From Scoping to Strategic Output

Act to Impact

I help international organisations, governments and cultural institutions transform their cultural policies and investments into impactful actions — through objective evaluation, methodological monitoring, expert reports and strategic proposals.

With over fifteen years of experience across the UNESCO ecosystem, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean, I specialise in making sense of complex cultural landscapes through evidence-based evaluation, strategic monitoring frameworks, and publication-quality reports. My assignments have taken me across Algeria, Mauritania, Qatar, Argentina, Oman, Canada, France, Morocco, Spain, Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malawi, for UNESCO, the European Union, national ministries, and independent cultural organizations.

My approach combines three core elements: a methodology tailored to the specific context, deep regional knowledge of the Arab world cultural landscape, and an editorial discipline that ensures every deliverable is clear, structured, and fit for its audience — from ministry officials to international juries.

I also provide training and capacity-building workshops for cultural managers and ministry staff — delivered in Arabic, French, English and Italian.

This expertise is grounded in direct institutional experience: as Secretary of State for Cultural Production in the Algerian Government, President of the National Council of Arts and Letters, and founder and artistic director of the Orchestre des Jeunes d'Algérie — I have navigated cultural policy from the inside, at the highest levels of public decision-making.

Services include:

• Cultural policy evaluation
• Diagnostic reports on cultural and creative industries
• Strategic roadmap for culture in the digital environment
• Impact assessment of cultural funding programmes
• Monitoring framework design
• QPR elaboration under UNESCO's 2005 Convention
• Training and capacity-building workshops
• Senior editorial oversight of institutional publications

Mandates, Assignments & Publications

Institutional Leadership & Public Office

— Secretary of State for Cultural Production, Algerian Government (2020)

— President, Commission for Opening & Closing Ceremonies and Cultural Activities, 19th Mediterranean Games (2022)

— President, National Council of Arts and Letters, Ministry of Culture (2019–2020)

— Founder, Manager, Musical & Artistic Director, Orchestre des Jeunes d'Algérie (2018–2023)

— President, Technical Commission for Musical Works Identification, National Copyright and Related Rights Office (2018–2020)

— Member, Algerian Fund for the Development of Arts and Letters, Ministry of Culture (2017–2019)

— Researcher, National Center for Research in Prehistory, Anthropology and History (2014-2020)

Salim Dada is a musician, composer, conductor and cultural policy expert. He has extensive experience in monitoring policies relating to cultural and creative industries.

unesco.org

International Expert Assignments & Publications

— Expert, Revision of the Monitoring Framework of the UNESCO 2005 Convention (2026)
— International Expert, Diagnostic Report on Malawi’s Creative and Cultural Industries in the Digital Environment (50 pages, 2026)

— Chair, Expert & Chief Editor, UNESCO-Mondiacult Barcelona 2025 Report of the Independent Expert Group on 2025 Artificial Intelligence and Culture (80 pages, 2025)

— Expert, Recommendations of the Reflection Group on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Digital Environment (32 p., UNESCO, 2024)

— Lead trainer of the QPR methodology for 13 Arab countries — MENA & GCC (UNESCO, 2024)

— International Expert, Revision of Saudi Arabia's Cultural Status Report 2023 (318 pages, 2024)

— External Evaluator, UNESCO-Aschberg Fund project portfolio (2022–2023)

— Expert Contributor, Methodological Guide for the Participatory Development of a Law on the Status of the Artist (36 p., UNESCO, 2023)

— International Expert, EU/UNESCO Expert Facility Bank (since 2023)

— International Expert for the QPRs of Mauritania, Qatar and Oman (2021–2024)

— Focal Point, National Expert & Chief Editor, Algeria's first Quadrennial Periodic Report on UNESCO Convention 2005 (160 pages, 2019–2020)