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The Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea (CHA) and the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) and the will be holding the 2022 UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Training Workshop from 5 to 7 September in Amman, Jordan. For the last two years, this annual workshop has been conducted online owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but this year the organizers have been able to arrange an on-site workshop again, and are collaborating with the Jordan National Commission for Education, Culture & Science (JONATCOM) to hold the workshop in Jordan. Portions of the workshop will also be provided online to a limited number of observers to increase accessibility, in particular since COVID-19 is still making travel difficult.

The annual MoW training workshop started in 2009 to help countries prepare for the nomination process. Under the auspices of the CHA, KNCU has organized the workshop annually, focusing on countries and regions in which the number of inscribed items is relatively small. The workshops help participants to identify documentary heritage that is appropriate for nomination to the MoW International Register and provide a rare opportunity for participants to receive direct technical assistance from a group of international MoW Programme experts, potentially allowing them to dramatically enhance their nominations. 

Nine countries have been selected to participate in this year’s workshop (Jordan, Malta, Sudan, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Palestine), and four others have been selected as observers (Laos, Libya, Qatar, and Tuvalu).

The workshop features special lectures on key concepts for MoW nominations, such as world significance and uniqueness, updates on changes to the MoW Programme following its recent comprehensive review by UNESCO, presentations by participants on the documentary heritage that they wish to nominate, and customized feedback on the nominations from the international experts. This year, CHA and KNCU are grateful for the help of the Jordan National Commission for Education, Culture & Science (JONATCOM). In particular, as a part of the field trip during the workshop, JONATCOM has helped arrange access to the Royal Court in Amman, which is not usually open to visitors.

UNESCO launched the MoW Programme in 1992 to protect and improve access to significant documentary heritage all over the world. The vision of the MoW Programme is that the world’s documentary heritage belongs to everyone, and should thus be preserved, protected, and made freely and permanently accessible to all. One of the most important aspects of the programme is the Memory of the World International Register, which has been a powerful tool for increasing global awareness of the existence and significance of documentary heritage since it was launched in 1997. The register has come to be regarded as one of the most prestigious forms of recognition for documentary heritage with outstanding value and global significance, and more than 430 items have been inscribed on it to date.

The training workshop aims to help strengthen participating countries’ capacities to identify, preserve, and utilize their documentary heritage through preparation of nominations to the UNESCO MoW Register. To date, a total of 10 items of documentary heritage have been successfully listed on the International Register by participants who have previously attended a MoW Training Workshop, and 11 items have been successfully listed on MoW Regional Registers. A total of 106 countries have participated in the workshop at least once, and workshops have been held for a variety of regions, including Asia and the Pacific (2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018), Africa (2012, 2017), Latin America and the Caribbean (2015), and the Arab region (2019), while the online workshops in 2020 and 2021 had participants from all over the world.

*International Register: Managed by the UNESCO Secretariat in accordance with the General Guidelines of MoW and is listed when it has World Significance. As of Sept. 2022, a total of 432 items were register by 124 countries, 8 institutions. Korea has 16 items registered including “Hunminjeongeum Manuscript.”

*Regional Register: Items of regional importance selected by the regional committee established through a separate nomination review. Currently, three regional committees, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, are in operation. Korean has 57 items listed including “Joseon Royal Palace Signboards.”