Fully sponsored skills development opportunity for library users and students

Why COL-Coursera Workforce Recovery Programme?

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown measures have impacted thousands of learners around Africa, leaving them with little or no option to continue their education. Many others have also lost their jobs and livelihoods and need re-skilling to regain employment.

Recognising the catastrophic effects of the pandemic on millions of people who have become unemployed, or are on the verge of losing their jobs, Coursera, one of the world’s leading eLearning providers, has recently announced the Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative as an immediate solution to these challenges.

How can I register/join?

Click button below to fill out the application form.

Benefits of the Programme

All registered learners will:

1. Gain UNLIMITED and FREE access to over 4000 online courses and specializations designed to skill and re-skill them for livelihoods. Programme Leads are highly reputed professors and mentors from well recognized universities and institutions around the world.
2. Learners can study online at their own time and pace.
3. Course completion certificates are provided free of charge.

Help-desk and Support

Programme experts will offer assistance in choosing courses, and provide administrative, academic support, as well as mentorship and counseling. Also a help desk facility is available to help facilitate learning.

What courses are available?

The selected learners will have access to over 3800 courses (accessible through a smartphone/desktop/laptop) until 31 March 2021 broadly ranging from Information Technology, Business, Personal Development Data Science, Computer Science, Art and Humanities, Health, Social Sciences to Math and Logic.

Some specific courses include: Digital Literacy for All, Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Financial and career planning, Communication skills, Business Analysis / Data Analytics, Business Skills, Project Management, Software Development, Cloud & Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing / Analytics, Health Care, Business English, Cloud Architecture, Cloud Engineering, Google IT Automation with Python, Google IT Support, SAS Programmer Professional Certificate, SAS Visual Business Analytics Professional Certificate, Android App Developer, Business Analyst, Cloud Architect GCP, Cloud Computing Professional AWS, Digital Marketer, Game Developer, iOS App Developer, Java Programmer, Market Analyst, Python Programmer, SEO Analyst, Web Designer, Research Methods, Job Readiness, Job Search Self Care, Advanced Mfg, AI/ML/DS, Learning Languages, Human Skills , among others.

Find out more course here: www.coursera.org/browse.

Who can join the progamme: Selection criteria

The programme is for…

• Those who are interested to gain new skills to enter into the job market
• Students who are currently pursuing the final year of their undergraduate / diploma / postgraduate degree
• Those who are unemployed and wish to gain skills to start mini and micro-enterprises
• Those who lost their employment/income opportunity due to COVID-19 and wish to gain new skills / upskill/ reskill to secure a job/income opportunity.
• Instructors/teachers/educators of LIS institutions

Does it involve any charges or fees?

No!. There is no cost to participate in the programme. All courses accessible through both desktop and mobile app are provided free of cost thanks to the financial and technical assistance provided by the Commonwealth of Learning.

How does it work?

• Each learner will be required to complete at least 2 courses. All participants will have access to the e-learning courses until 31 March, 2021.
• The learner has to respond to an email invitation to sign up for Coursera portal within 3 days of receiving the mail.
• The learner has to enroll in a course or two, within a week of accepting the invitation.
• The learner has to show enough progress with learning, say at least three hours of learning within the first two weeks of joining.
• The learner has to complete at least one course within 4 weeks of availing the scholarship.
• The scholarship will be withdrawn if the learner is not able to demonstrate enough commitment and willingness to take advantage of the scholarship.

Is the offer limited to only Commonwealth nations?

Although COL-Coursera Workforce Recovery Program is open to Commonwealth nations, interested learners from non-Commonwealth nations can still apply and benefit from this offer.

What is the deadline to join?

You can join the programme until 31st December, 2020, and complete any of the courses by 31st March, 2021 to gain your certificates.

How can you contact us?

Individuals can directly contact the helpdesk at researchcoordinator@aflia.net.

Also, Library schools and other institutions interested in participating in this programme to extend the scholarship to their students / learners can submit their expression of interest by email to secretariat@aflia.net with a copy to researchcoordinator@aflia.net