on Culture & Development - Seameo-SPAFA

Advocaocating Cultural Analysisthe cultural work environment. There are feworganisations that have invested the necessary timeto serious reflection of their own way of working andconsidering whether it is appropriate or effective.Cultural analysis is an adaptive evolving process. It isnot definitive. It is not a tool which can be added tothe countless other tools used by developmentpractitioners and it does not comprise a checklist tobe ticked off. As a process it raises awareness ofrelationships of power, influence, initiative andcreativity. It encourages us to scratch a little deeper,to examine our own professional and organisationalculture as well as that of recipient communities so wecan better understand the interaction that actuallytakes place. It helps us to identify opportunities forinnovative and participatory programme facilitation.It also helps us to predict the cultural constraintsthat can in turn help us avoid bottlenecks inimplementation. Additionally, it enables us to deviseways for identifying potential conflicts and formanaging conflict situations.13To sum up, cultural analysis can determine howdevelopment can be enacted to ensure maximumbenefits or success, success being defined asacceptance, ownership, sustainability and of course,achievement of the development goals. ThisGuidelines publication is in itself a result of a culturalanalysis process over the past 4 years derived frominputs to workshops on Managing the Integration ofCulture into Development Programmes.