E-Learning course on Innovations in Financing Cities
Duration
3 months starting October 2010
Tuition fee
1,950 Euro
IHS Application Deadline
August 1, 2010
Diploma/Certificate
Certificate
Apply on-line now
Introduction
The course will provide participants with the latest innovations in financing large urban public projects. It will be a 3-months instructor-led e-learning course that the participants can complete without the need to leave ones hometown or take time off from work. It will include modules on land value capture, public-private partnerships, accessing capital markets, remittances etc. It is designed for advisors to mayors, staff members from finance, economic development, or infrastructure departments, urban consultants and academics with interest in the subject. Participants will be expected to devote about 10-12 hours each week on an average to do their readings and to interact with the instructor and other participants. The course is being designed to include a number of interactive activities such as online discussion forums, wikis etc. that would allow peer-learning among the participants from around the world. The goal is to expose to the participants some possible ways of financing large urban projects and to provide them with the underlying principles of each financing innovation so that they can tailor them to match the needs of their own cities.
Who is it for?
Mayor's advisors, finance department, Economic development department, infrastructure departments (water, roads, etc.) urban consultants and academics.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, the participants will have received the following:
- Principles of each financing innovation
- An understanding of their own specific historical and institutional context
- Possible ways to finance large urban projects
- Tool to analyze possible alternatives of public financing
Course Curriculum
16 weeks (one introduction module, five 3-weeks long modules)
Modules are:
- Land Value Capture
- Public-Private Financing
- Remittances
- Access to capital markets
- Developing a strategy to mobilize financing of large urban projects
The first one week will be devoted to logistics – making participants aware of the systems that will be used during the course of the programme. The following five modules have been designed to include online activities for the participants that are the most significant elements of this course. The idea is to have both individual and group activities for each week. At the individual level, participants will be working on their own individual proposals that they can present to their city's mayor. The group activities are designed in order to allow for them to learn from each other. All activities will involve reading online documents, downloading and following audio-visual materials, participating in online discussion forums and posting blog posts and commenting on blog posts of fellow participants.
Training Methodology
Not just dissemination of learning practices and principles but also allow for interaction among the participants to develop further innovations by mixing and matching components of the documented innovations. The idea is also to develop capcity for innovative thinking to address problems that are more context sensitive rather than pick off-the-shelf solutions for urban finance.
Admission Requirements
Admission to the course is restricted to those applicants who fulfill at least one of the following criteria:
- Demonstratable experience in the practice of urban finance/management;
- Demonstratable experience in academic research or teaching in the field of urban finance/management
- Elected or appointed office-bearer in the city administration
Contacts
Course coordinator
Anirban Pal
Lecturers
Module coordinators:
Module I: Land Value Capture (coordinator: Carlos Morales-Schechinger)
Module II: Credit Ratings and Access to Capital Markets (coordinator: Aloysius Bongwa).
Module III: Module III: Public Private Partnerships (coordinator: Aloysius Bongwa)
Module IV: Remittances (coordinator: Maria Zwanenburg)
Module V: Strategy to mobilize finance for a public project (coordinator – Stelios Grafakos)
