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In the National Strategic Development Plan (2009-2013), the Royal Government recognizes Internet access as a facilitator of economic growth, and accordingly promotes the use of ICTs, including the Internet, to facilitate business and promote small and medium enterprises. Given the authorities’ acknowledgment of the role the Internet plays in boosting the economy and encouraging new forms of access, creation, production, and the dissemination of ideas, information and cultural content, Cambodia’s currently low result may reflect the immediate need to increase investments in the development of infrastructures, policies and measures to facilitate the use of new technologies. The country may also need to address issues such as pricing, bandwidth, skills, public facilities, content and applications targeting low-end users in order to bring more people online.

Colombian authorities extend their support to local cultural industries not only through public television, but also through quota regulations in place for private free-to-air television channels to promote and broadcast content of domestic origin. The broadcasting of national cinema productions is also encouraged through recent policies targeting both public and private channels. As a result of such policies, 59% of all new fiction releases on private free-to-air channels were of Colombian origin in 2011.  Additional data shows Colombians’ genuine demand for nationally produced content, as 8 of the 10 most viewed programmes broadcasted during prime time on public and private free-to air channels in 2013 were Colombian.

5 MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION (ADDITIONAL INDICATOR)

6 ARTS EDUCATION (ALTERNATIVE INDICATOR): 6.2% (2012) 

18 PERCEPTION OF GENDER EQUALITY (ALTERNATIVE INDICATOR): 80.5% (2005)  

Regarding the participation of minorities within the National Culture System, Colombia has developed a set of scenarios where different civil society actors may participate. Indigenous and ethnic groups do not have individual institutions within the National Culture System. However, in some departments and municipalities inhabited by these ethnic groups, representation in the Culture Councils exists and opportunities for involvement are the same as for the rest of the population. At the State level, to ensure the presence and participation of minorities in the dialogue on cultural policies that concern them, delegations for minorities have been created for the National Culture Council, as well as for key thematic councils that concern minority groups, such as the National Advisory Council for Native Languages and the National Council for Community and Citizens Media.

However, although the overwhelming majority of the population expresses basic tolerance towards these populations, challenges still remain to mitigate existing discriminations and exclusions, and to ensure that the potential added value of the cultural, symbolic, economic and social attributes of these groups be actively incorporated into development processes. According to a study carried out from 2004 to 2006 by the Center for International Development and Conflict Management in which Colombia took part, minorities still suffer from high levels of poverty, under-representation in economic activity, low levels of social care and social exclusion by the dominant majority group.

1 CONTRIBUTION OF CULTURAL ACTIVITIES TO GDP: 4.76% (2010)

In 2010, cultural activities contributed to 4.76% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ecuador, which indicates that culture is responsible for an important part of national production, and that it helps generate income and sustain the livelihoods of its citizens. 57.4% of this contribution can be attributed to central cultural activities and 42.6% can be attributed to equipment/supporting activities. When examining culture’s contribution to GDP by nationally determined sectors of the economy, the largest share of culture’s contribution falls under the sector of Information and Communication (42.6%), while  the second largest share falls under Profesional, Scientific and Technical Activities (20.8%), which includes advertising, design, and architecture activities. Culture’s overall contribution to the national economy is non-negligeable when compared to that of important industrial activities such as meats and processed goods (4.8%); agricultural field crops (3.6%); bananas, coffee and cocoa production (2.6%); and the manufacture of petroleum refinery products (2.0%).

While already indicating a vibrant sector, culture’s contribution to GDP is underestimated by this indicator as it only takes into consideration private and formal cultural activities, excluding the contribution of local cultural activities in the informal sector, as well as non-market cultural activities offered by public agencies or non-profit institutions, both of which are important components of cultural production in Ecuador.

2 CULTURAL EMPLOYMENT: 2.2% (2010)

In 2010, 2.2% of the employed population in Ecuador had cultural occupations (134,834 people). 87% of these individuals held occupations in central cultural activities, while 13% held occupations in equipment/supporting activities. The sub-sectors that contributed the most to national employment included leather and textile handicraft workers (27.9%), architects (7.0%), graphic and multimedia designers (5.6%), advertising and marketing professions (5.5%), and printers (4.4%).

This data indicates that thanks to cultural occupations, many Ecuadorians benefit from the generation of income and enhanced wellbeing. Furthermore, cultural occupations enable creativity and the exercise of cultural rights, and thanks to the unique characteristics of the culture sector and its dependence on locally-run micro, small and medium enterprises, cultural employment also facilitates the distribution of wealth to those most in need.

While these results already emphasize culture’s significant role as an employer and generator of wellbeing, the global contribution of the culture sector to employment is underestimated in this indicator due to the difficulty of obtaining and correlating all the relevant data. This figure likely does not cover all informal employment in the culture sector due to the reluctance of some participants to convey such occupations during official surveys, and it does not cover induced occupations with a strong link to culture, or cultural occupations performed in non-cultural establishments. Nevertheless, in regards to the latter constraint, an additional indicator illustrates that 2.3% of the total employed population worked in cultural establishments in 2010, highlighting a similarity to the core indicator and reinforcing its validity.

3 HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES ON CULTURE: 3.41% (2003)

In Ecuador, 3.41% of household consumption expenditures were devoted to cultural activities, goods and services in the year 2003 (403,066,224.24 USD). 47% was spent on central cultural goods and services, and 53% on equipment/supporting goods and services. The purchase of books was responsible for the largest share of central goods and services consumed (15.6%), followed by the consumption of cultural services (10.3%). Cultural services include entry fees to cinemas, museums, theatres, concerts, national parks and heritage sites, the hire of equipment for culture (televisions, video cassettes) etc. The purchase of equipment for the reception, recording and reproduction of sound and pictures such as televisions, radios, stereos etc.), and the purchase of equipment for information processing were responsible for the largest shares of equipment/supporting goods and services (31%, 16%).

This result suggests a significant demand for cultural goods, though variations in the consumption of cultural goods and services can be noted across income quintiles suggesting that an increase in consumption of cultural goods corresponds to an increase in wealth. While the lowest income quintile spends 2.12% of household expenditures on culture, households in the highest income quintile spend 4.28% of total expenditures on culture. Furthermore, across income quintiles it can be noted that lower earning households spend proportionally more on equipment/supporting goods, which are often a prerequisite to access certain forms of cultural content, while wealthier households spend proportionally more directly on central cultural goods and services. This data should be taken into account when analyzing policies and mechanisms in place to permit individuals of all income groups to participate in cultural activities and the consumption of cultural goods and services.

Though already significant, the final result of 3.41% is a sub-estimation of the total actual consumption of households. It does not account for the value of cultural goods and services acquired by households and provided by non-profit institutions at prices that are not economically significant (e.g. in-kind transfers). For example, it does not include museum and public library services and free public cultural events that may represent a significant portion of cultural consumption.

>> Globally, these results highlight the dynamism of Ecuador’s culture sector and how Ecuadorian cultural industries and enterprises are making a non-negligeable contribution to the national economy in regards to domestic production, consumption and the creation of jobs. In light of the objectives of Policy 11.1 of the National Plan for Good Living (2009-2013) concerning the development of an endogenous, sustainable and diversified economy, culture’s role merits greater consideration when taking action to effectively implement national policy.

4 INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: 0.97/1 (2010)

A key goal stated in the National Plan for Good Living (2009-2013) is to review government investment in education in order to enable the development of skills that allow citizens to participate in cultural life, society and the economy, as well as to appreciate and enhance cultural diversity. Within this context, the result of 0.97/1 reflects the success of national authorities in guaranteeing the fundamental cultural right to an education in a complete, fair and inclusive manner. This result shows that on average, the target population aged 17-22 has 11.1 years of schooling, which is superior to the targeted 10 years. In addition, only a small minority of 3% of the target population lives in education deprivation, having less than 4 years of schooling. This result shows that public authorities’ efforts have been overwhelmingly successful in assuring that citizens enjoy the right to an education, and participate in the construction and transmission of values, attitudes and cultural skills throughout school, as well as benefit from the personal and social empowerment of learning. Nevertheless, to further enhance equality and education, targeted policies may still be necessary to address lower average years of schooling amongst African and indigenous populations (4.2 and 6.9 years respectively), which have been indicated as key issues in the Plurinational Plan to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, Ethnic and Cultural Exclusion (2009-2012).

5 MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION: 62.5% (2009)

The 2008 Constitution of Ecuador states that “the national education system will integrate an intercultural vision and the State shall ensure a system of bilingual intercultural education […] respecting the rights of communities, towns and nations” (Arts. 347). In this system, the main language to be used for teaching is to depend on identification with a cultural group, while Spanish is to be utilized for intercultural relations.

According to the 2009 official curriculum, 37.5% of the hours to be dedicated to languages in the first two years of secondary school is to be dedicated to the teaching of the official national language - Spanish. The remaining 62.5% of the time is to be dedicated to the teaching of international languages. These results indicate that while the official curriculum is designed to promote linguistic diversity on the global scale, additional efforts are necessary to meet national objectives of promoting the diversity of local Ecuadorian languages and culture. 0% of the required national curriculum is to be dedicated to teaching any of the 14 State-recognized local languages associated with indigenous nations.

Nevertheless, a recent reform by the Ministry of Education calls for the teaching of languages in schools to facilitate and enhance cultural diversity, recognizing language’s role in the construction of an intercultural and plurinational country.  The implementation of these reforms may effectively change the results for this indicator in the near future, establishing more balance between the promotion of international and Ecuadorian linguistic diversity. The results for this indicator merit consideration when analyzing the indicators of the Heritage and Social Participation dimensions, as the promotion of multiple Ecuadorian identities through education may also contribute to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, as well as facilitate greater social cohesion amongst the peoples of Ecuador.