The Commonwealth of Learning is holding six Regional Consultations in the lead up to the 2nd World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress, which is scheduled to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 18 to 20 September 2017.

The Regional Consultations are being organised in partnership with UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia, and with the generous support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Each Regional Consultation will be further organised in partnership with a ministry or other agency, as appropriate, in the respective host country.

The overall theme of the Regional Consultations is “OER for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education: From Commitment to Action”, reflecting a strong focus on the role of OER in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).

The main objectives of the Regional Consultations are to:

1. Raise regional awareness about the importance of OER and its relationship to SDG4;
2. Provide a hands-on experience for all participants to establish personal OER knowledge;
3. Explore mechanisms to facilitate the mainstreaming of OER;
4. Identify strategies and solutions to overcome the challenges or barriers to mainstreaming OER; and,
5. Agree on inputs that factor into the planning of the 2nd World OER Congress.

The Regional Consultations will include expert-facilitated workshops, pre-meeting activities and discussions. Ministers of Education, senior policy makers, expert practitioners, researchers and other institutional stakeholders will be invited to take part in the events.

More information can be found at Open Educational Resources Regional Consultations website.