The German Commission for UNESCO (DUK) is Germany's intermediary organisation for multilateral policy in education, science, culture and communication. It acts as a link between the state and civil society, as well as a national office in all UNESCO fields of activity. UNESCO has coined the term "Open Educational Resources" (OER) and is convinced that OER is a great opportunity to foster knowledge societies and promote education for all people worldwide.

OER are a key instrument for the implementation of the global Education 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goal 4) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. The Education 2030 Agenda aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” In the UN system, the UNESCO is mandated to lead the Education 2030 Agenda, including the monitoring of the progress in education worldwide.

In 2012 the first UNESCO World OER Congress in Paris, organized by UNESCO, resulted in the adoption of the Paris OER Declaration, which encourages all member states to promote OER. In 2017, the second UNESCO World OER Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia, adopted the "Ljubljana OER Action Plan" calling for the broader anchoring of OER in global education policy and practice.

In 2019 the UNESCO General Conference adopted the "Recommendation on OER", the only international standard-setting instrument on OER. The Recommendation supports the creation, use and adaptation of inclusive and quality OER, and facilitates international cooperation in this field.

The Recommendation outlines five Areas of Action:

1. Building the capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER;
2. Developing supportive policy for OER;
3. Encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER;
4. Nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER;
5. Promoting and reinforcing international cooperation in OER.

The adoption of the Recommendation is considered to be a decisive step towards building more open and inclusive knowledge societies and towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda.

The German Commission for UNESCO promotes OER through publications, events and patronage. Further information and publications can be found here: https://www.unesco.de/en/education/open-educational-resources