Sunday Life Reporter
The Nhimbe Trust project “Re-linking Communities through Culture”, co-funded by the European Union under the Culture at Work Africa programme and implemented in a partnership between Nhimbe Trust in Bulawayo and Savanna Trust in Harare is rolling out in earnest this year.
Last month, Nhimbe’s executive director Josh Nyapimbi and Savanna’s Daniel Maposa attended a meeting of the Culture at Work Africa consortium, led by Interarts Foundation, with the partners of the project, and the Ministry of Culture, Art and Tourism, the General Delegation of FESPACO, and the Delegation of the European Union in Burkina Faso. The purpose of the meeting was to offer the beneficiaries of the 15 projects selected from the First Call, a space for exchange and training, workshops, seminars and visits to the cultural spaces in the city of Ouagadougou.
“Nhimbe Trust is honoured to be one of 15 organisations from Africa selected as beneficiaries of the first call for funding. The event was opened by the Honourable Abdoul Karim Sango, Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, of the Republic of Burkina Faso,” said Nyapimbi.
On the ground in Bulawayo, the project is co-ordinated by Lisa Sidambe.
“Inter-cultural dialogue, as a tool and medium of providing linkages between different belief systems, traditions, value systems, linguistic identities and ethnic identities, has gained prominence globally in efforts aimed at achieving much greater cohesion between and within communities. It bridges cultural divergence, promotes cultural distinctiveness and mends cultural fragmentation.
By granting validation to cultural identities that are consistent with human rights and principles of justice, inter-cultural dialogue forges a national identity that recognises the significance of culture and cultural diversity in the promotion, protection and defence of fundamental freedoms,” she said.
Relinking Communities through Culture employs inter-cultural dialogue to facilitate engagements on cultural and ethnic identities. By engaging media and cultural practitioners aged between 18 and 35, the project uses world café and pro action café processes to facilitate truth telling participatory dialogue and interaction on issues of ethnic, cultural identity and polarity. Visits have been made to a number of areas in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces.