UNESCO Documentary Heritage at Risk in Asia and the PacificExperts Network MeetingBangkok, Thailand June 5-7, 2024
In February 2023 UNESCO Bangkok coordinated by Sali Sasaki brought together a team of expert to discuss, plan, and write a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Toolkit for cultural heritage organizations throughout Asia and the Pacific Islands. The team members represented different countries of Asia and Southeast Asia, and I represented the Pacific Islands. Over the past year the group that helped write the toolkit, which was title: "Building Resilience, Training Toolkit, Disaster Risk Management for Documentary Heritage and Digital Archives." The toolkit includes six modules that contain case studies and exercises. The six modules are:
- Setting the Scene, The Context
- Risk Assessment, Collections, buildings and built environment
- Local Context and Communication
- Collection Management
- Digitization and Climate Action
- Response and Recovery
The toolkit will be published in June/July 2024.
For three days in June the group rejoined at the Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. The goal of the meeting was to decide where and when the workshops would take place. These workshops would be guided by the toolkit. Thus, the trainers had to decide which modules would work best for their respective workshop.
On the first day Sali presented a recap of last’s year meeting and update of when the toolkit would be published. She then asked that each trainer to give a fifteen-minute Powerpoint presentation about the local context when training the will take place. Presenters were also asked to explain the background, describe the target participants, highlight specific priorities and needs, and if we had any Disaster Risk Management (DRM) experience. The group finished the first day by defining the scope of training activities by aligning key priorities with relevant contents from the "training plan/structure" template that was provided to each trainer. A preliminary methodology/approach was also elaborated during this exercise.
Day two opened with an online presentation by Ms. Sanira Beevi of the Archive Conservation Lab at the National Archives of Singapore (NAS). Ms. Sanira attended the meeting in 2023 but was unable to travel to Bangkok for the current meeting. She provided the group with a proposed plan on how the NAS will conduct its DRM workshop.
Following Ms. Sanira was Dr. Heather Brown of the Australian Library and Information Association, who was in attendance for the meeting. Dr. Brown has many years experience providing preservation and DRM workshops in Australia and with the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts of India. She provided the meeting participants expert tips on conducting the workshop and the topics that need to be addressed.
An exercise was then conducted among the participants that mapped out possibilities for knowledge exchange among trainers, institutions, and trainees to articulate the longer-term potential of the training activities. The exercise also asked the important question: Which experts were to be involved in other trainings? As well as it asked, how will the trainees become trainers and disseminate their knowledge?
After the lunch break, we participated in another online training proposal from Dr. Dowon Kim of the Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage at the Ristumeikan University of Japan. Dr. Kim also attended the 2023 meeting. This time, however, he talked to us about how one of his programs that his institute has implemented. It is called Disaster Imagination Game (DIG) that uses large scale maps to help form a disaster risk management plan by analyzing an organization’s map and its surrounding areas.
Later in the afternoon the participants continued planning the details of their respective, impending workshops. We fine-tuned practical details including facilitation and logistics such as, schedule, space, participants, and other experts that may be involved. The group also discussed strategies concerning the monitoring of results and impact measurement.
By the time we got to the final day of the meeting, we were glad that it would potentially be only a half-day session. We had been working hard together for two days and had been putting in long hours per both days. UNESCO Bangkok project coordinator, Ms. Ruohan Zhang, spoke to us about the different forms that each would have to complete before conducting a workshop. The forms included, a budget proposal, vendor form, contract, and invoice. Additionally, the group learned the deliverables that each workshop would need to achieve.
All in all, everyone left the meeting feeling that much was accomplished. We now have an idea on how to proceed with our workshops utilizing the training toolkit. For me, I will be conducting a two-day DRM workshop at the next PARBICA conference that is slated to be next year in Fiji. The National Archives of Fiji will host the conference. This should workout perfectly as many Pacific Islanders will be attending the conference, thus the potential of having a full room of attendees for the workshop will be quite high. Nevertheless, I look forward hearing about how well the workshops went in the other countries from my colleagues.
In the afternoon a few of us traveled to the Wat Pho temple, which was a short underground-train ride away from the hotel. It was nice having the opportunity to leave the hotel, as we had a busy itinerary the past two days. The temple was a large complex, ornate and tranquil. Although it was a very hot day, we covered the entire area. Upon arriving at the temple of the Reclining Buddha, we were in awe at the immensity of the gold plated body and its restful, peaceful repose. It was a very pleasant place to take a moment to pause, relax, and reflect. I took my time walking the length of the resting Buddha enjoying a breeze that brushed through the temple every now and then. Afterward, I briefly sat on a bench outside the temple in the shade and contemplated the past week, my time with my colleagues, and prepared myself for the long journey home.
