The ICA Executive Board was held on Sunday 25 November in Yaounde’s Palais des Congrès. The Executive Board discussed the organisation’s strategic directions which will contribute to the creation of the 2019-2022 strategic plan. Secretary General Anthea Seles has started a strategic review and wants to open a public consultation to gather comments and thoughts from members. Discussion has also started on constitutional questions as well as membership and benefits to members. The future of Conferences and Congresses is also under discussion.
Among ICA strategic priorities, the Executive Board decided to choose 2019 as the year of Africa. The Africa Programme has been allocated resources to allow it to pursue two main objectives: raising governments awareness of archival issues on the one hand, and training professionals in the field on the other.
The Executive Board then discussed ongoing partnerships and joint initiatives between ICA and other international organizations, in particular the UNESCO-PERSIST project and the Swisspeace initiative for Prevention of Illicit Trafficking and Disaster Recovery and Heritage Preservation, as well as the “Memory of the World” programme.
Questions relating to Marketing and Sponsorship, ICA Communication and Publications were also addressed, along with organizational questions relating to the ICA Annual Conference in Adelaïde, Australia, and ICA Congress 2020 in Abu Dhabi.
A call will be made at the beginning of January for expressions of interest in hosting the Annual Conference 2021.