A Regional Approach to Building Digital Archives Capacity in Uganda

IntroductionIn Uganda, records and archives management in government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Service through the Records and Information Management Department (DRIM). The Uganda National Archives is a section of DRIM. Officially, the Department's responsibilities include:* initiating and developing records management and archives administration policies* planning and budgeting for records management and archives administration programmes* giving guidance in the management of current records, semi-current and non-current records* co-ordinating the implementation of records and achives laws and policies* developing guidelines and procedures for records and archives administration* sensitising records creators and members of the public to enhance awareness on the importance of records* designing career development plans for records and archives staff, ensuring that government organisations follow good records management practice managing public records in all media or formats, including digital records* establishing records centres for maintaining and providing official access to semi-current records; one of the records centres will be especially equipped to house classified documents of top secret level* establishing and implementing procedures for the timely disposal of public records with no on-going value and transferring public archives for preservation to the National Archives, which will be the principal archival repository where public archives are preserved and made available for consultation, or in another established place of deposit.In practice, the necessary structures, resources and capacity are not in place to deliver many of these responsibilities.Statement of the ProblemThe Government of Uganda has made a commitment to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Its Vision 2025 strategy was in place by 1999 to address development challenges and develop online services for the public and private sectors. A National ICT Policy was in place by 2003, and there is now also a comprehensive National Electronic Government Framework in place. The Government wishes to build a national technological infrastructure for use by citizens and the private sector, and computerise its own operations in order to improve efficiency and allow citizens to deal with government remotely, through e-government systems. This move towards a digital working environment is already producing digital records of government's decisions, actions, and transactions with citizens. The National Archives has no capacity to receive digital records. At present, there is no digital repository available to provide controlled storage and no expertise in how to develop and implement guidelines for managing digital records. This situation has the potential to result in a gap in the government archives, which would have repercussions for the government, the people of Uganda, and the national historical record.The Creation of Digital Records in the Government of UgandaThe study identified a number of Ugandan MDAs that are already creating digital records. The Ministry of Public Service (MoPS) launched the Computerised Personnel Management Information System (CPMIS) in 1993, with the objective of enhancing internal and external communications and information sharing between MDAs. Since 1993, the number of ministries launching ICT projects has increased. The Ministry of Health (MoH) established a management information database in 2002. This database supports healthcare managers in making decisions, especially through the provision of higher quality data. Another major ICT project was launched in 2004 by the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry (MoTTI). The project, called Information Flow Management and Networking (IFMN), targets the improvement of internal communication across the various departments of the MTTI and its affiliated organisations. …