Women Are Becoming Climate Leaders Through New Online Courses - Coursera Blog — blog.coursera.org

The Women4Climate (W4C) initiative from C40 and the Fondation L’Oréal have been working to empower and inspire the next generation of women climate leaders. C40 is a network comprising the mayors of nearly 100 global cities who are collaborating to confront the climate crisis. The Fondation L’Oréal supports and empowers women to shape their future and make a difference in society, focusing on three major areas: scientific research, inclusive beauty, and climate action. The Women4Climate initiative was launched by Anne Hidalgo, ex-C40 chair and Mayor of Paris, in 2017.  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 for climate change. 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.  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 Inna Braverman, Louise Marix-Evans, Mary Anne Hitt, Natalie Isaacs, Renata Koch Alvarenga, David Miller, Luisa Miranda Morel, Vanessa Nakate, Lerato Ngakane, Alexandra Palt, Daniel Ruiz Carrascal, Caterina Sarfatti, Jeff Schlegelmilch, Muna Suleiman, and Professor Laurence Tubiana. 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.

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