The Asia Culture Center (ACC) and MOWCAP are pleased to announced that the ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme is being reinitiated.

In the Asia Pacific region, many libraries, archives and memory institutions face formidable challenges: economic, climatic and geographic. The ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme aims to contribute to addressing this challenge by assisting with the preservation of and universal access to documentary heritage of the Asia-Pacific region, and also to increase awareness of the existence and significance of this heritage.
In order to address this challenge, in 2018, the National Asian Culture Center (ACC) and the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) launched the ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme. The programme supports the efforts of the many groups and organisations that collect and preserve and provide access to documentary heritage in the Asia-Pacific region.
The ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme has already had a significant impact in the region. The types of documentary heritage supported have been diverse, including wood blocks, palm leaf manuscripts, celluloid films, VHS tapes, photographic prints, stone inscriptions, newspapers and documents. The types of projects supported have also been diverse, involving preservation, digitisation, production of books, documentary films, etc.
Grants of up to USD 8,500 are available for the preservation and sharing of the documentary heritage of the Asia-Pacific region. Grants are required to be fully expended, and the project should be completed and acquitted within a 6-month period (May-October 2025). The grants will be administered through the National Asian Culture Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.

The ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme is made possible through the generous financial support of the National Asian Culture Center.

Who can apply

The organisation/individual applying must be: 
(a) Based in the Asia-Pacific region
(b) Non-Government * 
(c) Have support from the UNESCO National MoW Committee or UNESCO National Commission of where they operate ** 
* Government agencies (archives, museums, etc.) may partner with a non-government organisation to apply.
** https://en.unesco.org/programme/mow/national-committees
  https://pax.unesco.org/countries/NationalCommissions.html

What sort of projects will be considered for funding?

In light of the partnership between ACC and MOWCAP, the ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme is willing to fund projects that relate to documentary heritage as defined under the UNESCO Memory of the World programme and UNESCO Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form. Furthermore, concerning the ACC’s mission to create, produce and distribute cultural contents based on researching and archiving cultural resources in Asia, the projects related to documentary heritage with the following themes will be considered for funding.

Project Theme:

• Asian traditional culture (daily life, festivals, rituals, celebrations, and games)
• Asian traditional attire (clothing, footwear, headgear, etc.)
• Asian music (traditional instruments, audiovisual materials, music recordings, etc.)
• Asian performances (dance, puppetry, mask theater, videos, etc.)
• Asian myths and legends (books, posters, postcards, videos, photos, etc.)
• Asian religions (folk beliefs, scriptures, religious texts, etc.)

Such project may include:

• The development of e-publications;
• Conservation of documentary heritage (If a conservator is engaged, they should be a member of an accredited national or international conservation organisation);
• Cataloguing records and archival description (open source archival description software such as ICA-AtoM (https://www.ica-atom.org/)
• The development of exhibitions (including digital ones)
• Web projects that provide information or resources on documentary heritage;
• Digital storytelling about documentary heritage (including film and DVD projects);
• Apps for mobile devices;
• The digitisation and publishing of documentary heritage items and collections;
• And more (if you have a great idea please consult with us).

What will NOT be considered for funding?

The ACC-MOWCAP Small Grants Programme does NOT fund:

• Applications submitted after the funding round has officially closed (in 2025, this be the 4 May 2025)
• Projects that do not relate to documentary heritage as defined in the UNESCO Memory of the World programme and UNESCO Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form;
• Projects that do not relate to the suggested project theme;
• Projects related to documentary heritage outside the Asia-Pacific (unless there is a clear link to the region);
• Provision of cash prizes, commercial gifts or grants to third parties;
• Retrospective costs –costs that the organisation has already paid for out of its own funds or costs incurred prior to successful grants being awarded;
• Ongoing operational costs such as salaries for ongoing positions, rent or utilities:
• Applicants who do not meet the Eligibility Criteria outlined in these guidelines;
• Applications not submitted in the format specified in these guidelines;
• Applications submitted after the funding round has officially closed (in 2025, this be the 4 May 2025)

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit the application by completing the form online: https://forms.gle/r2ZF6uxwNxUNTzkp9
Submission Deadline: 4 May 2025.

The application form must be completed by a person authorised to submit the application on behalf of the applicant organisation.

For more information, including download links to application files, please visit the ACC website’s announcement page.

On 9 May 2024, a new MOWCAP Bureau was elected by the 23 Member States attending the 10th MOWCAP General Meeting, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, hosted by the Mongolian Ministry of Culture and the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO.

We are pleased to announce that Mr Kwibae Kim (Chair), Dr Vu Thi Minh Huong (Vice-Chair), Prof. Dr Mitsuru Haga (Vice-Chair) and Ms Linh Anh Moreau (Secretary-General) have all been re-appointed to serve another term in their respective positions, and that Mr Imam Gunarto has been elected as Vice-Chair.

Vice-Chair Mitsuru Haga, Secretary-General Linh Anh Moreau, Chair Kwibae Kim, Vice-Chair Vu Thi Minh Huong, and newly elected Vice-Chair Imam Gunarto at the 10th MOWCAP General Meeting in Ulaanbaator, Mongolia on 9 May 2024.

MOWCAP is pleased to welcome as its new Vice-Chair Mr Imam Gunarto. Imam Gunarto is currently Chair of the Indonesian National MOW Committee and the Acting Head/Director General of the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia. He has been actively involved in the Memory of the World Programme since 2007 through the identification of nominations and successful inscriptions of documentary heritage in international, regional, and national MoW registers. During his future tenure as MOWCAP Vice-Chair, he wishes to support the creation and development of national MoW committees, and develop an integrated MOWCAP portal for the national MoW committees.

The MOWCAP Bureau wishes to extend its heartfelt thanks to Ms Dianne Macaskill after 10 years of dedicated service as MOWCAP’s Vice-Chair. Dianne’s contribution to the MOWCAP programme cannot be understated. Her collaboration in producing and managing MOWCAP communications has contributed to increasing the programme’s visibility and public outreach. In addition, her in depth-knowledge of and instrumental role in the development of MOWCAP documents have made her an invaluable resource to whom all MOWCAP members turn for her expertise and experience. Dianne continuously strived for the inclusion of the Pacific in the MOWCAP programme, and we look forward to continuing to work with her in this regard within the framework of future collaborations with the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA).

MOWCAP Bureau Elections are held every two MOWCAP General Meetings, usually every four years. This year’s MOWCAP Bureau Election will be held during the 10th MOWCAP General Meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 6-10 May 2024.

Various positions, as specified in the MOWCAP Statutes, are available for nomination or self-nomination, including Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary-General.

The nomination form is available here and should by accompanied by a curriculum vitae, a statement in support of the nomination setting out the candidate’s interest in and qualifications for the position(s), an indication of support by the candidate’s National MoW Committee, or the National Commission for UNESCO of the candidate’s country in cases where a national MoW committee is yet to be formed.

Bureau members […] serve as individuals representing the interests of the whole membership of MOWCAP, and not as representatives of a particular country or national MoW committee. […] Service is voluntary and expenses entailed may or may not be reimbursed. MOWCAP Statutes, Article 9 (iv)

Submission of Nominations: 

Send your completed Nomination Form (click here to download) and attachments electronically to:

• Mr Jo Hironaka
  Regional Adviser and Head of Unit, Communications and Information
  UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok
  ci.bgk@unesco.org

Applications close on 25 April 2024, 17:00 (UTC+7).

A virtual two hour Memory of the World workshop was held on 9 November 2023 as part of the PARBICA (Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council of Archives) biennial conference. There was much interest in the session and forty people from across the Pacific attended. MOWCAP works collaboratively with PARBICA and the workshop was the first opportunity to re-engage with many Pacific countries since the pandemic.

The purpose of the workshop was to provide an overview of the Memory of the World Programme with a focus on documentary heritage registers and the processes for submitting and assessing nominations for inscription to a register. The three speakers were from Pacific countries and all had experience with both PARBICA and the Memory of the World Programme.

Dr Roslyn Russell, a previous chair of the International Advisory Committee provided an overview of the MoW Programme and also gave tips for completing the current MOWCAP nomination form. Dianne Macaskill, a MOWCAP Bureau member, spoke about the revised MOWCAP register guidelines and gave examples of some previous Pacific inscriptions. Opeta Alefaio, a MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee member, spoke about the process used to make recommendations to the MOWCAP General Meeting.

There were many questions and comments from the attendees. One of the important outcomes was to ensure that Pacific nominators knew who to contact to obtain more information and support to develop a nomination or set up a National Committee.

On 27 October 2023, the MOWCAP Secretariat, hosted by the Korean Studies Institute (KSI), organized the “Inter-regional Memory of the World Conference: Fostering a Culture of Collaboration in Documentary Heritage” in Andong, Republic of Korea.
Opened by KSI President Mr Jongsup Jong who welcomed participants to this inter-regional platform, MOWCAP Chair Mr Kwibae Kim (MOWCAP), Africa Regional Committee for MoW (ARCMoW) Chair Mr Papa Momar Diop and MoW Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (MOWLAC) President Mr Peter Scholing signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which outlines strategic objectives for regional committees to grow the MoW programme together.

They also shared how the MoW programmes operate in each region, including regional register management, organizational structure, recent activities and future plans.
Challenges and opportunities from Asia-Pacific (MOWCAP Secretary-General Ms Linh Anh Moreau), Latin America and the Caribbean (MOWLAC Vice-President John Angus Martin), as well as more locally in Central Asia (MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee Member Prof. Aizharkyn Kozhobekova) and the Republic of Korea (MOWCAP Register Sub-Committee Member Prof. Kyungho Suh) were shared among participants. Commons challenges were discussed, such as lack of funding and capacity, as well as potential areas in which regional committees for the MoW can collaborate.

The activity’s video recording is available on MOWCAP YouTube channel and the conference booklet is available for download here.

On 24 May 2023 UNESCO announced 64 new inscriptions on its Memory of the World International Register, 20 of which originate in Asia and the Pacific. This year’s new inscriptions bring UNESCO’s global list to 494 collections, 119 of which are from Asia and the Pacific.

The successful nominations from Asia-Pacific celebrate traditional science and technology, women, peace and international relations, indigeneity and multilingualism, poetry and oral literature, and spiritual and religious diversity.

[Read more…]

The Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO Bangkok and MOWCAP collaborated in organizing the ‘Memory of the World Seminar and Workshop’ in Ulaanbaatar on 24-25 May 2023. The two-day activity consisted of a one day seminar to raise awareness on the Memory of the World programme, its objectives and mechanisms, followed by a one day workshop to discuss good practices and experiences in managing a national committee and national register. This was followed by expert tips on completing the MOWCAP nomination form and feedback on proposed items for national, regional and international registers.

The activity was held at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology and was organized with the financial support of the Mongolian Ministry of Culture and UNESCO Bangkok. The activity was designed to respond to national stakeholder needs in Mongolia and was attended by 83 participants — 33 in-person and 50 online, including stakeholders from provinces and national and international speakers.

[Read more…]

For nomination submission details, go to https://www.mowcapunesco.org/core-activities/mowcap-regional-register-2024/