Digital Skills Insights 2021 provides expert insights to equip policy makers and regulators for informed decision-making, encourage further research on the impact of COVID-19 on skills development, and help anticipate rapidly evolving digital skills requirements. The 2021 publication examines the future digital skills ecosystem and the importance of digital skills in a world shaped by the pandemic. The eight articles in this year’s edition offer a thought-provoking discussion and analysis of the different types of digital skills required in the current and post-pandemic period. They also share key lessons and present concrete examples of digital skills policies, programmes and initiatives from countries across different regions.
See the key messages and download the individual articles below
"Digital skills are now seen as a key enabler of countries’ digital transition and indispensable for its success. Strengthening digital skills has therefore become an integral part of national digital transformation strategies. Digital skills strategies and policies need to be based on solid methodological approaches, systematic analyses and skills assessments requiring data collection and stock taking." by Susan Teltscher
"The societal and individual disruptions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic represent an opportunity to make digital skills development a driver of physical and economic resilience. We need to rethink existing approaches and focus our collective efforts on aggressively expanding, adapting and proposing achievable initiatives in such areas as Internet literacy for small and medium-sized enterprises; the digital gender divide; and the Internet usage gap in government services, telehealth, e-learning, e-banking and working from home." by Travis Heneveld
"To respond to the changes wrought by digital transformation, world citizens and ICT professionals need digital skills at different proficiency levels to cope with today’s digital business landscape. Unfortunately, these skills are inequitably distributed. There is a higher percentage in developed countries, while a good number of citizens in poor countries – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa – have no digital skills at all. Considering the pace of digital technology development, and that most developed countries have already adopted frameworks, there is a burning need for digital skills frameworks adapted to the individual contexts of developing countries. Successful development and acquisition of these skills requires active public–private partnership and the involvement of all stakeholders, including policymakers, educational systems authorities, academia, the ICT industry, funding bodies and citizens." by Gedeon Hakizamana
"The future digital skills ecosystem is one in which the most successful players will be those who are curious in the face of uncertainty and unfamiliarity, courageous in the face of adversity, digitally competent yet ethically mindful, resilient against failure, compassionate towards the struggles and frustrations of others, as well as creative and critically minded in the exploration of new frontiers." by Emmanuel Ogu
"This paper makes the case that when delivering assistance digitally, humanitarian organizations need to proactively provide tailored and relevant digital skills training to communities that need it." by Matthew Downer
"In order to succeed in the digital transformation of its economy, concrete digital development priorities were identified for the State of Qatar based on its unique characteristics and outlook. In the context of the TASMU programme, several focused initiatives have been taken to prepare the workforce. These include setting clear standards at national level, establishing skills delivery infrastructure and stimulating youth." by Khawar Iqbal
"When considering capacity-building of Indigenous peoples, we must generate training processes that foster their self-determination and strengthen their ways of life through ICTs. This is a process in which technologies are adapted to the needs and dreams of the communities, not one in which communities have to adapt to the incursion of technologies. Communities’ participation in the whole process, from design to implementation and evaluation, is essential to generate teaching methodologies appropriate to these objectives." by Carlos Baca-Feldman
"The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of technology in trying to move on with our personal and professional lives, but the digital divide is increasingly solidifying as a permanent partition. As more social, personal and political functions move online, sometimes exclusively, there is a risk that a large part of the global population will be left behind to suffer ‘digital poverty’. In order to mitigate this, the response from policymakers needs to go beyond infrastructure creation and must focus on building the ability of citizens to access and use digital technologies." by Sumeysh Srivastava
"This article will serve as a public policy guide for those seeking to design student-centred distance learning classes, as it describes the most effective training methods for imparting digital and soft skills." by Christina Cardenas