[Risgchairs] MOOC on Pastoralism in Development focused on pastoralist youth starts 27 Jan !

[Ann Waters-Bayer]

Dear RISG co-chairs,

I'm writing to let you know about an exciting online learning opportunity that is coming up in late January 2025. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) will be running a tutor-led Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Pastoralism in Development with a special focus on Youth and Pastoralism.

Organised in agreement with the IYRP Working Group on Pastoralist Youth, the course is targeted specifically at young people (self-defined, according to local understandings of the term) from across the world for whom any of the following applies: 
working as pastoralists, or are considering working as pastoralists
come from a pastoralist background and/or have family members who are pastoralists
working with pastoralist social movements/civil society organisations/advocacy groups, or are considering doing so
working with pastoralist youth in the development sector (planning, technical and community support roles, engineering etc) with government, NGOs or other development organisations, or are considering doing so
studying or learning about pastoralist or dryland development at a university or college or in a technical institute.

The MOOC is a free online course offered by IIED <https://www.iied.org/pastoralism-development-learning-journey-free-massive-open-online-course-mooc>. The general aim of the MOOC is to challenge common assumptions, biases and misconceptions about mobile pastoralism by building awareness of how pastoralism operates as a functional and productive livelihood system. Topics will include the logic behind strategic livestock mobility, the resilience of pastoralism in the face of climate change, and the opportunities and challenges that pastoralists face in the 21st century. Overall, it will be a forum where young people with common interests can get together and exchange experiences of pastoralism worldwide.

Starting on Monday 27 January 2025, the course will involve 5 hours a week of tutor-supported online study (with resources such as short articles, games, videos, animations, quizzes) for 3 weeks, plus 2 more weeks of tutor support. In addition to the online study resources and interactive discussion fora, the course will be supplemented with regular Zoom meetings where participants can network, review the course content with the tutors, and discuss topics of particular interest to them.

Interested participants should email David Pertaub at IIED (david.pertaub at iied.org <mailto:david.pertaub at iied.org>) putting "Enrol Youth MOOC January 2025" in the subject line of the email no later than Friday 17 January. In the email, they must also provide the following information for registration:
Preferred username (e.g. dpertaub)
First name (e.g. David)
Last name (e.g. Pertaub)
Email address for registration (e.g. david.pertaub at iied.org <mailto:david.pertaub at iied.org>)
City (e.g. London)
Country (e.g. United Kingdom)
Languages spoken proficiently (e.g. English, Italian)

Please share this information especially with younger members of your RISGs and in your other networks and forward this to any colleagues who might be interested in the MOOC or might know someone who would find it interesting.

Cheers,
Ann


Dr Ann Waters-Bayer
Agrecol Association for AgriCulture & Ecology
German Institute for Tropical & Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) Research Fellow
Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralism (CELEP) Core Group
Secretariat of International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) Global Alliance
E: waters-bayer at web.de / waters-bayer at agrecol.de / a.waters-bayer at ditsl.org
W: www.agrecol.de / www.ditsl.org / www.celep.info / www.iyrp.info

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