Cultural and Creative Industries

Behind every festival stage, TV series or museum tour, there are sectors that require development in order to boost the cultural and creative industries (CCI) and drive growth and employment.
The CCI strengthen social ties and advance priority development themes: education, gender, citizenship, governance, etc. Culture is a common good and AFD prioritises widespread access for all through our support to CCI.
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cultural and creative industries, student, Africa Digital Media Institute, Kenya
AFD and the cultural and creative industries: creating wealth and promoting creators
Cultural and creative industries

Supporting cultural policies

Creative and cultural industries, writing, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Supporting cultural policies

Cultural policies are critical to ensuring fair redistribution of revenues across the entire value chain, such as through copyright. They can also stimulate specific sectors through good-quality regulatory frameworks, such as in the Nigerian film industry.

For many cultural companies, reducing piracy is the main economic and legal challenge. In order to identify obstacles to fair remuneration of creative professionals, AFD commissioned a study on copyright in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), available in French. We are also working on a project to support the collective management of copyrights.

Promoting cultural entrepreneurship

 55/5000 Cultural and creative industries, crafts, Mayotte

Promoting cultural entrepreneurship

The CCI play an important role in providing access to employment and fostering inclusion of the most vulnerable social groups and individuals. In Africa, the crafts sector represents around 30% of jobs in the informal economy, while in Côte d’Ivoire, 80% of textile companies belong to women.

Digital technology, which has profoundly disrupted the ways in which culture is produced, distributed and consumed, is also closely linked to employment in the CCI. This context has stimulated forms of entrepreneurship whose potential will be further liberated by additional financing.

AFD provides support to these innovative sectors. For example, we are assisting a business incubator focused on audiovisual content creation (animated films, video games) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Similarly, through the Afrique Créative call for projects, AFD supports creative entrepreneurship by offering technical and financial assistance to a dozen entrepreneurs in that sector. 
 

Capacity building

creative and cultural industries, woman, Tunisia, crafts

Capacity building

In order for the creative industries to grow, professional development is needed in the fields of management, facility management and culture-related technical professions (performance technologies, audiovisual professions, heritage conservation, etc.).

In our countries of intervention, AFD seeks to build the capacities of creative professionals by developing training centres and capitalising on French expertise and partnerships with French organisations. For example, we supported the creation of a Createch Animation and Game School in Nairobi, in partnership with the French animation school Rubika and the Africa Digital Media Institute (ADMI). The goal is to provide a world-class programme in the creative sector to provide African talent with opportunities in the digital professions.
 

Meeting the need for cultural facilities

Cultural and Creative Industries, Mercado Progreso, Santa Fe, Argentina

Meeting the need for cultural facilities

The presence of top-notch cultural facilities creates a virtuous circle that provides local populations with better access to culture and stimulates creation, all while fostering social inclusion, youth education and citizenship. It also bolsters the area’s attractiveness, particularly through heritage promotion. This has long been a key priority for AFD, since it has a positive impact on tourism and the local economic fabric in general.

In Santa Fe, Argentina, AFD is supporting the renovation of the Mercado Progreso historic building, which is being transformed into a public incubator and centre for the promotion of local creative industries. This new space fosters inter-cultural dialogue and also improves the social well-being of local residents.
 

241
million euros committed to cultural and creative industries since 2017
10
million euros committed in 2021 in 5 new projects
59
countries where AFD is working in a variety of activities

In 2017, 4 million jobs were directly related to the cultural and creative industries in Asia-Pacific, along with 2 million in Africa, and 1.9 million in Latin America. These striking figures illustrate the major economic impact of CCI. They generated the equivalent of 3% of the GDP in the Asia-Pacific area, as well as 2.2% of GDP in Latin America, and 1.1% of GDP in Africa.

The CCI also play a major role in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they contribute to employment, growth, education, professional development, citizenship, conflict prevention, gender equality, and the creation of a local identity.
As part of a new mandate AFD received in 2017, we are planning to invest more resources into the CCI. Our main priorities are to:

  • Increase income generated by cultural creation in our intervention countries while ensuring better remuneration for creators. The sector is experiencing levels of consumption that are expected to continue in the future.
  • Facilitate access to culture for all and help fight social inequalities through inclusive projects.
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