ABSTRACT Archives serve as society’s collective memory in so far as they provide evidence of the past and promote accountability and transparency of past actions. An appreciation of archives would then result in citizens linking archival records with their identity, history, civic duty and cultural heritage. However, research in Eastern and Southern Africa indicates that most citizens are unaware of archives and rarely use them. Apart from financial constraints, this is often associated with inadequate outreach programs. Taking archives to the people (promoting archives) is one way of making citizens aware of archival holdings and facilitating access and use of these resources. Through the application of three research techniques, this article shows that, although the number of archival users in this region is declining, public programming initiatives were not prioritised. Reasons for this included lack of policies; shortage of staff; lack of skills; reluctance to rope in technology in public programming initiatives; working in silos; and budgetary constraints. This article recommends a framework that may help archivists in the Eastern and Southern Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives region to raise awareness about public archival repositories, despite the existing challenges.

中文翻译：

---

将档案带给人民：国际档案理事会东部和南部非洲地区分部国家档案馆公共项目的审查

摘要 档案作为社会的集体记忆，因为它们提供过去的证据并促进过去行为的问责制和透明度。对档案的鉴赏将导致公民将档案记录与其身份、历史、公民义务和文化遗产联系起来。然而，东部和南部非洲的研究表明，大多数公民不知道档案，也很少使用它们。除了财政限制外，这通常与外展计划不足有关。将档案带给人民（推广档案）是让公民了解档案馆藏并促进获取和使用这些资源的一种方式。本文通过三种研究技术的应用表明，虽然该地区的档案用户数量在下降，没有优先考虑公共规划举措。造成这种情况的原因包括缺乏政策；人手不足；缺乏技能；不愿在公共编程计划中使用技术；在筒仓中工作；和预算限制。本文推荐了一个框架，可以帮助国际档案理事会东部和南部地区分部的档案工作者提高对公共档案库的认识，尽管存在挑战。