A Nigerian, Dr. Oyedokun Oyewole, has been appointed as a member of the Advocacy Expert Group (AEG) of the International Council on Archives (ICA).
Oyewole is the President and founder of the Records and Information Management Awareness Foundation (created in 2004); President, Chair and founder of the Board of the Institute of Information Management (created in 2010) and Chairman and founder of the International University of Information Management (created in 2018).
He will join the ICA Advocacy Expert Group for the term 2019-2022 which is charged with promoting the importance of archives within society and promoting the ICA’s Universal Declaration on Archives (UDA); surveying, developing and managing resources on advocacy; acting as advocacy advisers when the ICA needs expert opinion, and acting as sponsors or liaison for advocacy projects initiated by other parts of the ICA network.
Welcoming Dr. Oyewole to the Group, the Chair AEG ICA, Dr Claude Roberto, said that an international group, each of them will identify relevant resources in their areas.
He, however, described archives advocacy as a fairly new field of interest and the members will develop a database that will help to share and increase knowledge in the field.
In a response to the appointment, Dr. Oyewole, said that he is pleased to join the Group in propagating the field of archives.
He said that the Group’s set goals to develop a strategy for awareness of archives in general and promotion of the UDA; use social media and increase online presence of advocacy activities, including use of the UDA, and offer advocacy expertise within the ICA and within the international archival community, align with IIM Africa’s objectives.