Opportunities and Challenges of the UNESCO OER Recommendation in Francophone Africa: Focus on Capacity Building and Supportive Policies

Zeynep Varoglu is a Programme Specialist in the Digital Innovation and Transformation Section of the Communications and Information Sector at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Ms. Varoglu is responsible for the implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation and related OER Dynamic Coalition and the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) as well as initiatives in open, distance, flexible and online education. Ms Varoglu was Co-Responsible Officer for the publication ‘Learning for All: Guidelines for the Inclusion of Learners with Disabilities in Open and Distance Learning’ and the UNESCO Project Officer for the development of the UNESCO/COL Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education.

Ms Varoglu holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Toronto and a Master of Education (M.Ed) from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (O.I.S.E.), University of Toronto

Anaïs Røed Malbrand, Norway, is Senior Advisor at the International Council for Open and Distance Education – ICDE. She is the key contact at the ICDE Secretariat for the ICDE Francophone OER working group and the OER Advocacy Committee. She has previously held positions in New York and Santiago de Chile at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Madrid at UN-Habitat, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) and at Oxfam in Spain and Guatemala. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from NEOMA Business School in France and a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation from the Basque Country University in Spain.

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With a PhD in social sciences about Orientation and Higher Education, Carole Schorlé-Stefan is a Higher Education professional with a background in Sociology, Management and Educational Sciences. She animates L’Université Numérique, the French national digital university, and coordinates the projects for the humanities. Carole works to promote the Open Education in France and Francophonie since 2007. She manages, with Ollivier Haemmerlé, L’Université Numérique’s President, a national project to develop students' written French skills. She’s involved in several other projects to develop e-learning in Higher Education and to make the teaching practices evolve. She is an experienced manager, especially in relationships between technology (digital culture, e-learning) and Universities.

Ollivier Haemmerlé is Professor in computer science at Toulouse Jean-Jaurès University since 2005. He holds a doctorate from Montpellier-II University (1995) and an HDR from Paris-Sud University (2004 ). He conducts research within IRIT on the theme of knowledge representation.
As director of the UOH since 2015, he chaires the association L’Université Numérique since it was founded in 2017. Within the UOH, he is notably co-promoter of the PIA-NCU écri+ project with Carole Schorlé-Stefan.

As secretary of the board for L'Université Numérique, the French digital university, and AUNEGe, the French OER repository for management & economics, Jacques leads collaborative initiatives in technological R&D, in cooperation with French universities, high-tech companies and academic partners around the globe. The projects involve next-generation networks, open and distance learning as well as evaluation and learning analytics.

Jacques also chairs, together with the ICDE Secretary General, the francophone working group for the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on OER; this working group includes representatives from UNESCO, national UNESCO commissions, virtual universities or ministries for Higher Education from various francophone countries in West & Central Africa. He represents L'Université Numérique for participation in the UNESCO dynamic coalition for OER.

He is a member of the board of various international initiatives, including ICoBC, the International Council on Badges & Credentials.

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