Coursera – Financing for Development (2016)-0daytown

Coursera – Financing for Development

Genre: eLearning Video / Economics and finances

A very warm welcome to Financing for Development! Thank you for your interest in this subject of global importance. We, the World Bank Group course team, are delighted that you have enrolled for this Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which begins on November 16, 2015. We already know that you are interested in learning about the new global development agenda and the challenges involved in financing it. Beyond that, we assume that your reasons for signing up for this MOOC vary greatly.

Whether you are a policy maker, student, civil society representative, development professional, or someone who follows development issues as an interested citizen and member of your community, we hope that this MOOC and its learning resources, activities, and social elements will provide you with a broad overview of FFD concepts. Through this course, you will learn about the main sources of and trends in development finance and the need for innovative solutions to generate the resources required to implement the new global development agenda. This includes, in particular, the increasing need for public resources to be used to mobilize and leverage the large and growing pools of private finance (or, in other words, to mobilize “billions for trillions”). Specific insights into current thinking on how to make more effective use of domestic public resources, Official Development Assistance, and private and multilateral development bank finance will also be covered.

You will learn from 17 government, private sector and international organization leaders from around the world. You will also experience some of the powerful benefits that come from studying in a MOOC: networking with your peers from all over the world, experimenting with digital and visual ways of representing knowledge about FFD, and realizing the interconnectedness of development needs around the globe.

Why is gaining a comprehensive understanding of FFD so important now? 2015 has been a critical year for development. Leaders from around the world adopted a global 2030 development agenda at a UN Summit in September 2015. The new global goals, called the Sustainable Development Goals, are ambitious and demand equal ambition in using the “billions” in Official Development Assistance to channel and crowd-in “trillions” in investments of all kinds: public and private, national and international. These goals will drive the development agenda over the next 15 years.

How this course works
This MOOC is structured around a four-week program, which includes video talks by FFD experts and practitioners from governments, the private sector, and international financial institutions, and resources and activities for you to engage in during each of the four weeks.

You will be able to choose a track to follow for your learning, either a “General Awareness” or a “Development Specialist” track, depending on your interests and professional context. The General Awareness Track is suitable for anyone with an interest in FFD. The Development Specialist Track is geared towards individuals who are development professionals or who have a personal or community focus on development issues. Consequently, that track provides more detailed or technical information on the topics covered.

Of equal importance, the Development Specialist Track involves connecting with others in similar positions all over the world through the Discussion Forums, and developing new networks of practice around FFD issues.

In order to pass the course and receive a Statement of Accomplishment, you must complete a number of Quizzes based on the Core Videos and Readings each week and complete two Peer Review exercises that will sharpen your skills of analysis, reflection, and communication. These Core Resources, Quizzes and Exercises will take around three to five hours per week to complete. To do this, you will follow the General Awareness Track.

You also have the opportunity in the Development Specialist Track to delve deeper into the issues by engaging in networking and discussions and accessing our selection of additional readings and other resources. These activities will take around two additional hours per week to complete.

We hope this message has sparked your appetite for the course. Please let others know about the course by forwarding the welcome email and inviting them to sign up at this link. You can also join in conversations now using Twitter and the course hashtag #Fin4DevMOOC.

To get started, look at the list of links in the left-hand column. These will take you directly to more course information, from details regarding how to study in the course, to the interactive course forums, to the weekly topics, resources and activities. If you have not done so already, please take 5 minutes to complete the pre-course survey.

How do I get started?
Start by learning more about the course by clicking on each of the links below.

Coursera - Financing for Development (2016)