The 6th IFCCD Congress was held in Lomé, Togo, from 9 to 11 October 2019. It was divided into a pan-African conference and a general assembly of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), and brought together 85 participants from 28 countries, including 16 African countries, for three days.
The congress was launched on October 9 by Kodjo Cyriaque Noussouglo, President of the Togolese Coalition for Cultural Diversity and Vice-President of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD), who opened the regional conference “Pan-African Perspectives for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”. Eric Adja, Director of the West Africa Regional Office (WARO) of the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF), and Donikpo Kone, Head of Cultural Affairs at the Culture Directorate of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) Commission, then made a speech before giving the floor to Philippe Alarie, attaché for educational and cultural affairs at the Délégation générale du Québec in Dakar, who closed the opening ceremony with a welcoming address to participants.
The first panels of the conference were moderated by Kangni Alemdjrodo, writer, university professor and representative of the Togolese Head of State on the Permanent Council of La Francophonie (CPF), who addressed representatives of the various institutions on their programmes to promote the diversity of cultural expressions. The second day of the conference was opened by Togo’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, Mr Kossivi Egbetonyo, who reaffirmed the Togolese government’s support for the organisation of the Congress.
The speakers presented their actions and discussed pan-African and international issues in seven panels, each of which was the subject of an online summary:
- The implementation of the 2005 Convention in the African region
- Public policies for culture
- Civil society participation in public policy development
- Addressing the major challenges for the diversity of cultural expressions
- Civil society challenges elsewhere in the world
- The new realities of the globalized market for the dissemination of digital cultural content and the challenges for cultural diversity on the Internet
- Facing the challenges of the future through innovation
With the support of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA), the Togolese Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Canada), the Austrian Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the Government of Togo, the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec, the National Commission of the Francophonie in Togo.
