Culture has a fundamental role in our societies. It fosters intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, safeguards and promotes cultural heritage, and contributes to economic growth and job creation through vibrant cultural and creative industries.
Culture and creative industries (CCIs) are also one of the most powerful engines of development worldwide. CCIs generate approximately USD 2.3 trillion in global revenue, contributing 3.1% to global GDP and accounting for 6.2% of global employment– almost half of which are held by women. Furthermore, CCIs are particularly attractive to youth, employing more young people than any other sector.
Beyond their economic impact, culture is a vital driver of sustainable development, fostering social inclusion, innovation, and economic growth.
The role of culture as an enabler and driver of sustainable development was reaffirmed at MONDIACULT 2025, the largest world conference devoted to culture convened by UNESCO. Culture has been recognized as a “global public good, reaffirming culture's central role in socio-economic development, job creation, social cohesion, and addressing global challenges like climate change.
The EU is therefore committed to supporting and promoting culture as an essential contribution to human rights and a key element of good governance, inclusion and sustainable growth.
The EU’s approach to Culture in the external action
Culture has an important place in the EU’s development cooperation. The EU’s action is guided by the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations, which identifies three main axes:
- supporting culture as an engine for sustainable social and economic development
- promoting culture and intercultural dialogue for peaceful inter-community relations
- reinforcing cooperation on cultural heritage
The New European Consensus on Development, the New Agenda for Culture, the European Framework of Action on Cultural Heritage, and the EU Council Resolution on the Cultural Dimension of Sustainable Development develop this approach further.
In addition, international partnerships and cooperation feature among the four key directions of the 2025 Culture Compass, the EU’s framework for culture policy.
The EU’s approach to culture in international partnerships reflects the EU Global Gateway strategy, which aims to promote sustainable and trusted connections among peoples. Building people-to-people relations within and between countries and continents is crucial to create longstanding partnerships based on shared values. Cultural relations play an important role in that process.
Furthermore, the EU actions advance the 'Team Europe' approach, which means joining forces between the EU and EU Member States by pooling our resources and expertise to deliver more effectively and with greater impact. For this purpose, we collaborate with the network of European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).
Under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI‑Global Europe), interventions can be financed via geographic envelopes (Asia-Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America & Caribbean, Neighbourhood / Southern Neighbourhood, etc.). Within these envelopes, the Multi-annual Indicative Programmes (MIPs) are the main programming documents where culture appears as a sector or a cross-cutting theme (for example: cultural heritage, creative industries, intercultural dialogue, cultural policy dialogue).
At present, around 50 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean include culture and cultural heritage in their National Development Plans. Acknowledging the important role of young people in development cooperation, culture is also firmly embedded in the Youth Action Plan, the first ever policy framework for EU’s strategic partnership with young people around the world.
Our support
The EU supports initiatives in partner countries ranging from promoting and protecting cultural heritage and identity building, strengthening cultural and creative industries (CCIs), to promoting peacebuilding, conflict prevention and reconciliation through inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
Our partner countries benefit from various instruments of support ranging from EU country support, regional programmes and global initiatives.
Support to culture, CCIs and cultural heritage is integrated in the instruments supporting main EU priorities, such as job creation and growth, democracy, governance, youth, human rights, etc.
The Regional MIP for Sub-Saharan Africa (2021-2027) contains a specific objective on cultural cooperation and heritage. A comprehensive set of initiatives has been launched to strengthen cultural cooperation, exchange, co-creation, and dissemination between Europe and Africa.
The Africa-Europe Partnerships for Culture combine complementary actions at both continental and regional levels to enhance Euro-African cultural cooperation and create lasting opportunities for cultural exchange and collaboration focusing on cultural cooperation, heritage, and the audiovisual sector.
CreaTifi is a blending initiative aimed at mobilising impact investment in the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) across African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. The programme offers financing through three complementary access streams:
- Crea Fund (implemented by Proparco)
- Fashionomics (implemented by the African Development Bank)
- World Bank Trust Funds
The EU has also adopted an initiative aimed at strengthening cultural and creative industries (CCIs) value chains to contribute to the socio-economic development of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).
At global level, the EU is a signatory of the UNESCO convention on cultural expression and supports progress on this agreement’s objectives through the implementation of EU–UNESCO Expert Facility. The programme provides partner countries with on-demand technical assistance and peer-to-peer support for the development of CCIs regulatory frameworks and policies, the integration of culture in development policies/strategies through the Culture|2030 Indicators and Policy elaboration for cultural and creative industries components.
Past key programmes
The EU has supported several flagship programmes that paved the way for today’s cultural cooperation:
- ACP–EU Culture Programme
Supported cultural and creative industries in African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, with a focus on job creation, economic growth, and cultural diversity. - Transcultura | UNESCO
Connected young artists and cultural professionals from the Caribbean with opportunities in Europe and Latin America, fostering exchange, skills development, and regional integration.
An overview of all past programmes is available here.