Within the ‘Second Afrolatin and Caribbean Meeting’ that took place in Salvador (Brazil), authorities and representatives of Ministries and Culture Institutions from the region set out the agenda for the next 10 years.
Authorities and representatives of ministries and culture institutions from Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as representatives of UNESCO, Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB), Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) and Programa de Apoyo a los Pueblos Afrodescendientes Rurales de América Latina y del Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (ACUA-FIDA), exchanged experiences on public policy and specific actions that implement the Afrodescendant Agenda for the Americas 2009–2019.
The attendants highlighted the conceptual and political relevance of the ‘World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance’, organized in Durban, on September 2001, and of the proposals included in its declaration and action plan. The content of Cartagena’s Declaration, signed during the First Ibero-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture for the Afrodescendant Agenda for the Americas, organized in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia on October 2008, was also recalled.
Ministers and authorites acknowledged the contribution of Afrodescendants in the creation of our cultures, histories and nations and celebrated the strength of the African Diaspora as a source of inspiration to tighten the ties of fraternity and cultural unity among America’s peoples. Thus, they signed an agreement that favors this sector of the world’s population.
Agreements Set Out to Strengthen the Afro community
1. Join efforts to create institutional mechanisms and cooperation instruments to strengthen solidarity among Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, both at the governmental and civil society levels.
2. Create the Pro tempore Secretariat of the Afrodescendant Agenda for the Americas. Fundación Cultural Palmarés, from Brazil, was appointed to carry out this task until the third Meeting takes place.
3. Strengthen the Afrolatin and Caribbean Observatory through national cooperation in order to allow for content circulation through an interactive platform that should maximize dissemination of and access to information, as well as its use to create and implement cultural policies.
4. Put into effect initatives to support artistic development as well as the exchange of Afrodescendant cultural expressions among the States Parties of the Agenda such as grants, internships, art residencies and participation in cultural activities.
5. Safeguard religions and cultural spaces of African origin by acknowledging their importance for the social formation and cultural vitality of Latin America and the Caribbean.
6. Promote audiovisual coproductions and their circulation to recover the historical and social memory of Afrodescendant populations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
7. Encourage the edition and distribution of publications and teaching-pedagogical materials, both physicaly and digitally, on the contribution of Afrodescendants to the building of nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
8. Promote the reinterpretation and reconceptualization of history, culture and traditions of the Afrodescendant peoples to include them as part of educational programs for children and young people.
9. Promote research, local teaching and cultural dissemination of Afrodescendant languages.
10. Higlight the importance of affirmative action measures in fields like education, specially higher education, and work opportunities, among others.
11. Promote the rapprochement and exchange of cooperation experiences and initiatives among the institutions of Latin American and Caribbean countries devoted to the promotion of equal rights and opportunities and to the appreciation of Afrodescendant culture.
12. Promote cooperation initiatives aimed at capacity building, entrepreneurship support and cultural economy and promotion of cultural markets among the Afrodescendant populations.
13. Strengthen cultural initiatives that favor the social inclusion of marginalized urban Afrodesendants, especially young people.
14. Adopt measures that ensure cultural rights of rural Afrodescendant communities around issues like language and cultural traditions’ preservation and protection of traditional knowledge.
15. Deepen actions that favor the promotion of a honorable image of Afrodescendants through the media and contribute to the development of languages that raise their self-esteem.
16. Make visible Afrodescendant women’s prominence in the history of their communities and of society and support organizational and cultural projects that intend to make them stronger.
17. Develop joint initiatives that aim at appreciating and safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Afrodescendant communities.
18. Name this meeting the ‘Second Afrolatin and Caribbean Meeting’ and adopt this title for the following meetings of the Afrodescendant Agenda of the Americas.
19. Acknowledge the contribution of UNESCO’s project ‘The Slave Route’ to promote African and Afrodescendant history and culture and recommend the massive dissemination of its contents. The attendants also recommended to deepen, based on national experiences, the process of reflection and knowledge exchange on the various subjects of the Afrodescendant Agenda, through meetings and academic, scientific and cultural events.