Despite the existence of over 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associations and law societies worldwide, only a few have committees on sustainable development law. In the world’s most climate-vulnerable, low-income countries, only a handful have their own university law schools.
The Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice Programme aims to fill this capacity gap. The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) is delighted to announce the successful completion of its second year, marked by a Programme Celebration dedicated to addressing and bridging the sustainable development law and policy capacity gap.
At the end of its second year, the programme has developed six online short courses on sustainable development and key international treaties, which have been taken by over 5,000 learners from more than 130 countries. These courses are taught by world-renowned experts from various University of Cambridge departments and international partner organisations. The CISDL has been actively involved, contributing to the academic discourse on sustainable development issues in international law, consistent with its mission to advance education on sustainable development law worldwide through conferences, workshops, and seminars.
The programme prioritises learners from least developed countries and highly climate-vulnerable regions, engaging in partnerships with these countries’ ministries to effectively target these learners. The mission of the programme is to democratise education on sustainable development law and policy and strengthen the capacity of future leaders and policymakers. Each course provides access to leading materials, two live classroom engagement sessions on Zoom, and several hours of independent, self-paced work through assessments. Successful completion of the six online courses also offers learners potential further scholarship opportunities for more intensive professional development courses provided through Cambridge Advance Online.
The programme’s growth, especially throughout its second year, has enabled it to award two visiting fellowships to undergraduate students from Brown University and Yale University. These fellows have been instrumental in supporting the launch of a new website and establishing a visual identity across social media. The programme is now represented on four platforms—X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram—where the account has gained over 1,100 followers.
The CISDL eagerly anticipates another year of successfully supporting the Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice online course programme. For more information, do explore the offerings on the Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice Programme website.