Deadline: June 15, 2021
As part of the African Cities Lab (ACL), the Excellence in Africa centre is seeking proposals from African Institutions for the creation of MOOCs on urban development in Africa.
About the Call For Proposal
Switzerland is supporting the African Cities Lab (ACL) initiative which will provide online training for urban-development professionals in Africa. EPFL is spearheading this initiative – which has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) – through its Excellence in Africa Centre, and has already signed up six partner organizations.
ACL is launching this call for projects to produce MOOCs on African cities and urban development. The target audience is urban professionals. The MOOCs will be courses delivered online over a 4 to 6-week period. Based on the results of ACL’s cross-continental survey, the MOOCs will be tailored to the needs and expectations of city residents. The MOOCs should be developed on the following themes and must focus on the relationship to urban development in the context of urban growth and changing urban forms:
- Urban waste management and sanitation
- Economic development;
- Housing;
- Public health;
- Water management/access;
- Gender.
Other themes may be proposed as long as they are aligned with the scope and objectives of the ACL platform and this is supported by a solid rationale. Transversal aspects to consider in the MOOCs include, but are not limited to, gender equity, disability access, safety, climate change adaptation and/or mitigation, land tenure and accessibility.
MOOC producers and partipants will benefit from a brand new online education platform, hosted on African soil. The MOOCs resulting from the initiative will create a knowledge network spanning the African continent, making it easier to share best practices.
Eligibility
The requesting institution must belong to one of four categories:
- An African public or private university;
- A nationally accredited African institution of higher education with at least 3 years of continuous and visible operation;
- A private company with at least 10 years of continuous and visible operations in Africa. The company does not need to have a local office;
- An international organisation based in an African country.
The project must be led by teachers, researchers, tenured researchers or senior personnel in activity within their institution/company.
Collaborations between two or more institutions are encouraged. A responsible applicant should be designated. The other institutions are considered co-applicants
Funding
The ACL grant for the selected project will mainly cover:
- Filming and post-production costs of the videos;
- The cost of producing additional external content.
The ACL will also help the project by providing support in the form of:
- Provision of a common graphic charter for the different MOOCs;
- Provision of disciplinary experts for further information on the call for projects;
- Provision of experts and witnesses to work with the project team;
- MOOC hosting on the ACL platform;
- The promotion of MOOCs through its traditional communication channels (social networks, institutional websites, press etc.)
Selection Process
- Final decisions will be announced by September 2021.
- In the event of a large number of applications, the decision date may be postponed and applicants will be informed of the new decision date.
Application
The application must be written in French or in English. Applicants must submit their application to the Centre Excellence in Africa (exaf.call@epfl.ch) before the submission deadline of 15th June 2021 (17:00 CET).
Please read carefully the application guidelines.
For more information: Please VIsit the official website of the institution
To apply: Send all proposal to: exaf.call@epfl.ch
