_The Creative Wealth of Nations_

- Create a database for the WBG’s arts-based development initiatives of the past, the present, and the future. The catalog, which could be linked to a public web portal and be called “The Arts in Development: The Role of the World Bank,” could lead to easier dissemination of knowledge. The goal is to foster exchange and “evidence of what works and how to deliver it.”<sup>193</sup> And it could be linked to cross-cutting themes and global practices that encourage learning by doing.

# **2) Augment the Support for Arts in Education Initiatives** *

With respect to interventions in arts education, the WBG could increase its direct involvement. Building on its past work it could,

- Generously fund and scale up arts in education initiatives.

As seen in Afghanistan, in addition to providing physical infrastructure and the like, building a nation is about building its people. In this war-torn country, the WBG’s contribution to Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) has touched on several angles, angles that the WBG tirelessly tries to connect. These include: social inclusion (such as gender equity and ethnic equity), employment for local staff and music teachers, infrastructural development (via renovating the main hall, building the concert hall and a residential hall that will accommodate 200 girls), inter-cultural dialogue, and human development.

As often cited, compared to mainstream development initiatives, such investments often receive meager funding. Yet their impact can be grand. For example, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music’s tour to the United States in February 2013, that brought together the WBG, the United States Embassy, Carnegie Corporation and the American Asian Cultural Council, cost about a mere USD$600,000. But it was the largest and most successful exchange in the history of cultural relations between Afghanistan and the United States. In addition, the tour, which included over 60 Afghan students and teachers, not only allowed students to hone their skills; it also expanded their horizons.<sup>194</sup> They saw another side of America, and Americans saw another side of Afghanistan.

Obviously, with the way world events and crises are unfolding, it is difficult to suggest that supporting music education in Afghanistan, would rapidly diminish problems there. Nevertheless, positive evidence suggests what other nations could learn here. The WBG’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which has a comparative advantage in operating in conflict-affected environments, could do more to support such soft and smart development initiatives in select countries. Moreover, among other things, MIGA also works with countries eligible for funding from the International Development Association (IDA), a Fund for world’s poorest countries.

But economic labels aside, arts education can influence minds, through theater for development or through music to promote AIDS awareness, for example. This message extends to climate

> 193 The World Bank Group. 2014. _The World Bank Group Strategy_ .

> * The term arts education here is used not only to imply teaching people about the arts per se; it also suggests educating people via the arts, as in, for example, changing minds and mindsets to engender positive social progress.

> 194 Afghanistan National Institute of Music and Ministry of Education, Afghanistan.

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