The Power of Culture

"Every type of development work implies a meeting of cultures and is based on fundamental equality. This is the basis for cultural exchange in the areas of literature, music, theatre and films between North and South." So says Øistein Garcia de Presno. South Asia, East and West Africa and South America are the regions in which this Norwegian organisation concentrates its most important activities.

Encouraging dignity, and allowing people to make their own choices and to bear their own responsibilities. Those are the primary values in the holistic approach that the Strømme Foundation has chosen to fight poverty. In addition to devoting attention to education and micro-financing, culture constitutes an important share of the activities.

Projects vary from support for sports organisations to the construction of a music studio, or funding for theatrical performances. Other important areas of attention are cultural enterprise, the cultural heritage of ethnic groups, media and ICT.

The Strømme Foundation was one of the co-organisers of The Arterial, a conference held in Senegal in March 2007 on strengthening the African art sector. The foundation supports more than one hundred projects in twenty countries. The organization's name giver is Pastor Olav Kristian Strømme. He launched a new method for collecting funds in Norway in 1960 with which he collected millions to help people in need in the South. The Strømme Foundation was established after his death in 1976. Thirty people work in the organisation’s head office in Kristiansand. The Strømme Foundation has four regional offices in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kampala (Uganda), Bamako (Mali) and Lima (Peru).