The UNESCO Culture|2030 Indicators were officially launched in Barbados during a kick-off workshop held from 19 to 21 November 2025 in Bridgetown. Organized by the Division of Culture in the Prime Minister’s Office, in close collaboration with UNESCO and supported financially by the European Union, the workshop marked the beginning of Barbados’ implementation of the global framework.
The event gathered 65 participants, including representatives from local and national institutions, academics from the University of the West Indies, and other key stakeholders involved in culture and heritage. It aligned with UNESCO’s commitment to emphasizing the essential role of culture in sustainable development.
The Culture|2030 Indicators framework, developed with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, is designed to assess culture both as a sector and as a transversal enabler across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to measure and monitor how culture contributes to national and local implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Comprising 22 indicators across several thematic dimensions, the methodology seeks to make culture visible in development processes, strengthen advocacy, inform policy decisions, enhance knowledge-building, and monitor progress on culture’s relevance for the SDGs.
Through technical discussions and participatory exercises, stakeholders evaluated the feasibility of measuring the indicators, assessed the availability and adequacy of data inputs, and clarified institutional roles and responsibilities for data collection and reporting. This process enabled the implementation of the first data mapping.
National and local implementation teams, together with a UNESCO regional expert, defined a project work plan and conducted a preliminary policy review. The initiative also supported the development of context-appropriate definitions, adapting indicator concepts to local institutional and data realities while maintaining international comparability.
