GDLN Asia Pacific is pleased to release a program calendar listing the status of regional programs for the 2013 calendar year as of April 22nd, 2013.  Please download the calendar below:

2013 GDLN AP regional program calendar (rev. Apr 2013 — Excel File)

“Sustainable Fishery and Natural Resource Management”, a knowledge-sharing videoconference seminar jointly hosted by the World Bank Tokyo Office, Liberia Office, Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Himi City Tourism Association was held on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The seminar, which connected three locations, Tokyo, Himi in Toyama prefecture, and Liberia via a live videoconference connection was hosted as an official partner activity for the upcoming 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which will be held in Yokohama, Japan in June 2013.

The International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) has developed lecture materials for on-demand learning that are now available for viewing on their website.  They are viewable in Internet Explorer 6 and 7.  Please visit the Expert Lectures page on the IPRCC website to view the many available videos.

The 4th session of the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) Dialogue series, prepared by the World Bank’s Global Partnerships and Trust Fund Operations (CFPTO) Department in cooperation with the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) and the World Bank Tokyo Office was held on February 28, 2013 at TDLC.

Natural resource management is a key to sustainable development, and it is of interest for all nations. It requires proper understanding of policies and practices for solving problems and issues associated with managing the natural resources to achieve both environmentally and socially sustainable development. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Tokyo Development Learning Center, The World Bank (TDLC), with support from the The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) are pleased to announce the blended distance learning course, “Policies and Practices for Natural Resource Management” on 14 March – 31 May 2013.

In June 2000, the Government of Japan and the World Bank established the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) with the aim of providing grants in support of community-driven development and poverty reduction programs that empower the poorest and most vulnerable groups. An extraordinary feature of the JSDF grant is that it encourages the testing of innovative methods that directly enhance the lives of the poor and vulnerable and provides a platform for cooperation with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and local stakeholders in the development process.

The JSDF Dialogue Series: third session was held on December 19, 2012 at the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) presenting the “Strengthening Access to Justice for the Poor in the Russian Federation” project. Since its first delivery in March 2012, the JSDF Dialogue Series have been serving the Japanese community of development practitioners, experts, academia, and the general public as a platform for debates and knowledge exchanges. They are a collaborative effort between the World Bank and the Government of Japan to disseminate the results and lessons learned from the implementation of JSDF to the Japanese public, thereby opening a channel of communication and good-practice sharing among various actors.

The World Bank Institute launched an “e-Institute” in July 2011 which is designed to support self-motivated learners to get up to speed on the latest development trends, enhance their skill-sets, and share knowledge through on-line learning communities.

New courses on cross-cutting themes will featured regularly in addition to monthly webinars and other free resources.

An intensive 2 day training course on disaster nursing was successfully held in six countries in May 2012.  This course aimed to provide the essential foundation for disaster nursing to fill the need for specialized training for nurses to be able to respond effectively to disasters.

An “Introduction to Islamic Finance Course” was successfully delivered under a joint initiative by the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) and the Association of African Distance Learning Centers (AADLC) in collaboration with international experts from The World Bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). This program, which was the first ever course on this topic offered through the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of Islamic finance in Africa and Asian regions. Opportunities for such learning are scarce in Sub-Saharan African countries.  The program saw a turnout of 243 policymakers and practitioners in financial sector from 10 African countries. 

Japan has successfully shared its lessons learnt from the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. In October 2011, the Government of Japan and the World Bank established a joint program, “Learning from Mega Disasters: Program of Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Exchange”. The program utilized the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) with Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) taking on the lead role to coordinate with GDLN centers in the region. 33 Knowledge Notes will be developed for the program in order to share findings and lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake with practitioners throughout the world. 

A series of 6 video conference (VC) based knowledge sharing sessions were delivered from April 18 to May 10, 2012.  A total of 656 people participated throughout the series from 24 connected sites in 18 countries worldwide. A number of people also joined through web streaming from countries that were not connected via VC.