on Culture & Development - Seameo-SPAFA

34IntroductionThe first day of the workshop focuseson the meanings of culture and ourunderstanding and interpretations ofit. In doing this an individualisticapproach and response to the issuesraised is encouraged and promoted.This is in keeping with the workshopcredo that only when there is mutualunderstanding, tolerance, and respectfor diversity in cultures and the livingcontexts of people involved in thedesign and implementation ofdevelopment programmes, can theytruly succeed.Any development involves change, andthat change must be harnessed to thecultural traditions of the endbeneficiaries. In fact, the ‘change’ ordevelopment process should emanatefrom them, but if not, at least it musttruly reflect as well as respond to thecultural tradition it is influencing. Inorder to try and achieve this goal, anyperson involved in development workmust initially consider and reflect onone’s own culture and one’s own viewsof other cultures.Thus, the first day of the workshop isdevoted to an examination of whatculture means. In Our CreativeDiversity: The UN World Commissionon Culture and Development Reportstates:“The relationship between culture anddevelopment should be clarified anddeepened in constructive and practicalways.”Thus an exploration of what culturemeans is seen as the appropriatestarting point before we move todiscuss the relationship of culture vis--vis development. The numerousideas that arise in trying to pinpointexactly what culture is only serves toheighten the fact that we must learnnot just to appreciate these differentperspectives, but in fact respectthem. If we can do this, we are wellon the way to avoiding the prepackaged,‘one size fits all’development policies thatunfortunately still abound.Also as a starting point to theworkshop, the recognition that thereare so many variations on theunderstanding and interpretation ofculture helps set the ‘tone’ of theworkshop. This tone being that theworkshop is indeed a forum for theexchange of ideas and that there is nosingular ‘right answer’. Throughdisagreement we can learn becausethis discourse can lead to improvedunderstandings and ultimately greatertrust.