These guidelines aim to support institutions and governments in the development of open education policies promoting the adoption of open educational practices and resources, and the fostering of collaborations amongst social-educational actors which favour the democratisation of knowledge access and production.

The purpose of this guide is to support policymakers, understood in a broad sense here to include a range of stakeholders, to design appropriate policies for their contexts and communities. Rather than the detail of policy, the focus of this guide is on the process of policymaking, through which the detail should emerge. Although policy might be often thought of as the work of managers, governments or experts that is then adopted, disseminated to the masses and implemented, we consider that, as ‘openness policies’ need to create public value, a transversal and democratic approach to policymaking is necessary. Furthermore, co-creation can be a factor in policy effectiveness, as the sense of co-ownership in a community can enhance the shared responsibility to achieve policy goals (Voorberg, Bekkers & Tummers, 2015; Bryson, Sancino, Benington & Sørensen, 2017).

Therefore, we aim with these guidelines to support policymakers and advocates from governments and academia at the national, regional and institutional levels, in adopting a co-creation approach across the policy cycle, toward development of OE policies, strategies, action plans and roadmaps. We also consider these guidelines should be relevant for other institutions or organisations seeking to foster OE, such as civil society, GLAM sector and non-profit organisations, and as well for the Open Science sector, as UNESCO (2020b) recommends promoting the use of Open Educational Resources to increase access to Open Science educational and research resources.

This guide has been co-created in collaboration with the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED) and is, in part, based on the Recommendations from OpenMed to University leaders and policy makers for opening up Higher Education in the South-Mediterranean by 2030, and follows the OGP Participation & Co-Creation Standards. These recommendations have been co-authored, reviewed and edited by a group of policy and open education experts.