Financing for Development (Coursera)

Financing for Development (Coursera)
An ambitious global development agenda was adopted at a UN Summit on September 25, 2015. The new global goals, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will require trillions of dollars to accomplish over the next 15 years. This magnitude of financing will surpass the current capacities of governments and international donors. The World Bank Group and its partners recognize the need to leverage the “billions” in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to attract and mobilize “trillions” in investments of all kinds: public and private, national and global, in both capital and capacity.

To facilitate increased awareness, the World Bank Group is launching a Financing for Development Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on November 16. The objective is to familiarize more people with the new development agenda, the critical role of the private sector and the use of finance, including innovative solutions, to fund the SDGs and meet the Bank Group goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity by 2030.

Join the growing numbers of those who understand the importance of combining public resources with private and commercial finance for the common good to implement the 17 SDGs. Over the four-week course, participants will hear from prominent government, international organization and private sector leaders who have considerable first-hand experience in preparing and implementing development projects and forging public-private collaborations globally and regionally. The challenges and successes of mobilizing billions to generate the trillions needed will also be outlined.

This course includes terminology, key concepts, sources of development finance, public, private and commercial, and multilateral, and the need for increased use of ODA and innovative financing solutions to mobilize and leverage domestic and official development resources alongside private funds. Participants learn through video presentations, core reading materials and links to additional videos and readings. Join the conversation through discussion boards, two Google Hangouts, Twitter chats and other interactive features that encourage active learning.

This course will familiarize participants with the approaches currently under discussion among global leaders on financing the new development agenda.