The Swedish African Museum Network (Samp) is a network of museums initiated in 1984 to foster exchange between and development of African and Swedish museums. For this purpose it supports twinships, joint projects, capacity building, and research. Having spent some time in each others countries, learning from each other and sharing experiences through Samp, we realised that we are faced with similar challenges in our work. But Samp is not only a partnership that crosses the borders between Africa and Europe. It also provides the District Six Museum with the opportunity to establish contact with people from all over Africa – a very important fact after decades of isolation.

The Malmö City Museum and the District Six Museum have enjoyed a Samp twinship since 1996. The first project of the twinship, called “Memory, culture, identity and the building of community”, was concerned with the use of oral history and sound in the making of museum exhibitions. The themes that underpinned the project were those of urban renewal and displacement. Vistors to each museum can now hear the outputs of this project, which is the incorporation of sound installations in each of the museums' current exhibitions.

We chose as our second twinship project to focus on integrating and engaging youth by presenting the museum as an accessible an exciting learning and social site. The Ambassador Programme and Junior Club projects were initiated in 1999 and started in 2000. The aim of the project was to use the existing programmes at the Malmö Museums and the District Six Museum as models for the development of a Museum Ambassador Programme in Malmö, and a Junior Club at the District Six Museum.

During 2000 and 2001 the District Six Museum and the Malmö City Museums embarked on a Museum Education Exchange Partnership. Youths from Cape Town and Malmö visited the Malmö City Museum and the District Six Museum. The project not only changed these young people's perception of museums, but it also developed the museum as a place of learning.

For 2001 and 2002, our two museums have been involved in a project that looks at organisational development in the two institutions. An outcome of this project is that the management of both institutions will, by the time the project is completed, have signed management contracts which clarify outputs and expectations between the museum and its respective staff members. Another outcome of the project is that a manual which details the processes of drawing up management contracts will be published and made available to other museums in the Samp network.

Our 2003 Samp project will see us tackling the issue of fundrasing and sustainability with our Swedish twin.

Samp
Erstagatan 7
SE - 116 36 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 714 91 15
Fax: +46 8 714 91 13
samp@samp.org
www.samp.org