Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights

The Human Rights Centre of the University for Peace (established by the UN General Assembly) has for the last five years been offering its flagship Professional Development Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights, courses for which can be taken entirely online. As the name suggests, this programme focuses on the human rights dimensions of sustainable development, with a major thrust on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through mainstreaming human rights across all processes of design and implementation. This Diploma, aimed at professionals seeking training for career development, can be obtained upon successful completion of five of the six online courses offered in the programme. Enrollments are open on a rolling basis and participants can join the programme at the beginning of any of the following six courses:

1. Child Rights and Development: 10 July – 20 August, 2024

2. Environment, Development, and Human Rights: 04 September – 15 October, 2024

3. Gender, Development, and Human Rights: 30 October – 10 December 2024

4. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development: 08 January – 18 February 2025

5. Development and Human Rights:  19 March – 29 April, 2025 

6. Business, Human Rights, and Development: 14 May – 24 June, 2025 

The next cycle of each of these courses will be on similar dates in the following year, with the necessary adjustment to ensure that each course begins on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. For instance, a course beginning on 26 June 2024 (Wednesday) will begin the following year on 25 June 2025 (Wednesday).

Each of these courses is also offered as a stand-alone certificate course, but participants can now obtain a professional development diploma by taking five of the aforementioned six courses which fall within the overarching theme of sustainable development and human rights. The diploma is designed in a way that participants develop incremental expertise in the different limbs of sustainable development and its linkages with human rights.

The curriculum for the diploma programme has been designed by a committee of global experts led by Dr. Mihir Kanade, Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. Dr. Kanade currently serves as an independent expert of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. He also chairs the drafting group of international experts appointed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for preparing a legally binding instrument on the right to development. Dr. Kanade co-leads an e-learning project in partnership with the OHCHR and UNU-IIGH for training UN staff and diplomats of permanent missions of States on operationalizing the Right to Development in Implementation of the SDGs. He also serves on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights. This diploma programme on Sustainable Development and Human Rights builds on the work and vision of Dr. Kanade. Other members of the committee of experts who have played an instrumental role in helping design specific modules within the programme include Dr. Cosmin Corendea (Romania), Dr. Geeta Sekhon (India), Dr. Gal Harmat (Israel) and Dr. Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo (Venezuela).

The course is intended for staff members of (inter)governmental and civil society organizations working in the interface between development and human rights work, including in the fields of rights protection, development aid, social responsibility, trade and investment, environment protection, indigeneity, gender, child rights etc. The course is also intended for staff members of (international) development agencies, academics and others interested in the aforesaid areas. (Post)Graduate students with specific research interests in these areas are also encouraged to apply. Candidates should have a good written command of English and have high competence and comfort with computer and Internet use.

For Diploma: Fee for taking this diploma is USD 2400 (as against USD 3000, if paid for each stand-alone course separately). Fee for alumni of UPEACE and the Centre enrolling for the Diploma programme is USD 2100.

For Diploma and 10 Academic Credits: Participants are also able to take the five courses in the diploma for a total of 10 graduate level academic credits offered by UPEACE (2 academic credits for each course). The total cost of participating in the diploma for academic credits is USD 4900 (USD 2400 + USD 2500). For alumni of UPEACE and the Centre, the total cost is USD 4600 (USD 2100 + USD 2500).

To apply, please fill up the enrolment form. Applicants will be contacted within three working days of the application. The diploma is limited to 25 participants.

Upon being admitted, payments may be made either by credit card or by wire transfer. Payment by wire transfer usually takes three to four business days to be deposited in our account. Payment by credit card is instant.

If you wish to make the payment by credit card, please go to https://payments.upeace.org/hrc/

Payments by wire transfer must be made to the following bank account:

Universidad para la Paz
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Bank account number:100-02-099-600195-4
Swift Code: BNCRCRSJ and IBAN: CR57015109910026001958
Avenidas 1 y 3, Calle 4
San José, Costa Rica