Story: Mary Ankrah
THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has implored the government to integrate the principles of cultural diversity and values of cultural pluralism in the policies of the various ministries through partnership.
That was because, according to Mrs Charity Amamoo, the Secretary-General of the Ghana National Commission (GNC) for UNESCO, when the strategy to incorporate culture into all development policies was properly related to education, science, communication and dissemination of information, health, environment and tourism, it would speed up growth.
Mrs Amamoo made this known at a gathering to commemorate this year’s World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development organised by the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, the Ministry of Education, the GNC for UNESCO and the National Commission on Culture in Accra last Wednesday.
This year’s celebration was dubbed, “Cultural Diversity, Cultural Expression for Peace and National Development”.
In 2001, UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and in December 2002 the UN General Assembly, in its Resolution 57/249, declared May 21 the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
The 2012 campaign aims to raise awareness world-wide of the importance of inter-cultural dialogue, diversity and inclusion by encouraging people and organisations from around the world to take concrete action to support diversity, build a world community of individuals committed to support diversity and combat polarisation and stereotypes to improve understanding and co-operation among people from different cultures.
Mrs Amamoo observed that a culturally diverse nation was one which had the potential to sustainably improve the needs of its citizens and that Ghanaians needed to take advantage of that diversity to improve their lives.
She said the cultural policy developed by the National Commission on Culture in 2004 indicated that Ghana had over 50 ethnic institutions, with a lot of diversity, and that diversity was recognised in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana as a tool for national integration, peace and development.
She said Ghana was a beneficiary of the ongoing UNESCO culture for development indicator suite project in the country financed by the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation for Development (AECID).
The project, she explained, sought to establish a set of indicators that highlighted how culture contributed to development and economic growth in some pilot countries in the world, including Ghana.
The Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Alexander Asum-Ahensah, acknowledged that it was important to focus on the strengths and advantages of cultural diversity in order to build national and international dialogue and consensus towards achieving peace and sustainable development.
“There cannot be development without peace and there cannot be peace if Ghanaians do not learn to appreciate and tolerate one another, regardless of one another’s cultural diversity,” he stated.
In a presentation to raise awareness of the importance of inter-cultural dialogue and cultural diversity, Dr Kodjo Gavua, an Archaeology lecturer at the University of Ghana, said cultural diversity was inevitable and unavoidable and that dialogue among people of diverse cultural backgrounds was necessary for people to appreciate one another and seek understanding and harmony.
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