Revamping the Memory of the World Programme: An Eastern African Regional Forum established

Over 50 representatives of National Committees on Memory of the World and National Commissions for UNESCO from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Seychelles, Madagascar, Somalia, Ethiopia, Comoros, and Tanzania have ratified the establishment of the Eastern African Regional Forum on Memory of the World as a sub-regional coordination platform for the implementation of UNESCO 2015 Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to documentary heritage including in digital form.

The ratification was done during the first sub-regional dialogue on protecting documentary heritage in Eastern Africa convened by UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa on 3 September 2021, and hosted by the Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO.

The one-day virtual meeting aimed at bringing together National Committees on Memory of the World from Eastern Africa to exchange knowledge and experiences, discuss strategies for the preservation of the region's unique heritage, and enhance regional and sub-regional co-operation through dialogue with the African Regional Committee on the Memory of the World (ARCMoW) in implementing the 2015 Recommendation. It also served as a preparation for the Regional Symposium and Workshop on 'Strengthening the Resilience of African Memory Institutions in the face of COVID-19 and beyond', organized by UNESCO (7 to 8 September 2021).

In his opening remarks, the UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa, Prof. Hubert Gijzen, welcomed the establishment of a sub-regional forum on memory of the world, arguing that it would showcase Eastern Africa's unique heritage, mentioning, among others; liberation heritage movements; slave trade and indenture labour routes; genocide and other atrocities, and religious manuscripts.

Documenting history and preserving memory, however painful or unpleasant, contributes to a culture of peace, inclusion, intercultural dialogue, and eventually contributes to the realization of just and peaceful societies called upon under SDG16.

Prof. Hubert Gijzen, Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa

The President of the African Regional Committee on Memory of the World (ARCMoW), Mr. Papa Momar Diop, called for strengthening of intra-Africa and international co-operation on documentary heritage through common practices such as transnational nominations, sharing of good practices on preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage, as means of optimizing the utilization of resources.

Different countries presented their progress in operationalizing the work of National Committees on Memory of the World, and also shared challenges; including lack of qualified personnel in museums, archival sciences and libraries; underfunding of memory institutions, and lack of technical expertise for establishing preservation of documentary heritage policies. The dialogue therefore called for capacity building, increased commitment, partnerships and collaborations, as well as political support and goodwill to promote documentary heritage in Eastern Africa. It was agreed that the Eastern African Forum on Memory of the World would convene biennial meetings of all National Committees on Memory of the World, representatives from memory institutions and National Commissions for UNESCO to discuss, share good practices, agree on common actions such as joint nominations, and assess progress with the implementation of the 2015 Recommendation.

The dialogue was held under the framework of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme (MoW) which was established in 1992 to ensure the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage in various parts of the world. This was after growing awareness of increasing threats to documentary heritage through war, social upheavals, looting, illegal trade and other forms of destruction. The programme seeks to prevent the irrevocable loss of collective memory through safeguarding documentary heritage, facilitating access to it and disseminating it, and raising public awareness if its significance and the need to preserve it. It is managed and implemented through a global structure that includes National and Regional Memory of the World Committees, with the International Advisory Committee (IAC), all established and coordinated according to the General Guidelines on the Memory of the World Programme.