Swapo Party Archive & Research Centre

Location: Windhoek, Namibia
Duration: 2003-2010. Contract with the Nordic Africa Institute 2005-2007.
Contact details: www.sparc.na
SPARC, PO Box 1071, Windhoek, Namibia
Tfn +264 (0)61238364
Fax +264 (0)61232368

The Swapo Party Archive & Research Centre was started with the aim of collecting, recording and preserving the history of the Swapo Party. At the beginning of 2005, SPARC sent personnel to New York to collect materials from the former Swapo Mission to the UN. Almost all the materials consisting, printed materials, photographs, slides, negatives, films and videos have now been shipped to Namibia. The rest of 2005 and beginning of 2006 was concentrated on working with database systems and training staff to digitise the materials. In March 2006 SPARC received three (3) 20 ft containers that had been kept in a military base in northern Namibia for 16 years. These containers contained millions of documents: the accumulated materials from Swapo Head Quarters in Luanda and from all its offices around the world from their inception until Namibia's independence in 1990. The procedure to empty the containers follows a systematic order. First, the documents are removed, cleaned and dried. Thereafter the materials are temporarily packed in boxes which are taken to the SPARC storage at the National Archives of Namibia. There, each document receives an identification number and is duly scanned and saved under that number. Metadata are added to each post.

Previously, a television documentary about one of the war veterans, Jason Hamutenya Ndadi – Wanehepo - was produced. This was a result of the information obtained from the current SPARC database, interviews, photographs and video clips. With the successful completion of this documentary film, SPARC is encouraged to continue producing documentaries from its extensive archival materials.

SPARC has the capacity to interview and make video documentaries and will carry out comprehensive training of its staff in filming etc. The recording of oral history is of great importance to SPARC. A great part of the Namibian society relies on oral communication and history writing.

Part of SPARC's work that has been financed by the Nordic Africa Institute's Documentation Project has now been completed. The final report and earlier reports are available for downloading together with movie clips from the inauguration ceremony of the Swapo Party Archive & Research Centre (SPARC).