Strategic records management is essential for protecting audiovisual heritage. Unfortunately, the African continent has been riddled with the impression of having poor records management in the form of a lack of proper inventory safeguarding measures, accountability and transparency. Reports have also alluded that stricter standards need to be placed in organisations across the continent to control ownership and access to inventory.
Following the circumstances mentioned above, Broadcast Media Africa, in partnership with Apricity Consulting, conducted an industry survey to weigh these views.
The industry survey assessed the reality of maintaining and securing legacy content and archival materials appropriately.
The results of the survey show that the majority of organisations, which range between Angola, Malawi, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, actively count the collections in their archives, with 52.17% of the respondents performing the task annually.
The survey also showed that 52.94% of organisations across the continent reviewed their archives policy with regards to protection and security at least once a year.
Furthermore, 59.38% of organisations confirmed a disaster preparedness and disaster recovery plan for their archived materials, with 88.24% of the institutions stating that the materials are backed-up off-site.
The gathered knowledge clarifies the notion that states that Africa lacks appropriate records management and strategies for protecting and securing audiovisual archives, although most companies have noted that more financing was needed in order to carry out the plans appropriately.
Please click here to access the briefing report for more information and details.
