As part of the Bank's strategy to disseminate its knowledge and experience in LAC, in 2014 the IDB partnered with edX, the online education platform created by Harvard and MIT to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The MOOCs of IDBx are a powerful, innovative technology to share knowledge in key areas of the Bank 's economic and social development, encourage extensive interaction between development actors in the region and strengthen the man-agement capacity of public officials and key decision makers. The courses offered are free, open to the public without barriers.

For more than 30 years the IDB has partnered with Universidad Los Andes (UNIANDES) to develop joint research projects and technical assistance projects in and outside Colombia. In 2015 the IDB and the UNIANDES Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo (CIDER) developed together the MOOC Water in Latin America: Abundance amid scarcity.

The course reflects on the role of water in society, its uses, and potentials, introducing participants to existing methods and tools for the allocation of water resources for maximum benefit and avoiding waste.

The course analyzes access risks in the LAC region from the perspective of different professions, ranging from economics to engineering, using web applications like games or interactions promoting collaboration and applicability of the concepts presented by the instructors. Also, the proposed learning activities allow participants to contextualize the knowledge acquired in their institutional context.

MEF and PROINVERSIÓN (Private Investment Promotion Agency) are in the pro-cess of overhauling Peru’s legal and regulatory framework for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

With the purpose to strengthen the capacities of the public officials that are involved in the different stages of formulating and executing a PPP, MEF has partnered with the IDB to develop an adapted version of the MOOC Public-Private Partnerships: Implementing Solutions for Latin America and the Caribbean.

As part of the MesoAmerica Health Initiative, the IDB has partnered with the Slim Foundation to expand access to Central American health professionals to the online Diploma on Maternal and Perinatal Health (Amanece). The objective of the Diploma 
is to contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality in the poorest municipalities 
of the region.

The course is structured in 130 video-lessons distributed in 18 topics that encompass neonatal health, pregnancy, delivery, and newborn care. Course contents are based on the Programa AMANECE (Maternal, Neonatal Care, Growth, and Stimulation), developed by the Slim Foundation; that seeks to modify the causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, as well as to provide adequate child healthcare. In the 2014 and 2015 offerings, 2,000 scholarships were granted to professionals in primary care for pregnant women and newborns in the impoverished zones of Central America and Mexico.