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Preservation of documentary heritage in Africa: memory institutions prepared to face disaster risks

Within the framework of the three-year project Preservation of Documentary Heritage through Policy Development and Capacity Building (MoW-JFIT).

24 June 2021

Last update:14 December 2023

More than seventy (70) officials and specialists from National Archives, Libraries, and Documentary Research Centers in Africa took part in the regional workshop organized online and on-site in Saly, Senegal, from June 15 to 17, 2021, within the framework of the three-year project Preservation of Documentary Heritage through Policy Development and Capacity Building

UNESCO, through its Memory of the World (MoW) program, organized with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Funds-in-Trust (JFIT) a regional workshop to improve the knowledge and techniques of memory institutions in sub-Saharan Africa in the effective and long-term preservation of documentary heritage. The meeting was held online and on-site in Saly, Senegal from June 15-17, 2021. It was attended by directors and representatives of national archives, libraries, Memory of the World national committees and research centers from some twenty countries. Among them, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, DRC and Senegal.

Practical sessions led by Dr. Emilie LEUMAS, Consultant in Archives and Records Management, helped participants strengthen their techniques for preserving archival data and documents in a disaster situation. By simulating a flood, the expert conducted a wet paper and photography exercise that aimed to demonstrate the practical and accessible tools that can be used to recover records damaged by a disaster of this nature and preserve essential information.

To guide them in the development of emergency plans, participants were asked to learn about their work environment through exercises in planning, risk and priority assessment, and the use of rescue toolkits and supplies. Organized in working groups, they were then given time to develop the outline of their draft disaster management master plan.

Using the techniques and lessons learned during this workshop, we must take urgent and coherent action to ensure the preservation of documentary heritage in cooperation with local decision-makers and African institutions

Ms. Fatoumata CISSE DIARRA, Director of the National Archives of Senegal

A call to which the memory institutions represented at the workshop responded by committing to improve prevention and risk reduction practices. According to Mrs. Esther OLEMBE, National Director of the Cameroon Archives, "the stakes are high insofar as archives are part of the sovereignty and security of our countries".

It is therefore necessary to find a viable economic model to apply to the task, knowing that preventive measures significantly reduce the costs of disasters

Mr. Mathias Massode, Director of the National Archives of Benin

The meeting ended on June 17, 2021 with a ceremony to award certificates to participants, led by Mr. Papa Momar Diop and Ms. Fatoumata CISSE DIARRA.