“Maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge” is at the heart of UNESCO’s constitution (Article I. Point 2 (c)). UNESCO has long recognized the value of information and ready access to knowledge in addressing development needs.  Through its Knowledge Societies Division, UNESCO has been spearheading initiatives to foster knowledge-led development strategy that advocates open and inclusive knowledge production, knowledge synthesis, knowledge packaging, knowledge sharing and its reuse. UNESCO and its member states have reiterated that despite many efforts to improve access, there is a disparity in openness between and among developed and developing countries. Thus making a strong case for the need for capacity enhancements in support of Openness at all levels of knowledge transaction. It is therefore essential to innovate approaches to enhance these capacities, which must also include ability to take stock, follow up, and monitor efforts.

On the occasion of the first International Day for Universal Access to Information, on 28 September, UNESCO is launching Self-Directed Learning Courses (SDLs) on Open Access to Scholarly Information and is inviting expression of interests to collaborate for its worldwide delivery.

These SDLs have been developed to provide knowledge resources on OA in order to respond to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and accelerate and facilitate the value of openness in Member States. UNESCO believes that these tools will assist in enhancing knowledge and understandings of OA, offer self-paced learning on OA issues and help bridge knowledge pools on OA.

 “Open Access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions” (Peter Suber, 2013). Open Access (OA) is the provision of free access to peer-reviewed, scholarly and research information to all. OA allows the provisions of access to read, write, adopt, adapt, and distribute/disseminate scholarly publications without any technical, legal, economic and social barriers. OA uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to create infrastructure to enable access to scholarly information through Open Access repositories and Open Access journals.

In order to benefit from these tools and to know how to get involved with UNESCO in raising knowledge and understanding about OA, please contact B.R. Neupane.