Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific

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International Seminar on Establishing National Memory of the World Registers Held on the 25th of August 2021

An international seminar on establishing the National Memory of the World Registers was held online on the 25th of August 2022. The seminar was hosted by the National Archives of Indonesia and the Indonesian National MoW Committee for Indonesia. Over 1000 participants from Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and Korea joined the seminar.

Image courtesy of Minh Huong

The objective of the seminar was to discuss the benights of establishing national MoW registers in general, as well as the plan to develop the Indonesian National MoW Register. Misako Ito (Regional Advisor for Communications and Information for UNESCO Bangkok), Minh Huong (Vice-Chair of MOWCAP, Helen Jarvis (Chair of the MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee), Kyung-ho Suh (MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee), and Andrew Henderson (Secratary-General of MOWCAP) joined the meeting.

Andrew Henderson presented on behalf of MOWCAP on the topic of ‘Establishing National Memory of the World (MoW) Registers’. Andrew shared three (3) main messages in his presentation: (i) There is a large potential for a National Memory of the World (MoW) Registers across the Asia-Pacific, with a diversity of documentary heritage, however, only three registers are currently established in the region (ii) national registers are essential as they deepen the impact of the MoW Programme and facilitate engagement with archives, libraries, museums, NGOs, government, the private sector, and the wider public across the whole country; (iii) The process of establishing the National MoW Register is important and should follow the UNESCO MoW General Guidelines with a strong coordinating role for the National MoW Committee.

Roslyn Russell, Chair of the Australian MoW Committee, also joined the meeting and provided an overview of how the Australian National MoW Register operates. The Australian MoW register began in 2001 and now contains 78 inscriptions (www.amw.org.au). The register contains diverse documentary heritage from across the country and is an important tool for raising awareness around the need to safeguard and provide access to this important heritage.

This report on the seminar was developed by Minh Huong (Vice-Chair of MOWCAP) and Andrew Henderson (SG of MOWCAP).

Documentary Heritage Grants Announced for 2021

The UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia-Pacific (MOWCAP) is pleased to share the results of the 2021 round of the Asia Culture Centre (ACC)-MOWCAP Grants Program.

In 2021, twenty-six (26) applications were assessed against the application criteria (outlined in the Grant Guidelines), with twelve (12) organizations from nine (9) countries in the Asia-Pacific region awarded grants. These grantees are from Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Tuvalu and Vietnam and will undertake projects to preserve and make their documentary heritage collections accessible.

The ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme is made possible through the generous financial support of the Asia Culture Center (ACC). Over $50,000 USD was awarded under the 2021 grants cycle.

Quote from the President of the ACC: Mr Choi Wonil

“Congratulations to all the 2021 grantees. Your work to capture the memory of our region expressed through its diverse documentary heritage ensures that future generations can appreciate and understand our regions varied and diverse history for many years to come. The projects include a number of initiatives to digitise documentary heritage, which is extremely important given the COVID-19 pandemic and the need and make documentary heritage accessible online. The Asia Culture Center is proud to work with MOWCAP to support important documentary heritage initiatives and help bring the region’s documentary heritage projects to life.”

Quote from the Chair of MOWCAP: Mr Kwibae Kim

“The projects supported under the 2021 MOWCAP-ACC, grants, and the large number of applications received from across the region, demonstrates the broad range of amazing work being done in our region to preserve and share our documentary heritage. I sincerely thank our partner, the Asia Culture Centre, whose support has made these grants possible, and also the Asia Culture Institute, who have supported the administration of the grants through the MOWCAP Office. MOWCAP congratulates the successful organisations and encourages applications for the next funding round which will open in early 2022.”

Projects Supported in 2021

[Read more…]

The first pilot Memory of the World State of Preservation Report 2020 for Southeast Asia reveals interesting findings

In Southeast Asia, there are currently 30 inscriptions on the MoW International Register, recognized for their global significance. However, until now, no data had been collected on their state of preservation and accessibility to the public. With the aim to address these issues, UNESCO Bangkok Office with the support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT) initiated a pilot survey in order to analyse the MoW inscriptions from Southeast Asia.

The survey had a high completion rate, with information received from 28 inscriptions, that resulted in the State of Preservation Report for Southeast Asia 2020 providing interesting findings with recommendations to be considered.

In terms of the type of memory institutes holding the MoW inscriptions in Southeast Asia, 34% are libraries, 30% are archives, 15% are archaeological sites, and 12% are museums. The high number of MoW inscriptions at archaeological sites can be attributed to stone inscriptions, which are a prevalent form of documentary heritage in Southeast Asia.

In relation to preservation, UNESCO and Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP), along with stakeholders and the private sector, as stated in the conclusions of the report, should leverage efforts to mobilize funding and collaboration to improve serious concerns related to the environment and tropical weather in the region that are highly affecting the MoW collections. Trainings should also be developed to help address management, preservation, disaster risks issues and the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the survey related to access suggest that financial and technical support is needed to ensure that all MoW collections are digitised and made available for the public in line with 2015 UNESCO’s Recommendation on Documentary Heritage which is available in several languages of Southeast Asia and promotes among others the principle of open access. Further work in promoting open access licenses is required, in particular with the use of Creative Commons copyright licenses.

When addressing the issue of outreach, the report recommended that custodians of inscriptions who do not have a logo should request it to UNESCO Secretariat in order to use their logos according to the guidelines. In fact, it is a key aspect to mobilize funding and raise the visibility of collections to internal and external stakeholders. Training on social media to enhance the visibility and communications around these inscriptions could also be enhanced.

UNESCO established the Memory of the World Programme in 1992 to facilitate preservation of the world’s documentary heritage, assist with universal access to it and increase awareness of the existence and significance of documentary heritage. UNESCO would like to thank all the custodians of the MoW inscriptions for their time to complete the survey and for providing valuable information.

For more information, access the State of Preservation Report for Southeast Asia 2020.

Some interesting results extracted from the report:

[Read more…]

Children and Documentary Heritage

UNESCO’s Memory of the World Book for Children Let’s Explore the Memory of the World introduces young children to the value of documentary heritage and stimulates their interest in diverse histories and cultures. The Book was printed with the support of the Asia Culture Center and the Asia Culture Institute in Republic of Korea.

UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme was created with the aim to preserve and provide access to the world’s documentary heritage. The MoW Children’s Book highlights important themes embedded in documentary heritage such as languages, religions, geography, gender equality, cross-cultural understanding and human rights, and comprises a visually rich sequence of collections from the Asia-Pacific region together with carefully compiled information relating to the programme. The three main characters depicted in the narrative make discoveries and gradually collect their stories as part of their exploration driven by a quest for wisdom, knowledge and peace.

The last section includes creative exercises to encourage young readers in collecting and archiving documentary heritage to safeguard their memories and create their stories.

Click here for more information and a link to download the book.

MOWCAP-ACC Grants 2021

Applications for the 2021 round of the ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme are now open, with grants of up to $7000 USD available for documentary heritage related projects in the Asia-Pacific. Applications close on the 31st of May 2021. 

Here is the link to information about the Programme and making an application.

New MOWCAP-ACC Publication highlights diverse collections from the Asia-Pacific

MOWCAP and the Asia-Culture Centre (ACC) have collaborated to create a publication that highlights the many interesting projects undertaken under the ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme (2018-2020).

Over the past three years, MOWCAP has partnered with the ACC to support 28 innovative projects in 13 countries aiming to protect the documentary heritage of the Asia-Pacific region. So far over $100,000 USD has been awarded as part of the programme.

The projects aim to safeguard and share the precious recorded memories that are at risk of damage, including films and documentaries containing the unique culture and identity of our region. This publication aims to create a snapshot of the important work completed under the various projects and highlight the importance of preserving these cultural records in the Asia-Pacific region.

MOWCAP would like to deeply thank everyone at the ACC and Asia Culture Institute (ACI) for their endless support during the past three years to launch the successful ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme, and look forward to further strengthening our partnership in the future.

The publication can be downloaded in English or Korean.

MOWCAP Articles on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

The second special issue of the MoW newsletter from the Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCEAR) is now available.

 The Second Global Policy Forum was to be held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in October 2020 but was postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19. The SCEAR newsletter provides an overview of the presentations intended for the Forum. The 2nd Forum supported by Japanese Funds-in-Trust aims to build the momentum for a global policy framework for disaster risk reduction and management.

Two of the articles have been written by MOWCAP Bureau members. Secretary-General Andrew Henderson has provided an article on The Importance of the MOWCAP Register as a Tool for Regional Cooperation and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia-Pacific. Dianne Macaskill, a Vice-Chairperson of MOWCAP has provided an article that focusses on the Pacific and some of the projects that MOWCAP has supported on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Sustainable Preservation of Documentary Heritage.

UNESCO / Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2020

Congratulations to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia which has been awarded the prestigious UNESCO / Jikji Memory of the World Prize for 2020.

The award recognises the work done to digitize and preserve the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives and to make them accessible.

Announcing the award the Director-General of UNESCO said “The work of this museum is crucial for us to preserve the memory of genocide through time and beyond the life span of its victims and perpetrators”.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Archives were inscribed on the MOWCAP Memory of the World Register in 2008 and on the international register in 2009.

More information is available here.

#mowcap#memoryoftheworld#documentaryheritage

OpenGLAM Webinar Series

Universal access to documentary heritage in Asia and the Pacific

Featuring international speakers from UNESCO, Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, RightsStatements, Australian Libraries Copyright Committee, The Heritage Lab, Europeana, National Library Board in Singapore. OpenGLAM will introduce the principles of Open Access and licensing frameworks and share their experiences implementing Open Access policies in their institutions.

The following sessions are available:

Open Access to Documentary Heritage 25 September

Copyright and Open Access: The Basics 2 October

Open Access Cases and Good Practices 9 October

Open Access at Your Institution 16 October

Further information, including how to register, is available on the UNESCO Bangkok website.

Applying the Gender Equality Lens to the Memory of the World Programme

UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) programme was established with the objectives of facilitating preservation, enhancing universal access, and increasing awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of the world’s documentary heritage.

As  one  of  UNESCO’s  global  priorities,  gender  equality  is  required  to  be  integrated  across  all  of  the  Organization’s  programmes,  processes  and  policies  through  two   distinct   but   complementary   approaches:   gender   mainstreaming;   and   gender-specific  initiatives.  Unfortunately,  to  date,  neither  of  these  approaches  has  been fully reflected in the Memory of the World Programme.

The Gender Equality Baseline Study of Memory of the World in Asia-Pacific reviewed the MoW inscriptions from Asia and the Pacific both on the international and regional registers with a gender lens and assessed the degree of gender sensitivity of the inscribed documentary heritage. As of today there  are  426  inscriptions  on  the  international  register  –  including  109  from  the  Asia-Pacific region – and 56 inscriptions on the regional Asia-Pacific register, among which only four highlight the gender dimension. Only one inscription is recognized as effectively being gender transformative and contributing to the promotion of gender equality.

This lack of a gender equality perspective is clearly visible in  the  nomination  forms  and  the  General  Guidelines  of  the  Programme.  As  a  result,  the  many  women  who  have  made  remarkable  contributions to the history of the world are not being recognized appropriately.

UNESCO encourages all those intending to nominate documentary heritage to a MoW register to read this publication and act on its findings and recommendations in order to record the significant roles that women have played in the world’s history.

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