14 Jun 2021

The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development has embarked on public programming activities to ensure appreciation of the importance of archives to lives.

 This was revealed by assistant minister Mr Billy Buti during  International Archives Day commemoration  recently.

 He said empowering and raising awareness on archives could only be realised when all those concerned within the documentary heritage landscape strengthened cooperation instead of competing.

Networking and collaborative efforts should be done within the confines of institutional frameworks, said Mr Buti.

On another project, he said the ministry, through the Botswana National Archives and Records Services, was in the process of developing an electronic records management system.

The objective was to bring efficiency and effective management of government information and records, he said.

The system also seeks to improve public sector records management, particularly response to correspondence and customer service.

Mr Buti said archives constituted major cultural heritage information resources, therefore there was need to safeguard them.  

“There is a need for a continuous safeguarding of archives and records as well as to raise awareness about its importance, promote their use and visibility, and to further demystify that access to archives are of interest to historians and researchers only,” he said.

Without archives, the expression of accountability, transparency and diversity would be a vague undertaking that would contradict the resolution to establish democratic values.

For her part, national archives director, Ms Dineo Phuti said Botswana was a member, in good standing, of the International Council on Archives (ICA), dedicated to effective management of records and their preservation as well as the care and use of world archival heritage.

She described the ICA membership as a milestone in the development of archives and  strengthening of advocacy campaigns dedicated towards promotion of public access to  archives.

Ms Phuti said it also enriched access to government records for transparency and accountability.

 Provision of access to information had many aspects including data catalogues and outreach activities such as exhibitions, she pointed out.

 The day was commemmorated under the theme, ‘Empowering Archives’.ENDS