The Timbuktu Manuscript Training Project

The aim of this project is to train Malian teachers in the field of conservation, preservation and digitisation of manuscripts in Arabic script and to ensure the transfer of the measures and methods in the long term.

Since 2019, around 30 young people per year have been trained by local teachers in the conservation, digitisation, and cataloguing of manuscripts, as well as in collection management. The project supports this training programme by purchasing equipment and materials to improve teaching and learning conditions, and by providing in-service training for local teachers to update teaching methods and make the programme sustainable.

The project takes place in Timbuktu, Mali, and is based on an innovative partnership between the CSMC, the United Nations and the Ahmed Baba Institute of Timbuktu (IHERI-ABT).