African governments urged to prioritise memory institutions
The Secretary-General of the African Regional Memory of the World Committee, Dr Helena Asamoah-Hassan, has urged governments on the continent to prioritise memory institutions to help preserve their heritage for future generations.
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Speaking at the 15th World International training workshop in Accra, she explained that patronage of the continent’s documentary heritage in memory institutions was not on the priority list of member states.
As a result, she said, meagre resources were allocated to such institutions, making it difficult for them to discharge their mandate effectively and nominate their heritage for inclusion in the international register.
In addition to this, she said there was a limited number of active National Memory of the World Committees in Africa, adding that most of them were inactive due to limited or no resources to work with.
Context
The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme has been operating since 1995 to identify and preserve documentary heritage of global significance.
However, only 35 items from African countries are listed as Memory of the World Heritage items as of August 26, this year.
To address this, Dr Asamoah-Hassan, urged documentary heritage managers of African countries to lobby for funding from their respective countries, while pursuing public-private partnerships for their operational activities.
“We need to accept documentary heritage as a non-renewable national asset and because of that, they should put these memory institutions on their priority list to receive very adequate resources which will help them to carry out their work,” Dr Asamoah-Hassan.
Workshop
Up to 23 stakeholders responsible for managing heritage documentation in selected African countries are participating in the four-day training workshop to understand how to identify their documentary heritage and nominate it for inclusion in the international register.
The participants were drawn from 11 African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Lesotho Namibia, Malawi, Senegal, Eswatini, Uganda among others.
Jointly held by the Korean National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Heritage Service of Korea and the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, the UNESCO memory of the world international training workshop is being held on the theme, “Women in Focus: Preserving Africa’s Documentary Legacy”.
Among the topics to be discussed as part of the training are how to use the memory of the world register, the key points in understanding the form and criteria in nomination process and potential nominations of documentary heritage.
Korea
The Secretary-General of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Kyung Koo Han, explained that since the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme was established in 1992, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO has played a significant role in supporting the programme by contributing to 12 successful inscriptions on the international register and 11 on the regional registers.
He added that since its inception in 2009, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO has organised 14 workshops, engaging participants from 128 countries.
He highlighted the importance of acquiring in-depth training on identifying, preserving and nominating documentary heritage for inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme, especially for African countries.
“Africa is rich with history and culture. The stories from this continent are unique and vital to the world's understanding of our shared history. By safeguarding Africa's documentary heritage, we are bringing those stories to light - stories that have been forgotten or overlooked for too long,” he said
Commitment
The Secretary-General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, emphasized Ghana's commitment to preserving and promoting the country's rich documentary heritage.
She said Ghana’s participation in the workshop was key to taking new strides in achieving the aim of the Memory of the World Programme in Ghana.
"Together, we can ensure that documentary heritage is preserved, appreciated and passed down through the generations," she said.