The first results of UNESCO’s initiative to measure the role of culture in national development processes are now available online. UNESCO has developed CDIS, or Culture for Development Indicators, which provides facts and figures in the different ways culture interacts with, contributes to and impacts development processes.

CDIS an advocacy and policy tool which uses a one-of-a-kind methodology. It gives countries with limited statistics systems a feasible way to take the first steps to develop cultural statistics for policy purposes. It does this by bringing together existing data in a thematic way approaching culture both as a sector of activity and as a set of values and norms that guide human action. The 22 CDIS core indicators cover 7 key policy dimensions of development: Economy, Education, Governance, Social Participation, Gender Equality, Communication and Heritage. Together, these indicators make up the Culture for Development DNA of a country.

Thanks to collaboration with over 150 partners, the CDIS has been implemented in 11 countries, generating new data and creating concrete impact at the national level, ranging from improved statistical systems to the integration of culture and cultural indicators in national development and monitoring plans.

The results of the first five years of the initiative are now available on the CDIS's dedicated website, providing access to all CDIS tools and publications, as well as the results of national-level implementation. Key CDIS publications and implementation tools available for download include: the UNESCO CDIS Methodology Manual, the UNESCO CDIS Implementation Toolkit and the UNESCO CDIS Data Tables.

“For more than 30 years, national culture sectors worldwide have tried to make an argumented case about their role in societies, but the domain of national strategic development plans remained out of their comfort zone. CDIS changed this. The results achieved in Namibia changed governments and developmental partners’ perceptions of the participation of culture sectors in development and the resources they manage. This is contributing to change national and sub-regional policies and strategy planning.” Damir Dijakovic, Culture Programme Specialist, UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare.

“The CDIS adapts to each country and in the case of Swaziland, it helped a lot in creating needed statistics on culture and development. This is helping to justify budgets on cultural activities, and to open collaboration opportunities with the central statistics office leading to the inclusion of cultural questions in national surveys like the MCIS 2014-2015.” Temahlubi Nkambule, National Monuments Officers, Swaziland National Trust Commission

https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/unesco/posts/unesco-culture-development-indicators