Leveraging Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in Africa: Consultation on the Implementation of the UNESCO "Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to Documentary Heritage, Including in Digital Form"

UNESCO in partnership with Abuja UNESCO Regional Office is organizing a regional consultation on the Implementation of the UNESCO 2015 Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form” to take place on 25-26 June 2018 in Abuja, Nigeria. The aim of this event, which will bring together experts and policymakers from libraries, archives, museums and other memory institution, is to develop a viable action plan for implementing the Recommendation.
The UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form marks a milestone in UNESCO’s work towards preservation of documentary heritage.

The Recommendation aims to assist Member States through identification of documentary heritage and policy measures ensuring preservation of and access to it. At the international level, it assist Member States through bilateral or multilateral research projects as well as publishing normative guidelines, policies and best practices. This instrument will thus help build partnerships for identifying appropriate solutions to threats such as the ravage of time, natural disasters, human behaviour, technology obsolescence, mobilizing resources, among other things. All such solutions are meant to ensure that valuable collections and records may never be lost. A key element of the Recommendation is the need for Member States to initiate appropriate steps in order to align it with their specific contexts, disseminate it widely across their national territories as well as facilitate its implementation through the formulation and adoption of supporting policies, strategies and legislation.