By Yunus S Saliu
A weeklong training program for thirty staff of all seven public museums across The Gambia on Museum and Heritage Management was last Friday ended, as the participants all certificated.
The Museum and Heritage training held at the National Museum, Banjul and sponsored by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) in partner with the Austrian Embassy in Dakar to provide financial, technical and coordination support through the National Centre for Arts (NCAC) and Institute of Travel and Tourism of the Gambia (ITTOG).
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hassoum Ceesay Director General of National Centre for Arts and Culture congratulated the graduated staffs of the museums for their ability to complete the training.
He gave brief background of the training, its advantage and importance of it to the graduands while noting that training of Museum staff before the just concluded one last took place in 2004, “over 17 years ago.”
DG Ceesay noted that museums are playing vital roles in tourism, cultural identity, and in conservation of the heritages, while noting that at period of the training, participants were trained on different areas which included museum conservation; exhibition design; tour guiding; oral history and so on.
He reiterated that of recent times there is declined in museum training compared to past few years “therefore what you have just concluded is a great opportunity and achievement for you.”
The Director General thanked all partners and the lead trainer for her willingness and dedication to travel down to The Gambia to conduct the training.
Ngoneh Panneh, Program Officer, Tourism and Creative ITC said ITC recognises the value of museums as a great treasure of human civilization representing the essence of national history and culture that allows generations to continue to learn the country’s history; preserve the heritage and pay tribute to those that sacrifice to build a nation.
Beyond that, she said, museums are institutions of neutrality demonstrating the power of knowledge, and for gathering the collective memory of mankind as “they inspire people to be more creative and innovative, help advance the whole society through creativity, promotion of peace, creation of employment, and an institution for education of youth and children.”
Looking into cross sectoral synergies, Madam Panneh highlighted the contributions of museums in the tourism sector in terms of attracting visitors to communities, sharing of the country’s history, values and culture, while continuing to sustain heritage to support employment and income generation.
So, “you are now required to be more strategic, to embrace the concept of sustainability, innovative and build the capacity to integrate interesting and yet relevant artifacts in your collection,” She told the graduates.
Madam Panneh therefore used the occasion to thank partners – NCAC, ITTOG and Austrian Embassy in Dakar, the European Union for making it possible for ITC through YEP to provide funding for the program.
Mr Sheikh Tejan Nyang, Head of School ITTOG thanked the trainees for being the first to take part in the program.
He noted that over the years several programs have been put in place to ensure that heritages are preserve; noting that “as a result of it the training program was developed to ensure that you the custodians of this heritage sites are fully trained to be able to interpret history and essence of the existence of the heritages.”
Mr Nyang as well thanked partners for having the confidence in them to coordinate the course.
Fatima Fall Nyang, lead trainer from Centre for Research and Documentation, Senegal thanked the partners for the opportunity given her to train the participants.
She reminded them to make use of all they have been taught as regarding preservation, exhibition, and documentation among others.
