The Intersection of Culture, Arts And Inclusion for Sustainable Development

We often refer to the sensitive theme of Inclusion and Diversity even though, used interchangeably.  Perhaps we can justify the cliche of social justice and equity to score a point, despite populist notion that this contraption is overlooked and misunderstood. The  discourse and treatment of diversity and inclusion only began to gain significant traction during the 'Paris Gender and Equality'  Convention Agreement in Copenhagen. The policy thrust for socio- cultural change is a buzzword that was eventually adopted within the periscope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) The approach introduced by various  development experts, placed intrinsic value upon the need to streamline this complex discourse. It is envisaged  that with passage of time, larger societies would  begin to embrace and grapple with the critical challenges of  implementing the core ethos of Inclusion and Diversity, particularly for developing countries. 

Dissecting empirical evidence of the essence of culture, arts, diversity and inclusion in historical context require admixture of ethnographic approach rather than emperical theories. The Arts, Culture and Tourism sectors are aggregate sum of the Creative Economy landscape.        It also represent hydra-headed fangs of evidence of diverse constituents, place, people, community or nation. Parallel to this sentiments is the organic consternation of identities and beliefs that are unfathomable in  scope and dimension.

African ideologies has never been lenient with its own milieu of natural  heritages. Hence, a deluge of lost scripts, scrolls, hidden messages, codes, symbols and secrets. Perhaps, the reason a taboo and tradition of a particular community is  fundamentally an  acceptable norm in the other place. Art and culture is a force of nature and environment. The rationale behind the allure of Tourism business is phenomenal. Tourism have the power to take everything in it's trail or nothing will make sense. Eco-Tourism is time bound but infinite and therefore can be seen only with the twin len of inherent in both  tangible and intangible blocs.  

The delicate balancing of  tourism components is uniquely bolstered on subtle offerings and  thresholds such as mystery, curiousity,  heritage, destinations, history, sound and sight, dance food, language, iconography, mythology, folklore and storytelling vignettes. All these signposts are distinctive in features, yet, different in strategic marketing parlance. Pursuant to this line of thought, the  implementation of the articles enshrined in the  Convention of Diversity Strategy and Targets is a watershed that provide roadmap to driving  collaborations and action plan for Bilateral Development Agreements (BDA) between Parties that are signatories to collective resource mobilisation which must be monitored and Scalable, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound [SMaRT]  

In concrete terms, tangible or intangible assets could also be an investment vehicles such as Foundations, Endowments, Societies, Private or Public Museums, Monuments,  Archives which should only be held in Public Trusts and  perpetuity for probity,  trans-generational, transparent and sustainable. The pillars of Institutional funding must be explored under  two distinctive models  (i.e, using 100% of ‘principal’ and ‘significant’ in-flows as  enshrined in OECD; or  adopted on 40% coefficient to ‘significant’ out flows) mostly preferred by municipals, development agencies and governments by way of counterpart funding. 

Diversity-Related Development Projects (DRDP) that require direct investment windows is better tracked in phases. The last decades has shown tremendous commitment to cultural conventions and fiscal  investments across Africa and the rest of the world. A global case study by Deloitte pegged USD 5.4 billion to USD 10.4 billion (based on a conservative estimate using a 40% coefficient on ‘significant’ flows). This was primarily driven by bilateral DAC donors, who accounted for 73% of total ODF flows, with multilateral providers accounting for the rest (37%).The global cultural  diversity and inclusion gaps is still largely under explored to the tune of an estimated USD 700 billion per year, as stated in the ratified U.N Cultural Diversity Framework.

Accessing funding pool is not an open bid but classified. Resources are scarce and shrinking Post-Covid and the Ukraine- Russian war.  The cesspool of grants are no more tenable to individuals or profit oriented businesses. Whereas, vast opportunities abound directly for institutional placements that could  be backed by guaranteed instruments, entities [LTe) and Trusts. 

At this juncture, it is pertinent to evaluate outcomes of 'Shared prosperity' ethos of the BAO-led administration towards economic  transformation of Ekiti State. The roadmap and frameworks that berthed the sequestering of Tourism as a stand alone   component is a significant step in the right direction. 

The on-going legacy projects such as the world-class Cultural centre and Museum, re-vitalization,  rebranding and concessioned Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort,  the legendary Olowè of Isè Art Foundation and Museum, coming 89 years after are not only awe-striking and emotional, but bound to raise goose pimple on the skin of every living Practitioners and connoisseurs of the arts that is worth their salt.  

The Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji led - administration has, at all fronts, exponentially raised a bar that will take  time to match. Even pundits concur that BAO seemingly make the  business of governance looks like a breezy walk in the park. 

The recent commitment  to disbursement of the first ever Endowment Fund for the Arts is monumental feat. The intervention shall boost the economic pulse of artistic, literary and cultural talents and all  practitioners of arts in Ekiti State. The ripple effect of this singular development  will reverberate in all clusters and to larger extent, the States' Internally Generated Revenue base. [IGR]  Tourism eco- systems under BAO has been upscaled and targeted for growth and shared prosperity. 

It is logical to also assuage the probable outcomes of resource mobilization structures through fiscal monitoring and peer review mechanism. In the light of this, B2B and Public Private Partnership model would be the best fit for coherent benchmarking of the unprecedented vision and stewardship of Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji. 

Conclusively,The Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO) led administration  deserve all the accolades for the pragmatic approach in identifying critical touch points for reforms within micro and macro economy buffers to ultimately  bolster sustainable development within a given time frame. 

All said, the Utopia we so earnestly seek is now within reach if extra care is taken to wade off potentially self sabotaging politicking.  I would advocate a water- tight security and smart P.R regime that is capable of managing crisis and do the needful even before it rears its head. No doubt, the truism that aptly comes to mind here is that,  which says- wherever there is a will, there is already a way. 

Long live BAO.

Long live Ekiti State of Nigeria. 

Caleb Osasona is a UN- Resilience Artist, Food Security Aggregator & Chairman, Society of Ekiti-State Creative Artists. [SOECA]

Ado Ekiti. 

May 4, 2024.