active in the conservation and valorization of archaeological sites, historical monuments and museums. The Regional Institute of Conservation and Restoration of Jerash is set to be a specialized center. As such it will be fully capable of ensuring the development of new skills and greater professional capabilities in the Jordanian system of management, conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, both at the national and regional level. The Institute will train public and private professionals coming from all over the Middle East, widening the cultural job market.

The Program in support of the socio-economic recovery in the protected area of Shobak castle is described in the University of Florence’s contribution to this volume. It represents another best practice in the support of local and national public sector authorities, implemented in Jordan. The Shobak program supports the socio-economic recovery of local communities through the rehabilitation of the archeological site, the touristic trail and small units around the castle. As such, it aims to generate potential livelihood opportunities for local communities. Within the larger framework of this program, the University of Florence carries out—beyond technical and conservation actions as detailed in the article—an intense training and capacity-building program, covering a vast range of disciplines linked to conservation, and directed at a number of professionals—archaeologists and engineers—associated with the local Department of Antiquities. The training aims at upskilling public professional experts who will be in charge of the management and conservation of the area after the conclusion of the project, thus ensuring its sustainability.

The CHUD program (Cultural Heritage and Urban Development) implemented in Lebanon, represents another best practice in the assistance and support to national partner institutions. The program seeks to preserve and restore the country’s cultural heritage by intervening on the historic cities of Baalbek, Byblos, Saida, Tripoli, and Tyre, as described in AICS Beirut contribution. The CHUD program is not only an important example of support to the public sector, but is also an example of a program that fully respects the country ownership principle. Indeed it is a soft loan program that originates from a decision made by the Government of Lebanon to invest in heritage preservation and urban development as sustainable development sectors. Such a decision was financially supported by the World Bank and two bilateral donors, France and Italy. The Italian component contracted UNESCO to provide advice and technical assistance to the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, regarding the two World Heritage sites of Tyre and Baalbek. This advice and assistance covered the monitoring and supervision of works in both sites, while helping to meet the necessary World Heritage requirements.

With regard to the involvement of civil society, AICS actions work to generate direct job opportunities as well as spin-off employment opportunities in the service economy linked to culture, i.e. the tourist industry, while building or supporting local cultural industries. Among the operational means to achieve direct job opportunities, particularly in the fragile areas dealt with in this volume, cash -for- work allows for the mobilization of unskilled workers. It also indirectly contributes to raising awareness and encouraging inclusivity and participation in the field of culture. Both the contributions to this volume by AICS Beirut and AICS Amman describe how cash-for-work has been the bedrock of interventions in the Cultural Heritage and Urban Development program (CHUD) as well as in the Petra Siq Stability Program. The Petra program, beyond the structural stabilization of Petra’s World Heritage Site, carried out in the first three phases of the project, has a fourth phase specifically aimed at community engagement in risk prevention. Eighty-five skilled and unskilled women and men, mainly young people, were employed through cash-for-work on-site, both in risk mitigation and in the cleaning of the Siq slopes. These people were identified through a socio-economic vulnerability assessment carried out in the nearby villages. The project provided financial support, contributing to the stability of households and communities facing particularly harsh socioeconomic conditions in the immediate post-COVID period. Beyond the immediate financial support, workers received technical training and gained experience, thus upskilling for future employment. A further positive outcome of the local workers’ active engagement has been raising community awareness about the social and economic value of cultural heritage (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Petra Siq Stability Program—Jordan

For another example of the creation of both direct and indirect opportunities for civil society within the region, one can turn to Palestine. AICS has a project underway, implemented by UNESCO, focusing on the World Heritage Site ‘Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines—Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir’, located a little south-west of Jerusalem and to the West of Bethlehem. This area boasts a major Palestinian agro-cultural landscape, across which agricultural traditions are still practiced, and constructions such as ancient dry wall terraces are still being utilized, while the natural water supply is harnessed through a complex and unique irrigation system.

Poor market access, high transaction costs and reduced freshwater availability, as well as a decline in sociocultural traditions and agricultural practices, has caused a socioeconomic crisis characterized by a general decline in agricultural livelihoods: agricultural practices are progressively abandoned, leading to increasingly degraded land and terraces. The project aims at safeguarding Battir’s unique agricultural landscape in two ways: supporting the most severely affected farming families in the area, by revitalizing traditional agricultural techniques and promoting local products, while at the same time supporting the larger community by promoting sustainable tourism. The involvement of civil society organisations (CSOs) is a priority in the development of the project, which directly addresses farming families in Battir and Hussan villages, active male and female agricultural cooperatives, in addition to cultural tourism operators/service providers in Battir. In fact, the direct beneficiaries include farming families who rely entirely or partially on agricultural production activities to make a living, and have the potential to effectively engage in production and marketing through the cooperatives.²

4 Generating Participation For and Through Culture

From the perspective of social development, AICS promotes projects that are embedded in society, by encouraging participation on multiple levels. The participation of local and national authorities, as previous examples have highlighted, is ensured by the establishment of partnerships at the onset of every action. The CHUD program in Lebanon boasts a very broad partnership that ensures national ownership, by involving the Lebanese Government through its dedicated bodies. Among these are the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Ministry of Culture and the Direction for Antiquities, the Ministry of Public Works and the Direction for Urbanism, the Ministry of Tourism, as well as local public bodies such as the different municipalities of the towns participating in the project. Beyond the public sector the CHUD program involves local CSOs, universities and research centers, on the civil society level.

At the same time, by listening to the different voices that are necessarily involved in actions concerning cultural heritage, AICS’ projects encourage participatory processes within civil society, starting from careful assessments of local socio-cultural dynamics on the field. In this sense, best practices are carried out by the University of Florence in Bamiyan and Herat, and described in detail throughout this volume. The contributions analyze the socio-cultural context by highlighting the main dynamics that shape people’s understandings, representations and attitudes towards the cultural heritage they live amidst. Local practices such as land titling, gender or ethnic dynamics influence how local communities relate to the conservation and management requirements of a World Heritage Site. Such understanding on behalf of project-implementing bodies is essential in drawing up heritage protection solutions that are respectful of local communities’ attitudes, therefore effectively participatory, inclusive, and sustainable.

Essential to a participatory approach, and tightly linked to the above, are actions of raising awareness that address local communities. According to UNESCO, AICS’ project Radio Education in Pakistan is to be considered a best practice in the Region. The main objective of this initiative is to improve access to education for children and young people, their families and their respective communities in the most marginalized and isolated provinces of Pakistan. This is done through radio programs that convey educational messages. The aim is to promote the spreading of knowledge while raising awareness on various issues among which are included cultural heritage and environment protection, disaster risk reduction and global citizenship. Selected schools and communities received radios built specifically for the project, thanks to contributions offered by private companies, all of which have been equipped with rechargeable solar-powered batteries to enable functionality even in areas out of reach of electricity. The radio programs have been broadcasted daily and have allowed for the active participation of primary school children and teachers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Radio education—Pakistan; project implemented by UNESCO

The beneficiaries of this project have been actively involved throughout the development phase (when the content of the radio programs was decided) and in the broadcasting phase when they had the opportunity of interacting and participating live. Of those who benefited from the project, there were around 30,000 primary school children (from 5 to 14 years of age), approximately 400 schools, with the direct involvement of about 500 teachers. Indirect beneficiaries included families and their communities, specifically from the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad Capital Territory and Pakistan Administered Kashmir, but also the departmental administrations at the provincial level, and the federal government, which deals with education, culture and information.

5 Conclusions

The projects briefly described above are designed to have an impact, in the long term, by promoting culture as an enabler of prosperity, and by contributing to the creation of favorable conditions for socio-economic development. The promotion of human capital and expression carried out by cultural actions can indeed positively affect governance, democracy and stability.

In the countries where it operates, AICS supports national and local institutions in strengthening technical and professional skills and in building inclusive management models. AICS also supports non-profit and for-profit organizations, small and medium-sized industries, as well as individuals, by investing in innovation, in knowledge and in the valorization of civil society, with the aim of capitalizing and leveraging the plurality of society’s skills and voices.

Supporting the governance of culture by assisting the development of cultural policies, management plans and the upskilling of local institutions and professionals, builds upon such an approach. Cultural heritage management plans, grounded in technical and scientific research, aim at balancing out the different positions of stakeholders in the field, so as to find a common ground with regard to heritage protection and safeguarding, in an attempt to enhance the universal value of culture.

As recognized in the OECD Peer Review (OECD, 2020), Italy has the ability to add greatly to this field, given the excellence and expertise of the Italian system in cultural heritage.

AICS’ actions are implemented by bodies—universities and international organizations—that have a profound knowledge of the territory in which they operate, also thanks to their long-term presence on the field. AICS contributions as follow, in line with the approach of this entire volume, wish to capitalize on such deep knowledge and broad experience, in order to reflect on and explore the long-term impacts that research and cultural heritage protection activities can lead to, focusing on the relationship with civil society, and on the issues of participation and ownership.

The goal is to understand how efforts carried out in the cultural sector can contribute not only to the preservation of material heritage, but also to the enhancement of human capital. From this perspective, the following contributions provide examples of actions in the field, highlighting the main tools and approaches in interacting with national bodies and local communities, to improve the resources, support skills and knowledge of the people who live and identify with the heritage.