Nairobi, 20 Feb. 2012 – More than 120 staff from 18 entities of the United Nations based in East Africa this month attended a special workshop of the Archives and Records Management Section (ARMS) to ensure that records and archives are handled properly and in conformity with UNHQ rules.

The workshop 6-14 February presented by UNHQ ARMS Chief, Ms. Bridget Sisk, was held at the invitation of the United Nations Kenya Common Services Management Team Working Group on Archives and Records Management.
Ms. Sisk briefed senior managers on their responsibilities for the business records in their offices as set forth in ST/SGB/2007/5 on recordkeeping and management of United Nations Archives, drawing attention to the significant benefits of managing records well. The ARMS Chief emphasized the value for research to civil society of United Nations archives.
She encouraged staff to identify, preserve and make such records accessible. Participants included staff in Information Management, Mail, Pouch & Registry, Documents Control, Programme and Office Management, Information Systems, Conference Services, Procurement, Logistics, Human Resources, OIOS and Audit, Legal and Finance. The participants were drawn from FAO, IOM, OCHA, OIOS, UNDP, UNDSS, UNDT, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UNON, UNV, WHO, and WMO.

ARMS emphasizes the need to manage records as part of a records and information management programme that is design to support this business activity undertaken by each and every staff member. For offices in Nairobi storage space is a concern, and talks were held on how to manage this. One session thus focused on digitising official electronic records, and participants were guided through the ARMS’s digitisation toolkit which includes a comprehensive value assessment methodology and provides technical specifications for digital imaging. Participants were also given a guided tour of the wealth of resources for managing records available on the ARMS website . For most participants this was the first training in records management in their UN career and given the very positive reception and clear development needs, it is hoped an ongoing training programme can be developed.
ARMS Chief said that working at duty stations outside New York provides abundant opportunities for her to learn and consider new information management challenges. A first on this trip for Ms. Sisk was working in the new carbon-neutral building in Gigiri, which houses UNEP and UN-Habitat, and which does not use air-conditioning or other energy consuming environmental controls. Best practice for storing archives is in a climate-controlled and stable environment, and so strategies to house the two agencies archives would have to devised.