Archival Solidarity is a project of the International Council of Archives (ICA) Section for Professional Records Management and Archives Associations (SPA).  The project began in 2000 with a small working group.  The Archival Solidarity Committee was officially formed in 2005 within SPA.  The project aims to co-ordinate efforts in the international archives community to carry out foreign assistance projects to develop tools and expertise for developing communities and communities in transition.

Its objectives are to:

• Share information about international projects for development and cooperation.
• Facilitate international projects for development and cooperation that are responsive, practical, and well targeted.
• Initiate international projects for development and cooperation that will:
• Work with partners to share professional information
• Send experts to provide training and education
• Provide expertise and/or materials to carry out archival projects

There is a project website that is available in English, French and Spanish at: http://archives3.concordia.ca/Solidarity/default.html

The website includes information on the project and the work that has been undertaken, as well as contact information for the Committee.  You are invited to explore the site and to come back often to see what we're up to and what new information is available.

We have gathered information about recent international outreach projects.  We analyzed the information, wrote a report and developed a database with the detailed information for more than 120 projects carried out in nearly 70 countries.   The report is available from the website and projects database will also soon be available as well.  We continue to collect this information and add it to the database.

Archival Solidarity organized a workshop session on international archival outreach at the ICA Vienna Congress in August 2004 and another is in the planning stages for Kuala Lumpur in 2008. 

The Archival Solidarity Committee is not a funding agency and it does not have development funds to distribute.  The mandate is to facilitate international projects, particularly by acting as an information clearinghouse.  One of the projects currently underway is to collect information in various countries about funding opportunities for archival outreach projects.  If you wish to work on such a project in your country, please get in touch with us.

The Archival Solidarity Committee is interested in hearing about any recent or current development and cooperation activities in archives or records management.  We believe it's important for the international archival community to exchange information and expertise on these matters.  The Committee will be issuing regular information bulletins and anyone is welcome to become part of our mailing list and you can do so directly from the website.  We will also be posting our bulletins on the ICA Listserv in English, French, and Spanish; we think it's an ideal forum for further discussion of these matters.  If you are not a member of the ICA Listserv it's easy and free to join.  Instructions for doing so are available in many languages at: http://www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/mailman/listinfo/ica-l

We look forward to hearing from everyone interested in international development and cooperation and to lively discussion of these issues that are of importance to so many of us.