It is my pleasure to have this opportunity to express my appreciation of and thanks to the Digital Records Curation Programme (DRCP). It has been one of the most crucial programmes in developing my skills and knowledge. Following establishment of ICA’s Africa Programme in 2015, the DRCP project aimed to make significant impact on the understanding of digital technologies on records management and digital preservation in archives. The Africa Programme is committed to increasing the capacity of archivists in Africa and to enhancing skills and knowledge about the impact of digital technology on record-keeping in practical ways. The DRCP Study School aimed to support archival educators in teaching students how to plan for digital records curation programmes in a low-resource environments.
2019 was a memorable and enchanting year when the DRCP was introduced to the Southern Africa Region. The University of Botswana was the host institution for the DRCP Study School in which I had the opportunity to participate. Attending it enabled me to carry out several activities that I managed to implement using the skills I learned there. It has been useful in a significant number of ways. Firstly, it provided me with the resources to boost my professional development. I was able to apply the skills and knowledge received from the study school to significantly improve the digital culture especially as part of the University of Botswana Library Special Collections pilot projects on the digitization of microfilm and microfiche collections. In addition, the digital and hybrid records management knowledge I developed from the DRCP have now become integrated to some of the archives and records management courses within the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS). As part of the ARM 301: Electronic Records Management course I teach I have included information resources from DRCP school on critical topics such as metadata, digital preservation, and providing access . The resources received from the study school have also become useful in developing digital preservation training modules for the local cultural heritage institutions. The skills from the study school have been relevant in the establishment of digital preservation policy, digitisation strategy, planning and implementation activities. At the same time, the DRCP resources have become critical in developing short course training modules at DLIS.