BYLC Launches Leadership MOOC Platform BYLCx

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), a Dhaka-based leadership institute that aims to empower young people through leadership training, has launched its massive open online courses (MOOC) platform BYLCx with a view to give access to a wider community of young people across the country to its leadership training curriculum who did not get the access to the opportunity before.

1. BYLCx allows anyone from anywhere in Bangladesh access BYLC’s leadership training curriculum online.
2. Enrollment in the courses are free upon registration. However, if you want a verified certificate from BYLCx, you have to pay.
3. When I’m writing this report, there are four courses available on the platform.
4. In a conversation with Professor Hugh O’Doherty of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, Ejaj Ahmed, President of BYLC, said that, “it (BYLCx) will give access to our curriculum to more young people from all over Bangladesh and even beyond Bangladesh in the future.”
5. Previously, the beta version of BYLCx had launched a leadership module in Bangla for students ranging from class 6 to 10 named ‘Topu’r school’er dinlipi’. You may find it here.

Founded in 2008, BYLC has grown significantly over the past years. The organization now offers a host of programs designed for young people “to build connections among youth from diverse backgrounds, equip them with leadership skills, and enable them to have high impact in public, private, and civil sectors. All our efforts aim to strengthen prosperity, justice, and inclusiveness in societies worldwide”, as mentioned on its website.

It has been looking for more ways to scale its program.

In an interview with Future Startup early this year, Ejaj Ahmad, President of BYLC, on the launch of beta version of BYLCx:

“acceptance rate in each of our programs is between 10 and 20 percent. A large number of students who apply to our programs, therefore, do not get access to our curriculum. To be more inclusive and to make leadership learning widely available to youth, we have launched the beta version of www.bylcx.bylc.org. [.....] Moving forward, BYLCx will be our channel of democratizing leadership education in Bangladesh.”

With the official launch of BYLCx, the organization finally steps into taking leadership education online in Bangladesh.

Our take

This is an interesting initiative coming from BYLC given that non-profit organizations often tend to maintain the status quo. Done right, this will allow BYLC to sustainably scale its program to a large number of people without putting extra-pressure on its infrastructure.

Photo: BYLCx