Project Facts:

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) successfully supports artistic and cultural projects in Central Asia (CA) since 1998. In line with the principles outlined in its Cultural Policy Paper (2002), SDC considers Art and Culture as an important good governance tool. Moreover, for SDC the support of cultural activities forms an integral and indispensable part of development as “Culture is not one of life’s luxuries – it is life itself”.

The external projects review carried out in March 2007 rated SDC’s intervention in art and culture of CA as particularly innovative and fostering local initiatives. It encouraged SDC to further streamline the projects on a regional basis and to promote the development of a programme with common objectives and work principles. As a result, an integrated three-year Regional Art and Culture Pro-gramme (RACP) aiming at promotion of “Diversity in Unity” was developed.

Overall Goal

The RACP aims at fostering participation, promoting respect and intercultural dialogue among and across the CA societies through art and culture activities. In particular, it builds on the following objectives:
•To reflect the diversity of the local population;
•To support art and culture activities building on a participative approach;
•To promote intercultural dialogue between art and culture actors from the three countries for addressing common issues.

Jirau - Rosk 21 century, 2009 Tashkent

Strategy of Intervention

While the RACP will continue to intervene on all three levels of intervention (micro-, meso-, and macro-levels), its comparative advantage and focus lie on partners and beneficiaries (micro-level) as well as on local/regional authorities and other donor organisations (meso-level).