The trust was initially formed around the need to support developing country requirements for managing official government records. It now fulfills a much more complex and sophisticated role than its first functions.
The trust includes the following three projects:
- Consultancy Management Group was introduced to support local officials and professionals in managing official records. This includes defining legal and regulatory frameworks; developing organisational structures, including strengthening the national archives’ capacity to regulate the continuum of records management functions and developing and introducing new systems and procedures for managing records and developing professional capacity.
- Education Projects were conceived as a vehicle for introducing greater awareness of the importance of records and for developing educational modules and materials which could be shared between English speaking countries. It was intended that where desirable, these materials could be adapted to meet the requirements of developing countries with different administrative traditions. The aim in all cases was to ensure that the material was in line with global theory and best practice but relevant to local realities where there were severe constraints on funding and a limited technical and institutional infrastructure.
- Research Projects were introduced to study the requirements for well-managed records in key areas, such as financial and personnel management, particularly in an environment of rapid technological change. The Trust’s research projects have focussed on real problems and the practical solutions required to solve them.
- The range and complexity of Trust’s programme areas and project work has expanded in parallel with the growth and spread of technological applications and with global development concerns, such as good governance, accountability, human rights, economic reform, transparency and accountability and cultural heritage for sustainable development. Its work has demonstrated repeatedly that neither technology nor global development agendas can be successfully addressed in the absence of effective control of official records.
- The Trust recognises that the requirements for managing evidence in an electronic environment are escalating rapidly and that the solutions presently available are inadequate to meet this need; it is uniquely positioned to contribute. The time is right to develop a global strategic approach to raising awareness of the issues involved and creating greatly enhanced professional and institutional capacity. The Trust is therefore committed to providing an expanded level of services and support for developing countries as they make the transition to the electronic age.