In 2020, The United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (TBLDC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joined forces to support the delivery of two editions of the Research4Life Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Global Access to Research in Health, Food and Agriculture, Environment, Innovation and Law. The online training activities, which reached about 3,500 participants from 88 countries, including 43 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), were able to enhance participants’ access to recent scientific knowledge, and thus give them the opportunity to participate fully in the global scientific community.

In order to illustrate the success of the online training activities, TBLDC and FAO published a full project report, which includes the overall results of the collaboration and also shares lessons learned, in the hopes that in the future, others can build on the experience further. 

Since 2018, TBLDC has been working to strengthen national capabilities and provide expertise to ensure that LDCs are not left behind in achieving internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). TBLDC is taking steps to increase access to high-quality research in LDCs through capacity development activities.

FAO shares the same interest in its member countries and supports them in managing their own development process, by building initiatives to help strengthen their capacities to achieve their own goals. Through a series of knowledge platforms, FAO helps to enhance the accessibility of research, making it available and usable worldwide.

Research4Life is a knowledge platform that provides free or low-cost access to 100 000 scientific peer-reviewed resources like journals and e-books related to health, food and agriculture, environment, innovation and law.

 

View the full project report here: http://www.fao.org/3/cb4583en/cb4583en.pdf.