Through the W4C Mentorship Program, C40 and the Fondation L’Oréal are matching emerging women leaders with mentors across the globe who can share knowledge and provide guidance to women who are passionate about creating green and just solutions to tackle the climate crisis. The program has also launched an online course to help women strengthen their climate leadership skills. Developed in partnership with the Columbia Climate School and CARE France, Developing Skills for Women Leadership in Climate Action is now available on the Coursera platform.
“This online course builds on the mentorship opportunities we have created for over 300 women across 18 cities in the past 3 years. We wanted to reach more women and girls and empower them to hone their existing knowledge and skills and help create a positive change in cities. This is a unique and first of its kind course that brings together knowledge and experiences on gender equity, climate, and cities” says Caterina Sarfatti, Inclusive Climate Action Programme Director at C40 Cities.
Curriculum development for the new course began in 2020. In the process, W4C collaborated with mentees from the W4C Mentorship Program to assess learner needs, with the Columbia Climate School for content about climate science, and with CARE France for content focused on gender and climate change. Additional course contributors include climate leaders and industry experts such as Vanessa Nakate, Professor Laurence Tubiana, Inna Braverman, Louise Marix-Evans, Mary Anne Hitt, Natalie Isaacs, Renata Koch Alvarenga, David Miller, Luisa Miranda Morel, Lerato Ngakane, Alexandra Palt, Daniel Ruiz Carrascal, Caterina Sarfatti, Jeff Schlegelmilch, Muna Suleiman.
Once curriculum development for the four-week course was complete, the next step was to make the course available to women across the globe. To achieve this, the Fondation L’Oréal and C40 turned to Coursera to help them promote the MOOC. Coursera’s Private Authoring tool proved to be the ideal mechanism for distributing the W4C course, ensuring a tremendous experience for every learner, and democratizing access to the content.
“We really wanted to make this course accessible to everyone—especially those who may not usually be able to accord certificates,” says Marta Stencel, Women4Climate Community Manager. “Through the use of the private authoring tool, we are able to provide certificates free of charge to any woman or girl who completes the course.”
To learn more and to access the online course on the Coursera Private Authoring Page, please register here.