International Council of Archives

National Archives of Solomon Islands

My Name is Ms Julian Chonigolo, a secondary school teacher by profession and currently the Solomon Islands Government Archivist. I come from Guadalcanal province, one of the major Island provinces that made up the country Solomon Islands. The capital city of Solomon Islands, Honiara, is located on Guadalcanal province, the biggest of all Islands.

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I became the National Archivist for the National Archives of Solomon Islands in 2007. At that time the Archives had been run-down as the result of an ethnic-crisis 1998-2001.NASI had also been without a director for at least 10 years with lack of trained Archivists to fill up the position and any others in the National Archives.
Taking up the post in 2007, I found myself facing so many challenges, worsened by the fact that archiving was a totally new field of work for me. Encouraged by my superiors to endeavor on, it’s been 5 years and I am still holding on to the position. Some achievements’ are outlined below for interest sake.

ARCHIEVEMENTS

• Filling in of vacant posts within the dept.(2007)
• Renewing membership with PARBICA and ICA.(2008)
• Short and long term training awards for NASI officers(on-going)
• Raising standard of Customer service at NASI(2007-2012)
• Upgrading of NASI equipments and premises (2007-2012)
• Records management and good governance toolkit workshops and awareness(2009-2011)
• Records Management became a course at IPAM for all Public servants(2009-2011)
• Yearly short term engagement of ICAS volunteer for preservation project(2008-2012
• Memory of the World workshop on International Register(2011)
• Celebration of International Archives Day(2011-2012)
• Secure funding from FIDA for preservation project (2012)
• Currently engage an AVI volunteer who assists in Disposal of records(Jan 2011-Jan 2013)
• Will host PARBICA 15 in 2013

CHALLENGES

• Budget Constraints
• How to strengthen good records management practices across all sectors
• How to make Archiving an area of priority for Government
• Difficulty in receiving Archival training

Having a flashback to where I had started, I have found myself to be halfway through the journey of archiving and seemed to be moving on to higher grounds. I have come to love my work despite the many challenges I overcome and it seemed there is no turning back. My daily thought for each day is, "have passion for your job and the sky is the limit".

Julian Chonigolo.