Culture for Peace

Human beings need to express their identity and culture. Helvetas considers participation and access to art and culture a fundamental right and an essential dimension of life. Especially when people lack basic needs, artistic expression has an important psychosocial function. Art serves as an outlet, sparks reflection and dialogue and most importantly, art facilitates the expression of different opinions and ideas for positive change. Through artistic expression peaceful messages do not only reach people’s minds, but also their hearts. Our cultural projects strengthen resilience, develop and uphold an enabling environment and initiate or support processes of conflict transformation.