Annual Report - Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda(CCFU)

The Foundation launched a Cultural Heritage
Programme in 2007, with two main initiatives. One
of these is entitled Linking past and future:
People’s museums and cultural resource centres
in Uganda.
Support to People’s Museums
Rather than focusing on Government museums
(that are often divorced from ordinary people), this
focuses on people’s museums or cultural resource
centres - whose existence is less well known.
Emphasis is placed on attempts by local
organisations or individuals to make a connection
with the past. In the course of the last two years, it
had come to CCFU’s attention that, in some parts
of the country, a few individuals and communities
had taken initial steps to protect and revive their
culture through such means.
In collaboration with the Uganda National Museum
and with support from UNESCO, CCFU undertook
a mapping study to identify such initiatives. CCFU
covered all four regions of Uganda, taking the lead
on which sites to visit from Community
Development Officers, resource persons, and the
initiators of community ‘museums’. 50 sites were
visited in 19 districts.
A written and photographic record of 24 sites was
taken, where an initiative had potential to sustain
itself with limited support. Out of these, 13
initiatives were considered vibrant, having been
established primarily to showcase culture with a
link to development, having a collection of items of
cultural or historical value and showing a
willingness to exhibit artefacts to the public. A plan
to support these initiatives was developed and will
be implemented in 2009.