Local Culture in a Global World Why Does Culture Count? Eleanor E. Fink Senior Cultural Heritage Specialist Global Development Gateway World Bank.

Local Culture in a Global World

Why Does Culture Count?

Eleanor E. Fink

Senior Cultural Heritage Specialist

Global Development Gateway

World Bank

I.I. Introduction: Local Culture in a Introduction: Local Culture in a Global World Global World

"The context for humanistic scholarship in the

next century will be at once local, national, and

global. The humanities will make their

connection to society at the local level, but this

local focus will be inherently cosmopolitan, made

so in part by the movement of peoples and ideas

on a global scale.” Thomas Bender

Cultural Historian

Introduction Introduction cont.cont.

A huge change in communications technology has

produced an era where the power exists to take local

issues and globalize them, e.g. the movie “The

Beach”.- a small community was able to mobilize hundreds of e-mail

letters from around the

world to protest planting non-native trees on their beach.

IntroductionIntroduction contcont.

The result is a market that produces in nano seconds.

Some of the challenges we face are: How to effectively harness this market.The role we choose to play (proactive or reactive?).

In other words, are we willing to engage the full potential of the internet?


The Internet is not just about sharing or

accessing information. It is increasingly becoming a medium for cooperation and interworkability.

- Interworkability is a concept I am promoting. It centers on

stakeholders using a common space on the internet to build

a resource together such as a portal, gateway, database,

thesaurus, etc. Simply linking, hosting, and/or exchanging

information is not interworkability.


The potential for interworkability is

reflected in the following internet trends:

The emergence of thematic gateways.

Attention to the notion of communities.


One of the underlying motivations for thematic gateways and communities is that the Internet scene --- made up of private institutional ‘home' pages, each with a fenced-in-garden—also needs a public space or a “Commons” where ideas and knowledge can easily be found.


For the topic of culture and

development the ability to create a

gateway that simplifies access to who

we are and the value of what we do

is critical...


It can create a synergistic effect that can help

quantify the efficacy and contribution of culture that

can act as an argument for providing political support

…. This is critical in an increasingly knowledge and

information based economy.

Understanding the value and role of culture is still a

challenge for economists and development banks. – e.g. CIDOC Newsletter article on sustainability of museums

and the need for performance indicators.

IntroductionIntroduction cont.cont.

A Gateway can engage participants self interest and bridge non-communication

among professional groups.

For example, art theft is a global problem. The way to impede it is for all parties concerned to work together and agree on a common method of documenting objects and move that information rapidly.

IntroductionIntroduction cont.cont.

The Object ID Standard bridged the need to

reach agreement on a common standard to

help uniquely identify cultural objects in

order to combat illicit traffic in stolen art by

uniting such diverse groups as:

police, art appraisers, museums, insurance

companies, dealers, commercial art theft

databases and standards organizations.


In an era of globalization it can also serve

as a vehicle for giving voice to local

identity and celebrating diversity.

The very technologies that many fear could dilute may promote the opposite….

Queen Noor

In essence it can help to preserve and protect local culture.


Although we may not yet have a Garden of Eden, we have come a long way from the time when we were just building a weed patch.

"Sharing Cultural Entitlements in the Digital Age: Are we building a Garden of Eden or a Patch of Weeds"…. Eleanor E. Fink, Keynote, First Museums and Web Conference, 1997.

II. The World Bank and Culture:II. The World Bank and Culture:

Why Culture Counts?Why Culture Counts?

II. The World Bank and Culture:II. The World Bank and Culture:Why Culture Counts?Why Culture Counts?

An example of the value of culture can be seen

in the role it is playing at the World Bank.

The World Bank is the world's largest

source of development assistance, providing

nearly $30 billion in loans annually to over

100 client countries.

The World BankThe World Bank cont.cont.

The Bank uses its financial resources and

knowledge base to individually help each

developing country onto a path of stable,

sustainable, and equitable growth. The main

focus is on helping the poorest people

and the poorest countries.


The Bank’s mission to reduce poverty

responds to some staggering statistics: Of the 4.7 billion people who live in the 100 countries that are

World Bank clients:

3 billion live on less than $2 a day and 1.3 billion on less than

$1 a day.

40,000 die of preventable diseases every day.

130 million never have an opportunity to go to school.

1.3 billion do not have clean water to drink.


Given these staggering statistics, why is culture a priority?

“As globalization draws us all into greater proximity, it is essential that we nurture, prize, and support the diverse cultures and historical experiences of the countries in which The World Bank operates. We simply cannot conceive of development without cultural continuity.”

James D. Wolfensohn

President, the World Bank


“Whether they live on the plains or in the valleys,

whether they live in slums or isolated villages,

whether they speak Hindi, Swahili, or Uzbek, people

have one thing in common: They do not want

charity. They want a chance. They do not want

solutions imposed from without. They want the

opportunity to build from within. They do not want

my culture or yours. They want their own. They

want a future enriched by the inheritance of their

past”.James D. Wolfensohn

President, the World Bank


As pointed out by James Wolfensohn, culture is

a critical component of development because:

Culture influences what is valued in a society; in

particular, it shapes the ‘ends’ of development

that are valuable to the poor. Culture also influences how individuals,

communities, informal and formal institutions

respond to developmental changes, therefore,

knowledge of culture is a means to effective

poverty reduction.


From a development perspective culture is

a means of:

Making development actions more effective and

meaningful by ensuring that projects reflect the lives

and interests of the people they serve.

Helping the poor to use their cultural assets: creative

expression, skills, traditional knowledge and cultural

resources – to earn income, and improve well-being,

social organization, and social functioning.


From an economic perspective a focus on culture creates:

New jobs and services in such areas as preserving historic cities, creating conservation zones, building arts centers and heritage trusts, teaching local communities to take care of their monuments and sites.

Opportunities for strategic product development such as access to e-commerce for marketing art and crafts; and

New enterprises such as the development of cooperatives to manage

intellectual property rights; the establishment of community based

cultural tourism, etc.

Mainstreaming Culture Mainstreaming Culture at the World Bankat the World Bank

Learning & Research on Culture and

Poverty – a program funded by the Dutch

Government in collaboration with Nobel Prize

Laureate, Amatrya Sen, the Bank’s Poverty

Group, the Development Economics Research

Group, and the Social Development Group of

the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable

Development Network.

Mainstreaming CultureMainstreaming Culture Cont.Cont.

The program is designing pilot projects that

will provide economic base line information

in four areas:

Creative Expression, Cultural Industries and Poverty Reduction.

Voice and Participation Globalizing Forces and Identity Intellectual Rights and Poverty Reduction


Over 50 Bank loans currently have cultural

components that include building new museums,

community based management of sites and

monuments, cultural tourism, establishing

conservation zones in urban upgrading projects,

establishing inventories of cultural assets,

marketing crafts, preservation of libraries and

archives, establishing heritage trusts, policy

development, etc.


Conferences are being held on many of the

above themes in developing countries, e.g.

China-Cultural Heritage Management and

Urban Development: Challenge and

Opportunity.

- I designed a workshop for the China conference on

the value of Documentation standards and recording

techniques for establishing inventories.

III. Global Development GatewayIII. Global Development Gateway

And now the Bank has launched an

innovative Internet initiative, the

Global Development Gateway that

has produced a portal for culture

and development.

Global Development GatewayGlobal Development Gateway

Where Worlds of Knowledge Meet

www worldbank.org/gateway

Global Development Gateway Global Development Gateway cont.cont.

The Gateway is an Internet initiative being

established to serve the broadest possible

development community – both globally and

through Country Gateways.

The overarching goal of the Gateway is to use the

Internet as a tool to reduce poverty and to

support sustainable development by building a

common platform in partnership with the donor

community, government, the private sector, civil

society organizations, and other key partners.


It will enable development partners around

the world to share information on

development activities, trends, funding,

and commercial opportunities.

The Project has two main elements – the

Global Gateway and Country Gateways.


Global Gateway portals will serve the needs of community groups, governments, private sector, and donor agencies by aggregating knowledge at a global topic level.

Country Gateways will aggregate local

knowledge by serving as portals to

specific countries and will be tailored to the

same groups as the Global Gateway.


Country Gateways

Several country gateways are at an

advanced planning stage:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic,

Georgia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Moldova, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines,

Romania, Russia, Turkistan, Ukraine,

Uzbekistan, West Bank/Gaza.

Global level development topicsCountry Gateways for each of the Bank’s client countries that focus on local information

Global Topic Level Gateway


The synergy between the treatment of

development topics at a global level and

the aggregation of local information at the

country gateway level results in a powerful

tool that provides depth of knowledge and

unique opportunities for aligning

common interests and strategies.


online training modules and tools research findings best practices and ideas case studies procurement servicesinformation on development projects funding and commercial opportunities product reviews news, jobs, and directories –

All tailored to the needs of specific audiences such as community leaders, private investors, policymakers, local government officials, and academics.

Global and Country Gateway services will include:


Build Communities

The Gateway will provide an innovative

framework in which stakeholders can

share knowledge and build communities

across countries and sectors.


Bottom-up Contributions of Content

Not only will partners and users be able to access

information, resources, and tools, they will be

able to contribute their own knowledge and

experience – creating a common space for shared

material, dialogue, and problem-solving that is

easier to access and navigate than the current

wealth of information on the Internet.


To ensure a fresh approach, the Global Development Gateway Foundation, Inc., an independent nonprofit organization, has been established to manage the Global Development Gateway.

The Foundation will be governed by a Board of Directors and assisted by an Operations Advisory Committee whose members will be selected from many different constituencies in the development community.


Unique Features

Open to content contribution (bottom-up design) Ability to search across the entire Gateway

(Global and Country levels) by key word A project finder search tool (based on an

international mark-up-language) Support of multiple languages Brokering or match-making Procurement opportunities


Gateway Collaborators

Business Partners (Bloomberg, AOL, Microsoft,

Gates Foundation, Softbank)

Donor Agencies (MDBs, Bilateral)

Cooperating Knowledge Source Institutions

NGOs/Country Gateways

Pvt Sector Organizations –SMEs, Micro enterprise

UN Systems Agencies

Topic & Community Guides


Current Communities Under Development

Donor Agencies

The Faith Organizations Page

The Indigenous Peoples Page

The Mayors Page

The NGOs Page

The Private Sector Page


Current Global Topics under development Agriculture Food Security & Food Policy, Forestry, more... Aid Organizations Aid Effectiveness, Aid Coordination, ... Culture and Development

Arts, Crafts, Media, Heritage Preservation,Management, Cultural Tourism…..

Disaster Management Risk Identification, Risk Reduction, Risk Transfer, Early Child Development Early Child Development - Latin America... Macroeconomics and Economic Growth Economic Growth, Adjustment Lending… Energy Energy Efficiency

Global Development Gateway Global Development Gateway cont.cont. Energy Energy Efficiency Gender and Development Gender and Human Development, Gender and Social Issues, Gender, Governance, Law... HIV/AIDS Law and Development

Law & Justice, Banking and Insolvency Law… Poverty Impact Evaluation... Private Sector Development

Small and Medium Enterprises... Transport

Roads & Highways, Ports & Rails... Urban

Urban Municipal Finance, Upgrading Urban Communities,... Water Water Resources Management, Water and Sanitation


Collaborators in planning and design already include:Alpnet, Inc. America Online, Inc. (AOL)ArsDigitaAssociation for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)Asociación Latinamericana de Organizaciones

de Promoción (ALOP) Asociación Nacional de Centros (ANC)

Autonomy, Inc.BellanetBloomberg


Cambridge Technology PartnersCity University of LondonCornell UniversityC&S AssociatesDept. for International Development(DFID)Development Alternatives GroupEldis at the University of SussexFondo IndígenaFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO)Forum One CommunicationsFundación AccesoIBISCUSIBM CorporationIndia Development Information


Where Worlds of Knowledge Meet

An Invitation to Participate

www.worldbank.org/gateway

Local Culture in a Global World Why Does Culture Count? Eleanor E. Fink Senior Cultural Heritage Specialist Global Development Gateway World Bank.

Documents

local culture

introduction cont introduction

global world

role of culture

value of culture

world bank clients

topic of culture

culture counts