International Development Training Catalogue

DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAM

Become the Solution

1. Empower people in your communities to change their lives,
2. Develop impact-oriented projects from the ground-up,
3. Use proven methods that produce sustainable results,
4. Attract donors, and
5. Collaborate with colleagues from the North and South.

Diploma 240. Designing & Funding Nonprofit Programs

	A Module of 4 Courses. If you work with a nonprofit on programs such as food banks, animal welfare, teen drop-in centers, homeless shelters, day care centers, arts & culture, education, health, human services, community development, or environmental restoration—the Diploma Program 240 will help you develop a sustainable, fundable, impact oriented project.

201 Designing and Funding Nonprofit Programs 1: We are committed to results-based programs. You will learn to incorporate community-identified need into the design of your project and research project activities that have shown evidence of having worked at solving challenges. Contemporary methods of developing sustainable, impact oriented projects. Gain practical field experience using evidence-based activities. Develop a real project in real-time.

Adaptation Diploma Program: Adapting to Climate Change

	Over 40% student chosen projects in our courses work to solve problems linked to climate change. This four-course module will lead you into developing projects on-the-ground that focus on community-based adaptation to climate change. For practitioners who wish to begin working now at the community level to successfully adapt to the challenges that face us.

	341 Community Based Adaptation: Gain an insight into contemporary methods of developing community based, sustainable, impact-oriented projects. Gain practical field tools and develop a range of skills: facilitating participatory needs assessments and DRR assessments, designing projects, and evidence-based activities. Develop a real project in real time.

Certificate OL 140: Project Design for Sustainable Development

Develop a Real Project in Real Time. We’ll walk you, step-by-step, through a community-based project, using proven methods. Learn a range of skills including participatory needs assessments and evidence-based project design. You will learn strategies from others in the class facing similar challenges. Become the Solution.

	101 Designing and Funding Sustainable Development Projects: Embed impact into your project design with powerful management tools. Log Frames, detailed budgets, schedules, compelling fact sheets, M&E plans, outcomes & impact. These tools will communicate to donors & stakeholders exactly what your project will accomplish.

Diploma 440: Integrated Adaptation, DRR, & Sustainable Development

This diploma program of online field courses integrates community-based adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction, and rural development. To earn a diploma simply complete four foundation courses, then select four elective courses from a variety of electives to tailor the diploma program to meet your needs and interests. The program will provide you with the job skills, tools, and methods to both meet today’s challenges and to take on new professional positions in adaptation, DRR and development.

Implement a 12-month family gardening project. Learn about food security, good nutrition, and the garden activities that support them — and then learn how to build a project that puts your community on the path to using their own skills to address their specific needs. Become a Solution.

How do you care for & maintain a food garden? How do you control pests? What happens if you have desert soil – or a shortage of water? Learn how to combine garden produce with daily staples to prepare nutritious meals that contain vitamins A, C and D.

Students develop a community-based water use management plan with community members beginning with a participatory mapping of water resources and uses, and then consult with a water management expert to develop a training program in implementing conservation and water harvesting technologies. Full Syllabus.

Students and community members will develop a participatory mapping of crop systems, and soil and water resources, and then consult with an expert in soil, water and agriculture to develop a participatory training process implementing a Climate Smart Agricultural Program specific to their local context. Full syllabus.

Students analyze disaster related risks and facilitate the development of a community-based DRR committee for developing a DRR plan that includes DRR consciousness raising, an early warning system, organizing specialized DRR teams, and a risk reduction and mitigation workshop for community members. Full syllabus.

This is a blended learning experience. During the month prior to a five day live workshop, guided by CSDi staff, you will conduct needs assessments with a local community—in the country where you work—in preparation for the workshop. These will become the basis of your project.

CSDi Online Courses Capture a True Field Experience
Are you a donor, a development practitioner, in a job transition, or a student who wants to learn more about what works in designing impact-oriented projects?

Our online courses use each class assignment as a concrete step in developing a real project within a real community. You will take an assignment into the field and use it as a solution-oriented activity that you do together with community members—thereby finishing one component of the project you are developing in the class. And there you have it: an online field course with tangible, concrete results.

Don’t have community access? No problem: we partner you with a fellow student in a developing nation who does.