The Father Gerard Pantin SERVOL Collection, 1970-2014
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SERVOL (Service Volunteered for All), Is an integrated human development project which aims to effect attitudinal and social change particularly among children and young adults in disadvantaged situations through individual and community empowerment.
Founded in Trinidad and Tobago, as a self-help "each one teach one" method and philosophy, SERVOL has been effectively adopted regionally in over 15 Caribbean states and internationally in countries such as Holland, South Africa and Nigeria. SERVOL’s founder-In-chief was educator and humanitarian, Father Gerard "Gerry" Pantin (1928-2014), who received Sweden’s, Alternative Nobel Prize, The Right Livelihood Award for his work on behalf of SERVOL in 1994. In 1993, Unesco recognized SERVOL as one of the world’s twenty best projects.
Risks encountered
Environmental issues
| Identified risks | Level of risk |
|---|---|
Moisture | Moderate |
Temperature | Moderate |
Light (visible light, ultraviolet radiation, etc.) | High |
Dust | Low |
Pollution | Low |
Pests (rodents, animals, insects, etc.) | Low |
Microorganisms (bacteria, mould, etc.) | Low |
Management or organizational issues
| Identified risks | Level of risk |
|---|---|
Lack of maintenance, including cleaning | Low |
Inadequate building | High |
Building with structural damage | Low |
Lack of an adequate warehouse | High |
Lack of boxes and/or archive materials | High |
Lack of human resources | High |
Lack of security measures | High |
Insufficient budget to operate | High |
-Inadequate facilities for housing the documentary heritage artifacts- security concerns-lack of curator.
Natural disaster risks
| Identified risks | Level of risk |
|---|---|
Fires | High |
Rains | Low |
Mudslides or landslides | None |
Floods | None |
Hurricanes, cyclones, storms | High |
Earthquakes | Moderate |
Tsunamis | None |
Volcanic eruptions | None |
Temperature increase | Low |
Political and/or social risks
| Identified risks | Level of risk |
|---|---|
Armed conflicts | Low |
Illegal trafficking of documents | None |
Thefts or robberies | High |
Vandalism | Low |
Threatening socio-cultural environment | None |
Lack of support/public policies | Low |
-Due to the 1990 insurrection due to political issues in the City of Port of Spain, the possibility exists that if there is another, our artifacts are not properly housed to prevent theft of vandalism.
-Due to the lack of proper security and the value of some of the artifacts that are irreplaceable there is a risk or fraudulent practices.
Environment (location) issues
| Identified risks | Level of risk |
|---|---|
Material/storage units | None |
Furniture | Low |
Room or warehouse | Low |
Building | Moderate |
Site or neighbourhood | Low |
Area or region, beyond the neighbourhood | Low |
The greatest challenge would be infrastructure and security and storage.
Indicators
| Identified risks | |
|---|---|
Management Plan | No |
At the moment the organization has not appointed a curator hence there is no plan was made for the conservation of the museum. | |
Response Protocol | No |
No discussion held on this matter. | |
Documentary heritage digitization | No |
Due to cost and lack of equipment this has not been done. Additionally earlier versions of audio visuals require special equipment for scanning and digitalization. | |
Documentary heritage availability on the internet | No |
-Security of premises- adequate lighting -moisture due to poor ventilation- fire (documents are not stored in a fire proof environment) -lack of scanning and cloud storage capability- inability to transcribe earlier audio visual recordings due to lack of equipment and cost factor.