Advocacy

UNESCO supports upstream policy advocacy for sustainable preservation of documentary heritage and facilitates exchanges between memory institutions and policymakers. For example, UNESCO has contributed towards a draft national policy in Mali for the preservation and accessibility of ancient manuscripts, which will be used by local memory institutions in their advocacy efforts. Every year, UNESCO organizes the Global Policy Forum with the support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust to bring together policymakers and documentary heritage professionals from around the world and discuss the existing challenges and opportunities for enabling policies related to documentary heritage preservation and accessibility. The UNESCO 2015 Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form serves provides the guiding principles for the Organization’s work on policy advocacy and  development.