Opportunity of documentary heritage preservation in Latin America and the Caribbean
Call for Applications to the Regional Register of the Memory of the World Programme (MOWLAC) open until August 31st
Memory of the World Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Committee (MOWLAC) reports that up to August 31 will be open the call for new nominations to the 2016 Regional Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean Memory of the World Programme of UNESCO. The call for applications is now open and invites public and private institutions, libraries, museums, NGOs and people working in the preservation of documentary heritage in LAC region.
Documentary heritage traces the evolution of knowledge, discoveries and achievements of human societies. It is the legacy of the past to the present and future world community. Unfortunately, today it has been noted the documentary heritage from many of the world’s communities are scattered and dispersed due to accidental or deliberate displacement, war or other historical circumstances. The growing awareness of the vulnerability of such important historical resources calls for immediate action to be taken, such as strengthen and build policies that address the challenges of preserving documentary heritage.
The Committee calls for incorporate to Registry documents or sets of archivistic, bibliographic or audiovisual documents, relevant to the collective memory of Latin American and Caribbean societies. The applications may include textual documents or sets of documents (handwritten or printed), audiovisual (films, videos, sound recordings), iconographic or cartographic data.
This year, the meeting of MOWLAC´s international experts will take place from the 24th to 26th October 2016 in the Argentinean costal town Mar de Plata. In this regard, the Secretary of Communications and Public Relations of the National University of Mar del Plata and the person responsible for coordinating the collaboration between UNESCO and the University, Mag. Alberto Fabian Rodriguez says “The university seeks to strengthen public education, play an important role in creating awareness on the world’s documentary heritage and its vulnerabilities and create a model of strategies on how to preserve documentary heritage.” For Lidia Brito, Director of the Regional Office for Sciences for Latin America and the Caribbean in Montevideo “it is a privilege to have the Regional Committee meeting in Argentina and in such an historically important city such as Mar del Plata. MOWLAC Regional Register already include important documents from Argentina and I have no doubt the country can further contribute the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.”
Since 2002, the Register has included 123 regional entries, including a number of collections related to politics, philosophy, literature, music, in text, multi-media, covering regional and national scopes. The Latin American and the Caribbean Register also includes resources related to human rights, indigenous people and slavery. For Guilherme Canela, secretary of the Regional Committee and the UNESCO Communication and Information Regional Adviser says “Latin America and the Caribbean documentary heritage stakeholders are increasingly recognizing the importance of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme and are committed to supporting the work of the Regional Committee”.
- Know the possibilities of application, access the rules of the program and versions in English and Spanish of application forms (mandatory instance) in the following link
