26.11.2025, 11:00–11:45 o'clock (Europe/Berlin), Plenary Hour
The Open Education for a Better World – Session on Programme Sustainability will focus on long-term strategies for maintaining and expanding the impact of the OE4BW mentoring programme.
Speakers will discuss models of community engagement, partnerships, and resource mobilization that ensure the programme’s continued growth and relevance.
The session aims to inspire collaboration and shared responsibility among mentors, mentees, and partners for a sustainable future of open education.
This session has been organised in close cooperation with www.oe4bw.org.
Werner Westermann Juárez has worked in the Civic Education Program, at the Library of National Congress of Chile since 2015. He is a History, Geography and Social Sciences Teacher and Bachelor Graduate in History from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Over 25 years of work experience in digital technology-enabled education and training, as well as research and development projects, in national government agencies (Ministry of Education), higher education (REUNA, IPP), international agencies (ECLAC) and civil society institutions.
Open Education advocate and practitioner: co-writer of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. Has developed research on Open Educational Resources OER adoption and impact (ROER4D) and developed web-based, interactive Open Textbooks and offline curriculum-aligned OER for Chile and El Salvador. Hub Coordinator for Open Education for a Better World OE4BW initiative and a member of Open Education Consortium’s Latin America Regional Node (OE LATAM). 2021 Open Education Award, mention Support Specialist. UNESCO HQ consultant on OER and AI in education policies and master plans. International Jury Member for UNESCO’s ICT in Education Global Prize since 2018.
Anja Polajnar is a project manager at the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) under the auspices of UNESCO, hosted by the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) in Slovenia. She coordinates the Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW) programme within the framework of the UNESCO Chair on Open Technologies for Open Educational Resources and Open Learning at JSI.
Her work focuses on dissemination, community building, and management of Horizon Europe projects, as well as the preparation of project proposals for Horizon Europe, Interreg, Erasmus+, and national funding schemes.
Previously, she worked as a project manager at the Government Communication Office of Slovenia and the Centre for eGovernance Development.
Anja holds an MSc in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Ljubljana and earned her PhD in Humanities from the University of Nova Gorica.
I am currently working on Canadian national projects in climate change education, open education, and supporting the GO-GN Canada Hub to create a collection of stories about Indigenous-led land-based education. I also work with many international open education colleagues and especially enjoy working with global open developers and mentors in the Open Education for a Better World project each year. As an experienced instructional designer and educational technology coach, I enjoy working with post-secondary institutions and colleagues to create engaging, meaningful, technology-enriched learning that is inviting and inclusive.
Dr. Ervin Pfeifer, Ph.D. (DBA), MM.Sc (BA, Eng) has shared his insights as a strategic consultant to management boards, passionately advising on transformation initiatives within some of the largest national and multinational companies across the energy, banking, telecommunications, and automotive industries — helping businesses grow for the better. He has been part of the Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW) program for the past six years, serving as both a mentor and a HUB Youth Coordinator.
Subha Das Mollick is a film buff, teacher of film studies and a filmmaker - in that order. She watches and teaches cinema of all genres and makes documentary films. Heritage, history, intersecting zones of artistic expression and scientific exploration are her favourite subjects. She is a postgraduate in Physics. Physics continues to be a subject of her abiding interest. Subha has been associated with OER4BW since 2019 and has developed two OERs for them. Presently, as a hub coordinator, she is engaged in nurturing promising developers and lending the necessary support for developing meaningful open educational resources.