Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific

You are here: Home / Archives for Andrew

Thirteen nominations deemed admissible for assessment under the 2022 MOWCAP Regional Register cycle

Following the call for nominations for the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register (15 February-15 June 2022), we are pleased to share that thirteen (13) nominations have been deemed admissible for assessment by the MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee (RSC) as outlined under Section D of the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register Process.

The title and a summary for each nomination form that has been accepted for assessment can be found in the table below. The summary is based on the information provided by nominators in Section 2 of the nomination form. A full text of nominations accepted for assessment will be provided on request to interested parties (a request can be submitted to the MOWCAP Secretary-General via email to mowcapinfo@gmail.com)

MOWCAP invites comments on these accepted nominations from National MoW
Committees and National Commissions or from any interested individual or organisations, to be submitted to the MOWCAP Secretary-General by 15 August 2022.

Comments that support or provide other information relevant to aspects of any current nomination are welcome, for instance, the sender may wish to provide information to supplement the nominator’s case. All comments received shall be transmitted forthwith to the Chair of the RSC for consideration by the RSC in the process of its assessment.

Any contestations must be made using the specified form and process outlined under
Section N of the UNESCO Memory of the World Asia Pacific Regional Register Process.

[Read more…]

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…]

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.

Grants for Documentary Heritage Preservation in the Asia-Pacific Region Announced

Photograph, 19th century, ‘Amerapoora. Basement of Pyathat of Kyoung No.’ by Linnaeus Tripe, salted paper print, Burma, 1855. image source: V&A Museum.

The UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia-Pacific (MOWCAP) is pleased to announce the results of the 2020 round of the MOWCAP-Asia Culture Centre (ACC) Grants Program. In 2020 the grants will support eight organizations from the Asia-Pacific region to undertake projects to safeguard and make their documentary heritage collections accessible.

Grants were awarded to organizations from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Cook Islands, Mongolia and Malaysia. Applications were received from over 30 Asia-Pacific organizations. The generous financial support of the Asia Culture Centre (ACC), and operational support of the Asia Culture Institute (ACI), has made these grants possible.

Projects supported in 2020

After careful assessment against the grant application criteria (outlined in the Grant Guidelines), the following eight projects were selected:

Two projects from Myanmar were supported: (i)  Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation and the Universities’ Central Library (University of Yangon) will collaborate to preserve and digitize a very rare collection of photographic prints by Linnaeus Tripe (see image above in this article). The prints date from the 1850s, the very beginning of photography, and depict historic sites from across Myanmar; (ii) The Save Myanmar Film Organization is an NGO dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich cinematic heritage of Myanmar. The NGO works closely with the Myanmar Ministry of Information, and the grant will be used to provide public access to surviving film lists, to catalogue historic films, and to live stream digitized classic films on social media to raise awareness about audio-visual preservation to new audiences.

Two projects from Sri Lanka were supported: (i) The Janamihira Nirmana organisaton and the Library of University of Peradeniya will work together to transcribe a rare indigenous medical palm leaf manuscript (Vāsudēva Nighantuva), then translate and publish it with a commentary in English; (ii) The Chitrasena Kalayathanaya (Dance School) and the Chitrasena Dance Company have played a major role in the development of Sri Lankan dance and dance theatre since the first half of the 20th century. This is reflected in the wealth of documentary heritage in their collection, including program books, cast lists, newspaper articles, photographic images, video and audio recordings, musical scores, props, costumes and costume design illustrations that has been amassed over the last 75 years of its existence. The ACC-MOWCAP grant is being used by the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation to catalogue and digitize  this important collection.  

In Indonesia, the Indonesian Museum Music will digitise and make accessible the magazine ‘Aktuil’. This collection is significant as it documents the development of Indonesian music history from a number of genres from 1967 to 1978.

In the Cook Islands, the University of the South Pacific and the Ministry of Cultural Development, will cooperate to continue the digitisation of Cook Islands newspapers from 1981 to 2000, as well as a collection of 65 rare Cook Islands books dating back to the 1840s. Once digitization is complete it will be announced to the public to encourage the community, schools, universities and researchers to utilize these valuable digitized collections..

In Mongolia, the Cultural Heritage Council for Networking and Communication will develop a website for promotion and dissemination of the documentary heritage of Mongolia. As of 2020, a total of six (6) collections from Mongolia have been listed on the international and regional MOW registers. This project will provide  access to information about these collections and their significance in Mongolian and English.

In Malaysia, the World Heritage Moving Image Centre (WHMIC) will hold a celebration of the World Day for Audio-visual Heritage on the 27 October 2020.  The General Conference of UNESCO approved the commemoration of a World Day for Audio-visual Heritage in 2005. This is a mechanism to raise general awareness of the need to preserve and safeguard important audio-visual material for future generations, and the need for urgent measures to be taken to conserve this heritage and ensure it remains accessible to the public now, and for future generations. The WHMIC will arrange a number of events to raise awareness about audio heritage preservation in Malaysia, and will also launch a publication that was developed with the support of the MOWCAP-ACC grants in 2019.

Quote from the Chair of MOWCAP: Mr. Kwibae Kim

“The projects supported under the 2020 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 2021.” 

Quote from the Acting President of the ACC: Mr. Park, Taeyoung

“Congratulations to all the successful organisations. The Asia-Pacific is home to inexhaustible sources of cultural treasures. However, we have yet to fully avail ourselves of those cultural riches. Their 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. We will utilize them as sources of cultural resources to develop new original content and foster new cultural values for all of the region.”

Quote from the President of the Asia Culture Institute (ACI): Mr. Lee, Gipyo

“I was very impressed with the quality and range of the applications. The Asia Culture Institute is proud to work with MOWCAP to support important documentary heritage initiatives and help bring the region’s documentary heritage projects to life.”

UNESCO launches blog dedicated to documentary heritage in global health crises.

UNESCO has just launched a new blog dedicated to the importance of documentary heritage in global health crises. The blog’s inaugural post, written by Dr. Banda, argues that documentary heritage serves as a unique knowledge asset for COVID-19 decision-making, and describes three ways in which it is already contributing: i) influencing behaviour; ii) instigating national policy responses or institutional initiatives; and iii) providing an opportunity to harness technological innovation.

More blog posts will soon follow from experts, including those serving on the Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCeaR) of the International Advisory Committee (IAC). They will draw upon records held by memory institutions (archives, libraries, museums, research organizations, etc.) to provide concrete examples of harnessing the potential of documentary heritage in individual and collective efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

The articles will be featured on both the Memory of the World Programme website and the dedicated page on Resources for Documentary Heritage Professionals.

The launch of “In Living Memory” follows the publication of the UNESCO joint statement on “Turning the Threat of COVID-19 into an Opportunity for Greater Support to Documentary Heritage”, which highlights the importance of memory institutions in helping us learn from past pandemics and effectively preserving all official records related to the current crisis for future public use.

The MoW Programme, managed by UNESCO’s Documentary Heritage Unit, was set up in 1992 to identify documentary heritage of historical and world significance, preserve it, and enhance public access to it.

Do you wish to contribute to the “In Living Memory: Making the Most of Documentary Heritage in COVID-19 Decision-making”? Send us your blog post to mowsecretariat@unesco.org(link sends e-mail)!

For more information about actions to support media, enhance access to information and leverage digital technologies in the fight against the pandemic, visit: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/communicationinformationresponse.

New Publication on the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme

The volume “The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments” responds to the growing interest in the scientific study of the Memory of the World Programme (MoW) and its core concept of documentary heritage, which has received little attention from scholarship so far.

This publication is the sixth in the Springer Heritage Studies Series, and provides a first collection of differing approaches (including reflected reports, essays, research contributions, and theoretical reflections) for the study of the MoW Programme, offering a basis for follow-up activities.

The volume, edited by Ray Edmondson (past Chair of MOWCAP), Lothar Jordan and Anca Claudia Prodan, brings together 21 scholars from around the globe to present aspects deemed crucial for understanding MoW, its development, relevance and potential.

The aim of the publications is to encourage academic research on MoW and to enhance the understanding of its potential and place within Heritage Studies and beyond. 

The publication includes chapters from a number of experts involved in MOWCAP, including:

Ray Edmondson, Reviewing the MoW General Guidelines: Reflections on the Experience of 2015–2017;

Helen Jarvis, The Pathway to the Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form;

Kyung-ho Suh, History Wars in the Memory of the World: The Documents of the Nanjing Massacre and the “Comfort Women”’;

Richard Engelhardt, Methodological Convergence: Documentary Heritage and the International Framework for Cultural Heritage Protection;

Helen H. K Ieong, Memory of the World Education in Macau.

Further information on how to purchase the publication can be found here: https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030184407

Women in history – Telling HERstory through Memory of the World

The UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) programme was established in 1992, aiming to facilitate the preservation of the world’s documentary heritage, assist universal access, and increase awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of the documentary heritage. As of today, the MoW International Register contains 426 documentary heritage inscriptions from all over the world, 109 of which are from Asia and the Pacific region. 

Gender equality is one of UNESCO’s global priorities. It refers to equal rights, responses and opportunities of women and men. The priority calls for the integration of a gender perspective into all programmes and activities. However, only very few inscriptions in the MoW Registers address or promote gender equality in society or history.

The recently launched UNESCO’s Gender Equality Baseline Study of Memory of the World in Asia-Pacific demonstrates that there are only four inscriptions in the MoW Registers that highlight a gender dimension, and illustrates the lack of gender perspectives in the MoW inscribed documents. As one of the recommendations, the study suggests to “identify gender equality as a key theme for potential joint nominations, or as a thematic category across registers”.

The survey:

The survey below aims at identifying existing documentary heritage collections in the Asia-Pacific region that contain gender-related stories or that portray the achievements of women in histories. Special attention will be paid to the records and documentary heritage that tell ‘her-story’ within a view to facilitating the inclusion of gender equality as a key component for future MoW activities.

The results of the survey will be used to develop an online or offline exhibition on ‘Women in histories’ that can be showcased on the occasion of the MOWCAP 2020 General Meeting in Bangkok tentatively scheduled for 24-26 November.

UNESCO wants to have as many countries as possible represented in the exhibition and is interested in collections from the Asia-Pacific region that that tell us women’s achievements in histories, contain gender equality-related facts or events, or records that tell ‘her-story’ whether or not these collections are inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Registers.

Should you have any further question, please contact yu.hu@unesco.org.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MoWWomenInHistory

The 2020 MOWCAP-Asia Culture Center Grants

Important Information: The closing date for applications for a MOWCAP – ACC grant has been extended to 12 April 2020.

The MOWCAP-ACC grants program supports the efforts of the many groups and organisations that collect, preserve and provide access to documentary heritage from the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to encourage collaboration and partnerships to undertake documentary heritage related projects (such as digitisation, exhibitions, publications etc) as well as to help organisations develop skills (eg. workshops, training programs, expert assessments etc).

Grants of up to $US 5,000 are available for eligible organisations from the Asia-Pacific. Grants are required to be fully expended, and the project completed and acquitted by December 2020. The grants are administered through the MOWCAP Office, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea. Further information can be found the Grants Application Guidelines.

The Grants Program is made possible through the generous support of the Asia Culture Center.

Applications for the grants close on 31 March 2020.

For all grant enquiries, please contact us at: grants@mowcap.net

Grants Guidelines 2020Download
Application Form Download
Grants Agreement FormDownload
Progress Report TemplateDownload
Final Report TemplateDownload