MOOC Water Cooperation and Diplomacy

Information

5 Distance teaching hours
20 hours to complete the course

Language

English

Format

Distance learning

Registration

Continuous

Contribution to the SDGs

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Programme

If you are a student, a professional, an academic, or policy/decision maker involved in water cooperation and diplomacy, this MOOC is addressed to you. 

It enhances your scientific knowledge and capacities to engage in water cooperation and diplomacy processes; it also gives you ammunition to contribute to the public debate and discourses on shared waters. Finally, it connects you with other professionals, students, decision and policy makers as well as academics from around the world, and offers you opportunities to exchanges views, experiences and knowledge with them. 

This course is composed of five modules and includes a variety of innovative training material i.e. lectures, interviews, maps, case studies, exercises and simulations.

Main topics include: 
 
•    The core features of the concept of water diplomacy 
•    The causes and dynamics of water conflicts and cooperation
•    Water Diplomacy Tools and Processes
•    Legal and institutional frameworks for water cooperation and diplomacy, and 
•    The role of information and knowledge in water cooperation and diplomacy processes

Enrol and integrate our water cooperation and diplomacy community !

Water cooperation and diplomacy - MOOC Trailer

Description

In this module you are introduced to the core features of the concept of water diplomacy. You familiarize with various definitions of water diplomacy, as well as existing similiarities and differences among them. You are presented with key elements related to the implementation of water diplomacy i.e. scales, actors and challenges .

Planning

  • 7 videos (Total 32 min)
  • 3 readings
  • 6 quiz

Description

Transboundary water interaction takes place at different stages of conflict and cooperation. It also often happens simultaneously at various levels and in formal and informal ways. In this module you will learn how relations between actors are influenced by geographical, political and economic asymmetries and what the main theoretical approaches to explain water conflict and cooperation, are.

Planning

  • 9 videos (Total 75 min)
  • 2 readings
  • 5 quiz

Description

This module increases your understanding and practice of, water diplomacy tools. It inspires you to be involved in related processes at various levels with various actors. It does so by (i) explaining everything you need to know on the main three tracks of water diplomacy, (ii) taking you through hands-on exercises, and (iii) assessing acquired skills needed when addressing complex water issues, in the future.

Planning

  • 13 videos (Total 95 min)
  • 1 reading 
  • 7 quiz

Description

This module increases your understanding of various legal and institutional frameworks relevant to water cooperation and diplomacy. You will be able to understand, name and explain a number of legal tools and institutional arrangements whose use is pertinent to water cooperation and diplomacy.

Planning

  • 9 videos (Total 65 min)
  • 2 readings
  • 5 quiz

Description

Data exchange and joint fact finding can contribute to building trust, and information and knowledge informs transboundary water management. However, data on water resources can be protected as matter of national security which prevents data exchange. Identifying what data and information is needed to take decisions is a difficult task, and power imbalances can influence data collection, knowledge production, and narratives. This module teaches you who produces and uses data, information and knowledge, and how different actors use these to influence water cooperation.

Planning

  • 10 videos (Total 52 min)
  • 4 readings
  • 6 quiz

Since 2013, the University has been producing "massive open online courses" (MOOCs). These are university-level online courses that are scripted and structured around content, learning activities, interactions and assessments. They are open to everybody, without access-restrictions based on age, profession or level of study.

This initiative aims to make courses from the best universities in the world available to everybody, with monitoring and assessment requirements as high as for regular students. Launched in 2011 by computer science professors at Stanford University, MOOCs now have several hundred million students worldwide. The universities involved in this process include some of the world's most prestigious institutions.

The University of Geneva's MOOCs are offered on the Coursera platform.

Contribution to the SDGs

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development