Page 19 - 2022 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.3

Sojung Lee
Column

From a person to all

How capacity-building projects engage

with our lives

75%

We have talked about the significance of Heritage and enhance knowledge and skills for
Documentary Heritage for a long time. Records told experts and policymakers in line with the UNESCO
us stories of the day, which has prompted lot of 2015 Recommendation concerning the preservation
questions and answers in a way that has given us of, and access to, documentary heritage, including
the knowledge and wisdom we need for now. Those in digital form. [1]
valuable records became Documentary Heritage. According to the final project report, 75% of
Now, we are in the middle of finding alternative and the project beneficiaries agreed that the project
new ways to hand it down to our futrue generation. had enhanced their disaster risk reduction and
What is the essential factor in sustaining this management skills after the training. [2]
process? Strengthening the capacity-building programs
We can find the answer to that question safeguards and utilizes Documentary Heritage and
from the education and training programs for narrows the gap of uneven Documentary Heritage
those who manage and utilize Documentary levels between the countries. Most capacity-
Heritage. Documentary Heritage would be a building programs target Least Developed Countri
volatile thing should we ignore the methods to es and Small Island Developing States with actual
protect and preserve it or the ways to use and experts and policymakers are participating in the
learn significant lessons from. Various capacity- programs. Therefore, it leads to upward leveling in
building programs support the process, including Documentary Heritage across the world. Capacity-
education and training related to Documentary building affects not only a person who manages
Heritage. Enlightening the meaning and significance Documentary Heritage. The capacity-building of a
of Documentary Heritage accounted for most person leads to the spread of their expertise and
education programs for a while. However, skills to others who are involved in records. This
nowadays, there has been extensive discussions transfer of knowledge eventually influences and
on to how to hand it down to our future generations changes public attitudes regarding the importance
and how to use it widely. of records and Documentary Heritage. It will flourish
For instance, in 2018, UNESCO launched our generation and future generations.
the 2018-2022 project <Policy Development History tells us peoples’ stories through
and Capacity-building for the Preservation of records. And it is our turn to listen to them by
Documentary Heritage> with the support of the safeguarding and using them. Capacity-building lets
Japanese Fund-in-Trust. The project aimed to our world liven up.
support the policy development of the disaster
risk reduction for the preservation of Documentary

[1] UNESCO(2022). Preservation of Documentary Heritage through Policy Development and Capacity Building : Final Project Report, 4-5 pages
[2] UNESCO(2022). Preservation of Documentary Heritage through Policy Development and Capacity Building : Final Project Report, 20 page

18 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 19 Memories of Today