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Culture and development inseparable
2007-05-20 09:09:28
By Perege Gumbo
Researches have revealed that culture can do a lot on human development while fostering peace and harmony in the society.
As Tanzania prepares itself to celebrate the `Tanzania Cultural Day` tomorrow, it is essential to examine socio-economic benefits likely to accrue to the nation as a result of promoting cultural values. Staff writer Perege Gumbo takes a look at the subject
As Tanzania marks another cultural day anniversary, it`s probably important to access how culture can facilitate and foster the goal to national development.
The Tanzania cultural day was officially launched on May 21, 2005 when the government declared that the day will be commemorated annually.
The decision was a result of the United Nations Assembly Resolution number 57/249 which proclaimed May 21st as the day of cultural diversity for culture and development.
So examination of the relationship between culture and development is vital because Tanzania as a poor and developing nation has set her own development goals which aim at uplifting people`s lives.
``We want to create awareness on how our cultural values can contribute to the national development`` the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, Muhammed S. Khatibu, said.
The link between culture and development is seldom disputed and many international and local researchers have underscored the close relationship of the two.
A society struggling to attain faster development, for instance, might face difficulties in achieving the set developmental goals in isolation of her people`s cultural values. In trying to show the relationship, various approaches have been used.
Prof. Abdul Sheriff, a historian and former director of National Museum in Zanzibar says that measurement of economic development using sustainable expansion of production, productivity and per capita income alone was elusive.
He emphasizes the fact that economic criteria alone could not provide a programme for human dignity and well being.
The narrow economic interpretation of development was, in his view sterile, following its failure to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor within and between the nations.
Tanzania as a multi-ethnic nation has many reasons to join the world in cherishing the culture as she aspires to attain fast development.
With more than 120 tribes, Tanzania has managed to maintain peace among its communities and the culture of peace and harmony explains why tribes have lived together respecting each other’s cultural values.
Wars and internal conflicts are the opposite of what culture can do to a society. A clear example of what lack of adherence to the principles of cultural values can vividly be seen by looking at what is happening in Darfur right now.
In this area, people continues to kill each other because one society has rejected to recognize another society`s cultural value resulting in one of the most human right violations in the contemporary world history.
It follows therefore that since cultural diversity is a basic human right, to promote it is to counter stereotypes and cultural fundamentalism which would help the world to avert crisis of Darfur and Western Sudan natures.
Researchers have maintained that understanding culture traditions of a community could best come after close examination of the human behaviors and social dynamics which influenced development outcomes.
The relevance of culture to human development could be validated by analyzing things like attitude, behavior and values of the people in rich and developed countries where findings have shown that majority people in those nations followed and continued to follow a set of basic principles in their lives.
The basic principles that the majority people in developed nations have been following in their development endeavors include ethnics and honesty; integrity and transparency; responsibility and accountability; respect for law and order; and respect for public assets.
Other principles are respect for the things of other citizens; pride in performance and passion for work; strive for saving and investment; and loyal to the well being of other citizens all of which point to the fact that cultural values were interwoven with development of today` societies.
Apart from culture being the fountain of fostering peace in the society, another areas where Tanzania could benefit and increase her people’ income is tourism.
The 1999 National Tourism Policy has clearly stipulated its objective to develop cultural values, create cultural awareness, and promotions of community participation as a form of products diversification in the tourism industry.
It is a fact that culture has been used by many countries to boost and attain rapid development.
According to the World Tourism Organization reports, cultural tourism destination has become so popular in increasing people’s income in some tourist sources.
The cultural tourism has been one of the products performed extremely well in many countries including China, South Eastern Asia, and South Africa.
A study carried out in South Africa in 2004 when the number of tourist arrivals reached 6.5million revealed that in every three tourists received in the country, one was visiting the country for cultural motivation.
The Intra-African Travel and Tourism Association (ITTA)`s presentation to the preparation committees shortly before the Tanzania Cultural Day was officially announced in 2005 shows the enormous cultural potential Tanzania has for her development.
As such, the potentials could be used as effective vehicle of harnessing the benefits of economic development and people\'s prosperity.
``Tourists look for activities and opportunities for involvement. They look for special high quality, unforgettable experience, making tourism a significant type of consumptions`` ITTA emphasized.
The question is: Is Tanzania late in putting the culture in her development agendas? What should be done to make the culture contribute significantly to the Tanzanians prosperity?
Being the third year since the Tanzania Cultural Day was officially introduced, people should be patient give the infant ‘Tanzania Cultural Day\' time before benefits of the decision are realised.
Unlike other government development funds which have to channel through stringent bureaucratic stages, money realized from cultural tourism have the tendency of trickling directly to the grass root people, thereby impacting positively and faster on development.
This happens when tourists visit villages for cultural motivation and pay money directly to the villagers on cultural activities such as local songs, traditional dances, performance of rituals, telling stories, conduction of traditional ceremonies, traditional foods, etc.
For majority Tanzanians to benefit from cultural regions, districts, and wards need to be facilitated to identify cultural tourism potentials, develop and record them with view to preserve the cultural tourism for easy marketing.
On the other hand, cultural tourism needs a special promotional push in and outside the country alongside awareness creation within local communities on the importance of culture and cultural values in their development.
As culture has never been an obstacle to development, but mainspring, the horizon and the goal of all human transformation, Tanzania`s plans to establish a cultural village covering more than 1,000 hectares is a welcome decision which if implemented would foster quick attainment of economic progress.
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