By Yunus S Saliu
As the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) with relevant stakeholders are in earnest to complete the Quadrennial Periodic Report (QPR) 2023, Sanna Jarjou of NCAC who is also the QPR focal point in The Gambia has highlighted the importance of the QPR saying it promotes diversity in cultural expression, job opportunities among other values.
Mr. Jarjou, in a brief interview, highlighted further that QPR gives economic dimension and opportunities.
More so, “it contributes to the economic growth in many countries, 2019 we were able to successfully report on the activities and now is another four years and our 2019 report has given us another privilege that UNESCO alerted us to prepare our report on the past activities from 2019 to date.”
Quadrennial Periodic Report, he noted, is under the UNESCO 2005 Convention meant for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity and expression “and The Gambia is a party to it as the Gambia ratified the Convention in 2011 but has its first report in 2019,” he reiterated.
He said the purpose of QPR is to report on the activities that have an economic dimension that the NCAC and other relevant stakeholders embarked on for the past four years.
Going by the process of the reporting, the NCAC started the reporting process with stakeholders, and an international consultant contracted by UNESCO for the training and development of the report “all processes done in a transparency manner.”
The consultative meetings for the stakeholders brought together people from different sectors to report on 11 chapters of the UNESCO 2005 Convention QPR and these chapters include Cultural and creative sectors, media diversity, digital environment, partnering with civil society, mobility of artists and cultural professionals, the flow of cultural goods and services, treaties and agreements, national sustainable development policies and plans, international cooperation for sustainable development, gender equality, artistic freedom, measure and initiatives reported by civil society organizations, emerging transversal issues.
“We are almost at the concluding stage, as we had just finished with the National Core Team of twenty people selected from different areas including artists, media, and civil society, among others including some staff of the NCAC. We need this National Core Team because QPR comprises 11 chapters and the core team personnel are divided into various chapters,” the QPR focal point officer explained.