Romania, among the first EU member states to implement the UNESCO Culture | 2030 Indicators Project

On Thursday, September 22^th, the online event dedicated to the communication of the results after the implementation of the UNESCO pilot project Culture | 2030 Indicators in Romania and at local level, in the city of Cluj-Napoca. Both the online workshop and the whole implementation of the project are ensured by the partnership between the Ministry of Culture, the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training (Culturadata), the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca, Babeș-Bolyai University – Interdisciplinary Centre for Data Science, Cluj Cultural Centre, UNESCO and in collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

UNESCO Culture | 2030 Indicators is an important step in measuring and monitoring the progress of cultural contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals at national and local level. The framework assesses both the role of culture as a sector and the cross-cutting contribution of culture to different SDGs and public policy areas.

The online workshop was officially opened by: Lucian Romașcanu – the Minister of Culture; H. E. Simona Mirela Miculescu – Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Romania to UNESCO; Ovidiu Cîmpean – State Secretary, Ministry of Investments and European Projects; László Borbély – State Counselor, Coordinator of Department for Sustainable Development; Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores – Director of UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe; Carmen Croitoru – General Director, the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training; Christer Gustafsson – UNESCO Regional Expert; Elsa Helin – Senior Programme Specialist, Sida, Sweden.

„The indicators that were calculated represent a rich and diverse base of knowledge that will help build evidence based public policies and strategies. They could constitute an important asset for monitoring of the National Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Romania 2030. Moreover, they can provide a valuable input into the National Sectoral Strategy of Culture 2023-2030, currently being drafted by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with Culturadata”, said Lucian Romașcanu, the Minister of Culture.

„Our country’s involvement in this project testifies about the importance given to the cultural dimension and the need for sustainable cultural policies that are really needed by the cultural sector, but also by the entire society who benefits from cultural goods and events. This workshop is very timely because it is organized in the margin of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022 and I cannot wait to see all the representative and member states of UNESCO gathering next week in Mexico City”, said H.E., Ambassador Simona Mirela Miculescu.

State Secretary Ovidiu Cîmpean mentioned that „it is important to measure the impact of the culture in all the indicators and show the progress of sustainable development and it’s important to stay in contact with other cities in the world in order to see that your public policies are efficient or if they should be improved.”

State Counsellor László Borbély pointed out that „it’s a very important project because it finally allows us to start the monitoring process of all those indicators which will represent an added value for the future of culture and a comprehensive approach towards the understanding of the impact of culture in the sustainable development.”

„The role of culture in building a sustainable world is widely recognized today and reflected in the international agenda. Today’s event is a further step forward in the confirmation and in the promotion of the power of culture for development”, highlighted during the workshop, Ana Luiza Thompson-Flores, the Director of  UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe.

Carmen Croitoru, the General Director of Culturadata, contextualised the project implementation framework: „The idea to have such an aggregated analysis is beneficial because it can offer a coherent image of the sector directly linked to the other social and economic dimensions. This project gives us the opportunity to build a strong link between culture and development based on statistical evidence, in support for the decision makers. Romania had a good process of data collection and most of the indicators, results and methodology of this report have already been incorporated into our new Sectoral Strategy for Culture. I would like to end by stating that the statistics can solve things that theory cannot.”

The final report will soon be available in both Romanian and English on our official website: www.culturadata.ro. For more details on the online workshop dedicated to communicating the results after the implementation of the UNESCO pilot – project Culture | 2030 Indicators, see the Event Agenda.