Ms. Catherine Ngugi.. and Letuimanu’asina Dr. Emma KRUSE VA’AI / Mariana Bittencourt / CC BY

Through the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and in full partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), UNESCO hosted the 2012 World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress last week to:

• showcase the world’s best practices in OER policies, initiatives, and experts;
• release the 2012 Paris OER Declaration calling on Governments to support the development and use of OERs; and
• celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2002 UNESCO Forum that created the term “OER.”

I am pleased to report UNESCO member States unanimously approved the “Paris OER Declaration” (pdf).

This Declaration is the result of a yearlong process, led by UNESCO and the COL with regional and online meetings and final negotiations at the Congress. The Declaration recommends UNESCO member States:

• a. Foster awareness and use of OER.

b. Facilitate enabling environments for use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

c. Reinforce the development of strategies and policies on OER.

d. Promote the understanding and use of open licensing frameworks.

e. Support capacity building for the sustainable development of quality learning materials.

f. Foster strategic alliances for OER.

g. Encourage the development and adaptation of OER in a variety of languages and cultural contexts.

h. Encourage research on OER.

i. Facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing of OER.

j. Encourage the open licensing of educational materials produced with public funds.

The Declaration will now be delivered to UNESCO’s Director General. She will submit the Declaration to the UNESCO Executive Board on October, 2012. After the UNESCO Board approves the Declaration, it will go to the General Conference for final approval. While it is important to note a “Declaration” is a non-binding UNESCO instrument, a UNESCO declaration does “set forth universal principles to which the community of States wished to attribute the greatest possible authority and to afford the broadest possible support.”

OER Congress resources

• UNESCO Congress site
• Paris OER Declaration (pdf) (Français pdf)
• #OERcongress (twitter feed)
• COL Congress site
• Regional meetings that refined the Declaration and educated regional States about OER and open licensing
• Congress photos
• US Mission to UNESCO article

Bravo to all who helped move the world to this moment! So many open advocates traveled to the regional meetings and to the Congress. Your contributions and work with your governments led us all to this successful outcome.