Implementing the UNESCO OER Recommendation within Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships

On September 17, 2022, at the UN Transforming Education Summit's Solutions Day, the SDG Academy, the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN, and United Nations Academic Impact co-hosted a session on actions and investments needed to implement the UNESCO Open Education Resource (OER) Recommendation in support of education for sustainable development (ESD).

The session was moderated by Donal Kenneally, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Ireland to the EU. Opening remarks covered the need for Open Educational Resources and featured Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education, Ghana; Niki Kerameus, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs, Greece; Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information; and Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University and President of SDSN. The session continued with a panel featuring the Youth Voice from Brighton Kaoma, Director of SDSN Youth.

The next topic highlighted the Commitments and Investment into FAIR OERRs Platform featuring Patrick Paul Walsh, University College Dublin and Vice President for Education at SDSN; and Niamh Brennan of Trinity College Dublin and OpenAlRE. Speaking via video, Zeynep Varoglu, Programme Specialist in Digital Innovation and Transformation Section at UNESCO, delved further into the OER Recommendation and Commitments on Open Licenses. Cable Green, Director of Open Knowledge at Creative Commons concluded that discussion.

The topic of Commitments on Curriculum Development and Education by HEIs was covered by Jayashri Sarah Wyatt, Chief, Education Outreach Section, United Nations Academic Impact; Trine Jensen, Manager Digital Transformation in and of Higher Education at the IAU; and Dr. Radhika Iyengar, Columbia University.

The topic of Commitments on Global Interoperability/Sharing Collections across Libraries followed with speakers Thanos Giannakopoulos, Chief, Dag Hammarskjöld UN Library, and Claire McGuire, Policy and Research Office. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

The final topic covered Applications in Public and Commercial Spheres featured Amanda Abrom, Program Manager, Global Schools; Kenza Khallafi, Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection; and John Schwartz, Head Of Business Development at edX/2U.

The ambitious large-scale initiative highlighted includes governments, members of Mission 4.7, UN Academic Impact, the UN Headquarters’ Library (network), OER Dynamic Coalition, UNESCO, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Creative Commons, and the Private Sector. Each partner that spoke adds unique value to a multi-stakeholder ‘Diamond’ partnership and can implement the OER Recommendation in practical terms.