Culture is a motor for sustainable human development.

When art and culture flourish, people are concerned with more than simply surviving. After all, these preoccupations involve standards and values, dialogue with other people, the past and future, the way people look at themselves and the world around them. Art and culture contribute to creating awareness among people, their sustainable development and the establishment of stable societies.

People who are aware will not avoid debate with other people and will simultaneously reject all forces that stand in the path of open discussion. People who are conscious of themselves also take all possible steps to develop their society into a stable unit in consultation with others. Self-aware people also know and feel that they are more intensively involved in their own sustainable development.

Art and culture also play an important role in the framework of sustainable human development cooperation. On the one hand, this is because dialogue also re-emerges in the context of exchanges of art and culture and because people with different cultural backgrounds understand each other better as a result. On the other hand, it is due to the fact that societies which are exclusively concerned with primary needs will never be or become stable.

Africalia aims to make a contribution to sustainable human development cooperation based on this thinking. Not on the basis of what Europe considers necessary or useful, but what is deemed desirable by people and organisations in Africa.

Africalia also wishes to draw public attention to contemporary African art and culture, particularly in Belgium. It does this through the (joint) organisation of cultural events.

Africalia npo was set up in 2001. The association’s object is described as follows in its statutes:
…promotion of sustainable human development in Africa (…). To achieve the goal of sustainable human development, the association will help to promote socio-economic and socio-cultural development and a reinforcement of the social foundations in partner countries as well as create awareness among Belgian public opinion (…)

In the cultural field the cooperation focuses on:

* Integrating the cultural dimension into all levels of development cooperation,
* recognising, protecting and promoting values and cultural identities to encourage intercultural dialogue,
* recognising, protecting and validating cultural patrimony, supporting the development of capacities in these sectors,
* developing the cultural industry and improving access to markets for artistic and cultural goods and services.