MoW Committees

The Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is implemented by UNESCO through a system of committees and support mechanisms operating at international, regional and national levels that conforms to the General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage.

Regional and national MoW committees are autonomous entities made up of documentary heritage professionals on the ground. They are a crucial part of the Programme and implement its strategy on national and regional levels. The success of the MoW Programme relies heavily on the drive, initiative and enthusiasm of regional and national committees. To facilitate exchange among the committees, the Programme organizes inter-regional conferences on pressing topics.

The 2015 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form is the main normative instrument which helps guide the work of the Programme as a whole as well as that of the IAC and the regional and national committees. The national committees are the main vehicles for the implementation of the Recommendation at country level.

30 years of Memory of the World (MoW): Remarks from the MoW Regional Committees

For the 30th Anniversary of the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme in 2022, MoW Regional Committees in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa shared their milestones and plans for the future. The MoW Programme was established in 1992 with the aim of facilitating the preservation of the world’s past, present and future documentary heritage, assisting universal access to documentary heritage, and increasing awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of documentary heritage and thereby foster dialogue and mutual understanding between people and cultures.

30 years of Memory of the World (MoW): Remarks from the MoW Regional Committees