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Zimbabwe commemorates Culture Week
Zimbabwe commemorated Culture
Week, from 19-26 May 2007, under the theme "Cultural Diversity for
National Development". The commemorations were held in all the country's
provinces and speakers noted that the arts and cultural industries are
critical in nation building as they provide people with a sense of
belonging, motivate, unite and rally them towards a shared vision.
 Officially
launching the event in Kadoma, the Minister of State for Policy
Implementation in the Office of the President, Mr. Webster Shamu, said
culture was a world heritage that should be preserved for posterity.
"Culture is a sum total of a way of life of a society from traditions,
customs, value systems, intellectual and economic features that
characterise a society or a nation. It is these values, symbols,
interpretations and perspectives that distinguish us from other people,"
Mr. Shamu said.
"We want to appreciate and promote the uniqueness of different cultures
while emphasising the need to preserve the rich cultural heritage and
bring together diverse arts and cultural activities of the sub-region
and other parts of the world for public consumption,” he added.
Speakers in various provinces urged Zimbabweans not to shun their
culture in favour of Western cultures. Parents were urged to play a
pivotal role in preserving Zimbabwean culture.
Several exhibitors displayed their wire crafts, sculptures, batik, clay
pots, and traditional herbs while various traditional healers also took
advantage of the celebrations in various centres to showcase their herbs
and concoctions.
Seasoned and upcoming musicians, including some mbira groups, Gule
Wamkulu dancers and Jerusarema/Mbende dance practitioners participated
in the fun-filled celebrations across the country.
Culture Week is aimed at providing a platform for people to appreciate
an array of cultural practices in the country. It is also meant to
create social integration through the arts and culture while also
providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and views among stakeholders
in the culture industry.
Sources: The Herald and ZBC.
For
more information, see the Culture section or
contact Mulekeni Ngulube,
Programme Specialist, Culture.
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UNESCO supports National Seminar
for Cultural Heritage Development Institutions in Malawi
UNESCO Harare Cluster Office supported the Malawi National Commission
for UNESCO to organise a National Seminar for the country’s cultural
heritage institutions. The seminar that took place on the 11th and 12th
of May 2007 sought to disseminate the recommendations by Dr. Munjeri in
his report: “Malawi Developing National Heritage and Strategy” and
recommendations in the “Report on Fact Finding Mission to Zimbabwe” to
Malawi’s cultural heritage development institutions. The second day of
the National seminar was set aside for the training of Malawi’s museum
personnel on the management of museums using the UNESCO/ICOM Museum
Training package.
The seminar was organised in the context of UNESCO’s Strategic objective
on Enhancing the linkages between culture and development, through
capacity building and sharing of knowledge and within the Main Line of
Action (MLA) on Enhancing protection of movable cultural property.
The objectives of the seminar were to:
-
involve heritage development
institutions in planning on how to implement recommendations in Dr.
Munjeri’s report;
-
share experiences with heritage
institutions managers on how to improve identification and promotion
of heritage in Malawi;
-
share knowledge on how initiate
partnerships with the corporate world and development agencies;
-
develop arguments for the contribution
of cultural heritage to national development as a justification for
seeking increased funding commitment from government/ Ministry of
Finance;
-
develop a tentative list of Malawi’s
heritage sites for consideration under the World Heritage
Convention; and
-
train 6 museum personnel on museum
management using the UNESCO Museums Training Kit.
Malawi is in the process of trying to come up with a Cultural Heritage
Policy and Strategy. In 2002, Dr. Dawson Munjeri was on a mission to
Malawi to assist Malawian authorities to develop a cultural heritage
policy and strategy. In the report following his mission titled “Malawi:
Developing National Heritage Policy and Strategy”, Dr. Munjeri made
several recommendations to the Government of Malawi.
He noted that notwithstanding the supportive role of the international
community, in terms of the 1972 Convention it remains the responsibility
of Malawi to:
-
identify and delineate properties
situated on its territory so as to come up with cultural and natural
heritage properties;
-
protect, conserve, present and transmit
to future generation the cultural and natural heritage;
-
adopt a general policy which aims to
give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the
community;
-
set up services for the protection,
conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage
including staff and the means to discharge their functions;
-
develop scientific and technical studies
and carry out research; and
-
have appropriate legal, scientific,
technical and administrative and financial measures to identify,
protect, conserve, present and rehabilitate heritage.
Dr. Munjeri concluded that while his terms of reference included
advising on the formulation of a strategic plan, there was already in
place a highly thought out analytical draft strategic plan for the
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, which was a product of thorough
research, an all inclusive consultative process and recognized all the
relevant stakeholders and ascribed to them appropriate roles. That being
so he found it unnecessary to reinvent the wheel. He however,
recommended that the Strategic Plan receive the attention it deserved by
those responsible for transforming the draft into finality as well as
into implementation. He underlined the urgent need to move it on a fast
track.
Following the recommendations by Dr. Munjeri it became important that a
fact finding mission be organized for high level government official to
learn from a country that seem to be making good progress in the
heritage preservation sector. A two member mission was organized with
financial support from UNESCO Harare Office which visited cultural
heritage institutions in Zimbabwe between 9 and 16 October 2006. The
delegation consisted of Dr. Elizabeth Gomani, Director of Cultural
Affairs, Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture and Mr. Christopher
Magomelo, Senior Programme Officer (Culture), Malawi National Commission
for UNESCO.
The aim of the mission to Zimbabwe was therefore, to learn from cultural
heritage institutions in Zimbabwe on matters of heritage management.
The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe played host to the two
member mission. The institutions planned for the mission to visit were:
Heroes Acre, National Archives, National Arts Council, Harare
International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), Zimbabwe International Book
Fair, Zimbabwe Music Rights Association, Zimbabwe College of Music,
Harare Museum, Museum of Natural History, Military Museum, Mining
Museum, Great Zimbabwe Ruins, Khami Ruins, Old Bulawayo, Matobo, Hwange
National Park and Victoria Falls. Most of the planned institutions and
sites were visited except for Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls.
It was not possible to visit these two sites due to time constraints.
In their report the delegation made several recommendations to the
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in Malawi in order to realize
meaningful change towards a more vibrant heritage development sector.
They noted that cognisant of the need for action on the recommendations
by Dr. Munjeri and those made in this report, the Ministry through
National Commission for UNESCO must organize a training workshop for
national cultural heritage institutions in Malawi aimed at sharing
information and reasserting commitment towards more proactive activities
on identification and promotion of heritage in Malawi.
It is within this premise that the seminar was organised with the
financial support of UNESCO Harare Cluster Office. The seminar enabled
dissemination to the cultural heritage development institutions in
Malawi of the recommendations in the two mission reports. The seminar
also provided an opportunity for heritage mangers to synergize their
institutional work plans towards implementation of the Heritage Action
Plan and National Strategic Plan. It is expected that this would lead to
a more vibrant and coordinated system of identification and promotion of
cultural heritage. Greater commitment to the identification and
promotion of heritage in Malawi was shown by all the participants.
On the second day of the National Seminar, six museum personnel from
Malawi were trained on the management of museums using the UNESCO/ICOM
Museum Training Package. The package consisted of two major
publications: Running a Museum: a Practical Handbook and Running a
Museum: a Trainers Manual. Participants noted that the package was
useful and would help them in their day to day work.
Speaking during the seminar, the Executive General for the Malawi
National Commission for UNESCO, Mr. Francis Mkandawire acknowledged the
role played by UNESCO in the development of cultural heritage
particularly in Malawi. The Senior Programme Officer for Culture with
the National Commission, Mr. Christopher Magomelo also thanked UNESCO
for its support and urged all participants to utilise the support
provided by UNESCO.
UNESCO Harare Culture Programme Specialist, Ms. Mulekeni Ngulube who was
also one of the resource persons for the Training of museum personnel
workshop noted that UNESCO Harare would continue supporting countries
within its cluster in the development of cultural heritage.
UNESCO Harare Culture Programme Specialist, Ms. Mulekeni Ngulube
makes a presentation during the Training of museum personnel while Dr.
Elizabeth Gomani, the Director of Culture in Malawi (left) and Mr.
Francis Mkandawire (right), the National Commission Executive Secretary
listen with keen interest.
© Malawi National Commission for UNESCO.
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