The
National Center for Arts and Culture (NCAC) yesterday signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Gerda Henkel Stiftung and two departments in Hamburg,
German, in enhancing the digital archive in The Gambia.
The
ceremony held at the NCAC’s office in Fajara, was to take the German
intervention to another level and to help people have access to the archive.
The
function of the center is known for promoting and developing arts and culture,
implementing, monitoring, coordinating and evaluating artistic and cultural
programmes in The Gambia.
It
is also known for investigating and reporting on artistic and cultural matters
relating to research, information, processing, storage, documentation,
retrieval and dissemination.
The
center is also known for list of all monuments whose proclamation as national
monuments it considers desirable, to ascertain their owners, before
recommending to the minister to proclaim them as National Monuments.
Speaking
at the ceremony, Baba Ceesay, Director General of NCAC thanked partners for
such a great initiative, adding that it would help people to have vast
knowledge in the digital archive of The Gambia.
It
would also foster the knowledge of the university students who are doing
research and history to have the opportunity to access the digital archive.
Professor
Henning Schreiber of Hamburg University German, in his remarks at the signing
ceremony, said the initiative would enable the academic to do more research on
the tradition and culture of The Gambia.
He
expressed hope it would be a win-win between the two countries, adding that
they also hope it would have good cooperation in the international level.
For
his part, Prof. Ohwuta Victor, board member of NCAC, said the MoU is something
The Gambia needs to be proud of, stating that it would harness the tradition
and culture of the country.
He
thanked the German team for the noble course as they look towards the success
of the MoU.
Dr
Katrin Pfeiffer, German project partner, also expressed similar sentiments.
