Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Strategies for Reskilling and Upskilling in a Changing World

Summary

This high-level dialogue, moderated by Jacek Okrop from Poland’s telecommunications regulator, focused on bridging the digital skills gap through strategies for reskilling and upskilling in our rapidly changing technological landscape. Dr. Cosmas Zavazava from the ITU opened by highlighting three critical concerns: the digital skills gap preventing effective participation in the information society, infrastructure divides, and the need for universal meaningful connectivity. He emphasized that workers risk losing jobs not to AI itself, but to others with better digital skills to operate AI-based tools.

Costa Rica’s Vice Minister Hubert Vargas Picado shared his country’s transformation from a fruit and coffee producer to a Central American tech hub, crediting strategic investments in connectivity and cross-sectoral workforce development. The ILO’s Celeste Drake presented research showing that 3.3% of jobs face full automation risk, primarily administrative roles held by women, while 25% of jobs will be transformed by AI, requiring new skills training. She stressed the importance of creating decent work opportunities alongside skills development.

The EU’s Michele Cervone d’Urso acknowledged Europe’s struggle to meet its target of 20 million ICT specialists by 2030, currently having only 10.4 million, and outlined comprehensive approaches including digital academies and international partnerships. Representatives from Germany’s GIZ and Georgia’s communications commission shared initiatives supporting local innovation and embedding digital literacy in formal education systems.

EY’s Gillian Hinde emphasized collaboration and human-centered learning beyond technical skills, while India’s Professor Himanshu Rai highlighted the country’s success in digital transactions through simplified platforms and affordable data access. The discussion concluded with calls for inclusive policies, continuous monitoring, and compassionate approaches to ensure digital transformation benefits all segments of society, particularly vulnerable populations in rural areas and developing countries.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Digital Skills Gap as a Critical Global Challenge**: Multiple speakers emphasized that the digital skills gap is preventing citizens from participating effectively in the information society, with particular concerns about developing countries, rural populations, women, and older workers being left behind in digital transformation.

– **Need for Comprehensive, Multi-Stakeholder Approaches**: Speakers consistently highlighted the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration involving governments, private sector, educational institutions, and international organizations to address digital skills development, rather than relying on any single entity.

– **Infrastructure and Skills Must Go Hand-in-Hand**: Several contributors stressed that providing digital infrastructure alone is insufficient – it must be coupled with robust digital skills training and education programs to prevent widening the digital divide.

– **Focus on Inclusive and Decent Work Creation**: The discussion emphasized that digital transformation should create quality employment opportunities for all, not just technical jobs, and should address issues of fair wages, working conditions, and social protections in the digital economy.

– **Practical Implementation Strategies**: Speakers shared concrete examples of successful programs, including Costa Rica’s transformation to a tech hub, India’s digital literacy missions reaching rural areas, Georgia’s integration of media literacy into formal education, and various public-private partnerships for skills development.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore strategies, policies, and best practices for bridging the digital skills gap through reskilling and upskilling initiatives, with a focus on ensuring inclusive participation in the digital economy and creating decent work opportunities in an era of rapid technological change.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently collaborative and solution-oriented tone throughout. Speakers were optimistic about the potential of digital technologies while being realistic about current challenges. The tone was professional yet passionate, with participants sharing both successes and ongoing struggles. There was a strong emphasis on partnership, inclusion, and the urgency of action, with speakers building upon each other’s contributions rather than presenting conflicting viewpoints.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Jacek Oko** – President of Office of Electronic Communication, Polish Postal Telecommunication and Digital Service Area Regulator and Coordinator; Session moderator

– **Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava** – Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

– **Hubert Vargas Picado** – Vice Minister of Telecommunications at Costa Rica, Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications

– **Celeste Drake** – Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO)

– **Michele Cervone d’Urso** – Acting Ambassador of the EU to the UN

– **Anna Sophie Herken** – Member of the board of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

– **Ekaterine Imedadze** – Commissioner of the Georgian National Communication Commission

– **Gillian Hinde** – Head of EY, Director of the Indian Institute of Management

– **Himanshu Rai** – Professor at Indian Institute of Management

**Additional speakers:**

None identified – all speakers mentioned in the transcript are included in the provided speakers names list.

# Bridging the Digital Skills Gap: Strategies for Reskilling and Upskilling in the Digital Age

## Executive Summary

This high-level dialogue, moderated by Jacek Oko, President of Office of Electronic Communication, Polish Postal Telecommunication and Digital Service Area Regulator and Coordinator, brought together international leaders to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time: bridging the digital skills gap through comprehensive reskilling and upskilling strategies. The discussion featured representatives from major international organisations, government ministries, regulatory bodies, and private sector entities, all united in their recognition that digital transformation requires urgent, coordinated action to ensure inclusive participation in the digital economy.

The conversation revealed a sophisticated understanding of digital inclusion challenges, moving beyond simple connectivity metrics to examine the quality of digital participation, the creation of decent work opportunities, and the structural inequalities that risk leaving the Global South at the bottom of the digital value chain. Speakers consistently emphasised that the challenge is not technology replacing humans, but rather skilled humans potentially displacing those without adequate digital capabilities.

## Opening Framework: The Global Digital Challenge

Dr Cosmas Zavazava from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) established the foundational framework by highlighting that 2.6 billion people remain offline whilst 5.8 billion are connected. However, he emphasised that connectivity alone is insufficient—the focus must shift to meaningful connectivity and what people do with their digital access.

Zavazava’s most significant contribution was reframing the artificial intelligence displacement narrative: “many workers are at risk of losing their jobs, not because they are being replaced by AI, but because they could be replaced by another person with the right knowledge and skill set to operate AI-based tools, quantum computing, big data, et cetera.” This perspective shifted the discussion from defensive resistance to technology towards proactive skills development.

The ITU Director also challenged conventional thinking by emphasising the need to address “the digital skills gaps within our informal sector as well. The likes of street vendors, market traders, artisans, small-scale farmers, and ride-hailing drivers. They too can improve and expand their businesses with the help of AI.”

Zavazava highlighted the ITU’s practical initiatives, including the Digital Skills Toolkit developed with the ILO and launched in Bahrain, and the Digital Transformation Centers initiative that has reached over 500,000 participants in rural and underserved communities across 23 countries, training 20,000 multipliers in digital skills.

## National Transformation Models: Costa Rica’s Strategic Approach

Vice Minister Hubert Vargas Picado presented Costa Rica’s transformation from a fruit and coffee-producing nation to a Central American technology hub. The country achieved internet coverage reaching plus 85% of households through strategic public investment, with a national 5G infrastructure plan to close the remaining coverage gap.

However, Vargas Picado emphasised that “connectivity alone, as you know, is insufficient. We must match the digital infrastructure efforts and investment with equally robust digital talent development strategies.” Costa Rica’s approach involves comprehensive multi-stakeholder collaboration between universities, private sector partners, and government institutions.

Their training programmes are both modular and responsive, offering courses in Python programming, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence, with scholarships specifically targeted at youth. Training extends to rural areas, indigenous communities, women, and youth through community innovation centres. Particularly noteworthy is their women-focused cybersecurity scholarship programme targeting small and medium enterprise employees.

Vargas Picado mentioned learning from Germany’s dual education system, adapting it to Costa Rica’s context to create pathways between education and employment in the digital economy.

## Labour Market Transformation and Decent Work

Celeste Drake from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided research-based insights showing that 3.3% of jobs face full automation risk, with administrative roles held by women being particularly vulnerable. More significantly, 25% of jobs will be transformed by AI, requiring new skills for AI interaction and programming adaptation.

Drake challenged techno-optimistic assumptions: “There have to be the right policies, whether tax, investment, development, or otherwise, to shrink the digital divide, including, in particular, between the Global North and the Global South… we have to create, as we create jobs, there must be social dialogue, and there must be labour market policies to create decent work.”

The ILO perspective highlighted the risk that AI-enhanced productivity jobs might concentrate in the Global North, potentially leaving other regions further behind. Drake emphasised the importance of anticipating future skills needs rather than training for obsolete positions, calling for better foresight systems to ensure training prepares people for next jobs rather than last jobs.

## European Union’s Comprehensive Policy Response

Michele Cervone d’Urso, representing the European Union at the United Nations, acknowledged Europe’s significant challenges in meeting digital skills targets. The EU is substantially behind its 2030 target of 20 million ICT specialists, currently having only 10.4 million.

The EU’s digital decade policy programme incorporates cross-cutting skills components across all programmes, ensuring digital literacy is embedded rather than treated as standalone. The Digital Europe Programme focuses on digital academies in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors.

International cooperation forms a cornerstone through the Global Gateway initiative, specifically addressing the digital divide for women and girls in developing countries. The EU’s approach demonstrates the complexity required for effective digital skills policy, requiring multi-year, multi-programme approaches rather than short-term interventions.

## Regulatory Innovation: Georgia’s Educational Integration

Ekaterine Imedadze from the Georgian National Communication Commission presented an innovative example of regulatory agencies expanding their mandates to address digital skills. Georgia has integrated media literacy as a mandatory subject in over 220 public schools, with plans for university expansion.

Georgia’s rural broadband project includes skills training with local digital ambassadors providing ongoing community support. Imedadze emphasised that “bringing infrastructure without providing necessary skills will maybe even increase the digital gap.”

The country’s partnership approach involves collaboration with the World Bank, European Union, and European Council, demonstrating how smaller countries can leverage international support. Georgia is also starting mobile laboratories and integrating AI tools into training programmes.

## Private Sector Innovation and Human-Centred Learning

Gillian Hinde from EY emphasised human-centred learning approaches beyond technical skills, highlighting “human transformation including creativity, resilient mindsets, and AI discernment abilities.” EY’s approach includes scaling to 16 countries in partnership with technology companies like Microsoft and Technovation.

Hinde addressed the gender divide, noting that only 22% of women pursue AI literacy courses. EY’s model incorporates continuous learning with experimental mindsets, inclusive practices for neurodiverse students, and community-first collaboration starting with grassroots communities rather than top-down implementation.

## India’s Massive-Scale Digital Transformation

Professor Himanshu Rai from the Indian Institute of Management provided insights into India’s remarkable digital infrastructure success: 185.8 billion digital transactions last year, with 16.73 billion monthly transactions through simplified platforms using one bank account, one smartphone number, and one identification document.

India reduced data costs to 26 cents through private sector empowerment and competition. The country’s national digital literacy missions target women, people with disabilities, rural populations, and older workers, aiming to train 60 million people in rural areas covering 40% of rural households.

Rai emphasised user interface simplification and local language accessibility. During COVID, when students couldn’t access Zoom classes, they created WhatsApp modules to maintain educational continuity. His call for “compassionate” approaches moved beyond empathy to concrete action.

Rai created urgency with his observation: “AI is not the future. It’s not. It’s a present. It’s actually passing us by,” emphasising that delays in digital skills development result in permanent disadvantage.

## International Development and Structural Challenges

Anna Sophie Herken from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) highlighted Germany’s Fair Forward AI project supporting local talent in six countries to develop AI models as digital public goods. However, she provided sobering statistics: in Nigeria, four out of five young people lack basic digital skills, whilst in India, only one out of three young people are ready for the digital job market.

Herken addressed structural inequalities: “big tech only lets the global South participate in the very bottom of the digital value chain. And the benefits accrue to the global North.” She noted that data workers in India and Kenya—90% and 45% respectively having university degrees—represent “massive talent waste.”

This highlighted that the problem extends beyond skills gaps to include the structure of digital work opportunities and the need for “fair and ethical standards for digital platforms and better-paying opportunities for freelancers.”

## Gender Gaps and Inclusive Approaches

Throughout the discussion, speakers consistently identified gender gaps as a critical challenge requiring targeted interventions. From Costa Rica’s women-focused cybersecurity programmes to EY’s partnership with Technovation addressing the gender divide in AI literacy, multiple speakers emphasised the need for programmes specifically designed for women and girls.

The statistics presented—only 22% of women pursuing AI literacy courses and administrative roles held by women being particularly vulnerable to automation—underscore the persistent gender dimensions in digital transformation that require systematic attention.

## Areas of Consensus and Implementation Approaches

Despite diverse backgrounds, speakers achieved remarkable consensus on key principles. All agreed that infrastructure alone is insufficient without accompanying digital skills development. The importance of inclusive approaches targeting underserved populations received universal support, as did the necessity of multi-stakeholder partnerships involving government, private sector, international organisations, and educational institutions.

However, implementation approaches varied, reflecting different national contexts. The debate between public sector versus private sector leadership emerged through Costa Rica’s strategic public investment compared to India’s private sector empowerment approach. Similarly, the scope of digital skills training revealed different philosophies, with some emphasising specific technical skills whilst others advocated broader human-centred learning.

## Monitoring and Continuous Adaptation

The discussion highlighted sophisticated monitoring approaches, with Rai emphasising disaggregated data by gender, age, disability, and region to identify gaps and track progress. Zavazava’s call for measuring meaningful connectivity beyond basic connection numbers reflects the need for nuanced metrics of digital inclusion success.

The emphasis on continuous learning and adaptation recognises that digital skills requirements evolve rapidly, requiring training programmes that can respond quickly to technological changes and labour market demands.

## Conclusion: Urgent Action Required

This dialogue demonstrated sophisticated understanding of digital skills challenges and broad consensus on the need for urgent, coordinated action. The discussion evolved from technical training considerations to encompass structural inequalities, power dynamics, and moral imperatives for inclusive digital transformation.

The moderator’s closing suggestion to “let AI teach us about AI” captured the innovative thinking required to address these challenges at scale. The speakers’ collective wisdom suggests that effective digital skills development requires simultaneous attention to infrastructure, skills training, decent work creation, and structural inequalities in the global digital economy.

The urgency conveyed throughout—particularly Rai’s observation that AI is already passing us by—indicates that delays in implementing comprehensive digital skills strategies result in permanent disadvantage. Success depends on combining the various approaches presented: strategic public investment, massive-scale targeted interventions, regulatory innovation, comprehensive policy frameworks, and private sector innovation in human-centred learning.

Most importantly, it requires moving beyond empathy to concrete action, ensuring that digital transformation benefits all segments of society rather than exacerbating existing inequalities. The path forward demands immediate implementation of inclusive, coordinated strategies that address both technical skills and structural barriers to meaningful digital participation.

Jacek Oko: Good morning everyone here physically and warm greetings to our audience online. It’s my pleasure to welcome you all this high level dialogue on digital skills. My name is Jacek Okrop, President of Office of Electronic Communication, Polish Postal Telecommunication and Digital Service Area Regulator and Coordinator, and I will be the moderator for today’s session, which will address the topic of bridging the digital skills gap strategies for reskilling and upskilling in a changing world. I’m very honored to facilitate this important and timely discussion. As we all know, digital technologies are transforming and reshaping every phase of our lives, including the way we learn and the way we work. While educators and policy makers are increasingly relying on these enabling technologies, they often encounter challenges and limitations in the deployment and utilization of these services, especially in developing countries. In a fast-paced digital world where technology is constantly adopted and adapted, still adapted, in a fast-paced, updated and upgraded, these very same tools can become potential disruptions to our job position and the world of work in general. As a policy and decision makers, we must take concrete actions to invest in reskilling and upskilling our country’s current and future workforce and equipping them with the necessary digital skills to cope with the fast-paced digital transformation of the job market. This is why we dialogue. in both timely and crucial to explore various strategies, policies and best practices, especially best practices because it is our experience, to ensure that our citizens understand and emerging technologies take active part in the rape and the benefits of digital economy Today, we will hear from representatives from government, the private sector, international organizations and academic institutions, discuss strategies on developing digital skills policies and frameworks that can effectively respond to emerging digital needs and gaps in the labour market. Given the number of distinguished speakers, I am going to ask one question and two speakers will respond. Only five minutes for each speaker. I will introduce speakers when it is their turn to speak. Without further ado, let me start by welcoming Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Unit to provide his opening remarks.

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair. I know that we have colleagues who are participating online, so good morning, good afternoon, good evening for Asia and the Pacific. Thank you very much for this opportunity for me to address you this morning. There are three things that keep us awake at night in the Development Bureau of the ITU. We are concerned about the digital skills gap, which makes it almost impossible for the citizens to participate effectively in the information society. We are also concerned about the digital divide itself in terms of infrastructure, which has got gaps that we have got to work to Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Ms. Ekaterine Imedadze, Ms. Anna Sophie Herken in executive positions, the CIS region. Europe is doing very well, but we still have a slow pace when it comes to Africa. Asia and the Pacific is making also significant progress, and we are there to hold the arms of those who are making an effort to bridge these gaps. This morning, I would like to talk about skilling, re-skilling, and re-imagining in order for us to adopt to the fast-changing technological revolution and evolution. So, ambassadors, ministers present, esteemed participants, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to have me join you today to discuss this very important, compelling topic. As you look at the exhibits and listen to speakers here at the WSIS plus 20, I know you will marvel at the huge potential of the digital revolution and evolution. It is exciting to see what technology can do, but it is important that we do not leave it in the hands of small minorities or technical experts or enthusiasts, because its full potential cannot be realized if we equip all citizens with the skills they need to use it. You may be aware that ITU has got two strategic goals, one is to make sure that there is universal connectivity, which is affordable and meaningful. And the second one has to do with sustainable data transformation. And to that, we commit. And I think this meeting is exactly on point. Today, many workers are at risk of losing their jobs, not because they are being replaced by AI, but because they could be replaced by another person with the right knowledge and skill set. To operate AI-based tools, quantum computing, big data, et cetera. Unless we upskill such workers, they will not only lose out as individuals in the job market, but the potential of AI to transform world economies for the better will be realized. Moreover, the potential of digital technologies goes beyond the formal sectors. We need to take bold steps in addressing the digital skills gaps within our informal sector as well. The likes of street vendors, market traders, artisans, small-scale farmers, and ride-hailing drivers. They too can improve and expand their businesses with the help of AI. And that’s why we are a very strong believer in measuring the universal meaning of connectivity. Not just the figures, 5.8 billion people are connected. What are they doing with their connectivity? 2.6 billion people are offline. Who are those? And what are they losing? It’s important for us to measure and look at the facts. But only if we can make sure that every living human being has equality of opportunity for them to be able to participate meaningfully in the knowledge society. As policymakers and regulators, our task is to design inclusive digital strategy. and Ms. Bess. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to welcome you to the Congress of the United States. Today, we are joined by a panel of experts, who will be sharing with us the latest and greatest technologies and strategies so we can empower everyone to benefit from the huge potentials of digital technologies. This dialogue is a unique opportunity to share concrete strategies that we need as policymakers, regulators, educators and researchers, in order to upskill and re-skill citizens to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence and other technologies. Ladies and gentlemen, together with our partner Cisco, BDT has launched the Digital Transformation Centers initiative, which equips citizens with basic and intermediate digital skills, especially those in rural and underserved communities. And also, so far benefited over half a million participants. It’s not a sin that someone grew up in a family which is disadvantaged. It doesn’t mean that we are condemning the whole generation. We have to give each living human being an opportunity. And that’s why we’ve been rolling out and impacting a lot of people in rural, remote areas and equipping them with the right skills for them to participate effectively in the modern world. This initiative has tremendous potential to unlock socioeconomic opportunities for millions more people around the world. And I know we can’t do this alone, but together we will be able to achieve meaningful results. Meanwhile, the ITU Academy offers training to professionals in the city sector and other economic sectors. More than 150 courses can be accessed each year through the platform, which has a user base of over 70,000 people. Furthermore, during our Digital Skills Forum held in September and I want to thank the government of Bahrain for hosting us. We launched the ITU Digital Skills and Ms. Anna Sophie Herken. I want to thank the International Labour Organization with whom we have been working closely together. This toolkit serves as a step-by-step guide designed to help stakeholders develop effective national digital skills, strategies and policies. Packed with practical examples and actionable insights, it is a valuable resource for policymakers across countries. And I’m about to conclude. I hope today’s session will build on the recommendations of the toolkit. I should be mentioning also that we have got the ITU Academy Training Centers represented in all the regions and doing fantastic work, particularly for government officials at the middle and the upper management, because we want to have a holistic approach. Together, I think we will be able to build something special and to equip all the peoples of the world. And I want to thank industry partners, member states and also other UN agencies who have been working with us. And thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I wish you all the best.

Jacek Oko: Thank you, Mr. Director. Thank you for very inspiring remarks for our discussion. I’m optimistic that, unfortunately, Mr. Director has to leave our meeting to go to other responsibilities for him. Thank you very much. OK, we can start with our discussion. My first question goes to His Excellency Mr. Hubert Vargas Picado, Vice Minister of Telecommunications at Costa Rica, Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications, and to Mrs. Celeste Drake, Deputy Director General of the International Labour Organization. What key strategies? are required to address the emerging digital needs and gaps in the labor market. Mr. Ministry, the floor is yours. Well, good morning to everyone.

Hubert Vargas Picado: Thank you, ITU and ILO, for this opportunity to share Costa Rica’s experience in addressing emerging digital needs and closing labor market gaps during rapid technological transformation. It’s an honor for me to share this session with you all. Digitization and education allowed Costa Rica, a quite small country, as you know, to be transformed from a fruit and coffee production company just 30 years ago to be basically the tech hub in Central America and the Caribbean, where software is developed and more than 500 multinationals, mainly from United States and European countries, have trusted us to base their operations in the region. We are not celebrating, we are just always challenged to be better. We firmly believe that bridging the digital skills gap transcends inclusion and it is fundamental to economic resilience, social equity and sustainable development. Our country has achieved some important progress in closing the digital divide. Internet coverage now reaches plus 85% of our households, including rural and remote areas, through strategic public investment. That has allowed us that foreign direct investment has become a cornerstone in Costa Rica’s digital economy. In last year, 2024, we achieved a record-breaking 40% increase in FDI and crucially over 40% of that new investment are located outside our capital, our metro area, driving inclusive territorial growth. These investments are concentrated in knowledge-intensive sectors like advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and digital devices. Each demands a skilled, adaptive workforce ready for tomorrow’s challenge. In sum, connectivity and skills development allowed Costa Rica to be transformed by design, by policy, and to achieve just 10 days ago the degree of high-income country according to the World Bank. I want to highlight some key elements of our approach and how we’ll navigate our persistent challenges. Connectivity alone, as you know, is insufficient. We must match the digital infrastructure efforts and investment with equally robust digital talent development strategies. And prospectively, we will. First, we believe in a cross-sectoral workforce development ecosystem, understanding that only one institution or even one just government with these election cycles can solve and plan ahead alone. So we involve public universities, private education, our ministry, which involves science, innovation, tech and telecom, also involve the private sector, and also we involve the Technical Education Institute, which provides specialized training to design a comprehensive education pathway aligned with the strategic industry needs. Some skills require college degrees, other ones just certifications to upskill or reskill labor, and others a quick immersion training via dual education, which we basically copy from Germany. Second, we believe on a modular and responsive training model. We’re currently offering digital skills courses in Python, cybersecurity and AI, providing scholarships for youth age from 16 to 35 years old. through community innovation centers. That’s a project that we champion from the ministry. And also through online platforms. We have launched a specialized women-focused cybersecurity scholarship program targeting SMEs, employees, and technical training and mentorship. Our third effort is basically to provide corporate investment incentives. We provide fiscal benefits to companies that invest in workforce reskilling and upskilling, particularly in high-demand sectors. This has allowed us to reskill thousands of employees. Fourth, we believe in inclusive access. Training programs extend to rural areas, indigenous communities, to women and youth through community innovation centers, laboratories basically of innovation, and mobile ones. We’re just starting this year with mobile laboratories to allow some communities that currently we can’t afford to have a physical one. And it has allowed us to basically ensure that there is no one left behind in the digital transition. And five, our national 5G infrastructure plan for development is basically focused to provide and to close this 15% of internet coverage in digital urban areas, but also in rural areas, but also to provide ultra-fast connectivity to create the use cases that the industry, not only the future needs, but also in the present. Allowing more telework, allowing more digital transformation through health, education, manufacturing, and agriculture, because we believe 5G should transform agriculture. This transition not only fosters great inclusion but generates demand for new digital professions and technical roles, positions we are actively preparing our workforce to fill through targeted training and reskill programs. These efforts are intended to deliver an increased development of employment outside the metro area, reducing skills meet matches in key sectors. We’re always battling with this as technology evolves and to consolidate a proper innovation ecosystem powered by talent. Eusterica believes and will support any global effort to develop and scale digital-ready workforce through the convergence of public policy, strategic investment, and inclusive practices. As we advance into the future we can build digital economies that are not only global, competitive, but fundamentally fair and human-centered. Thank you very much. It is an honor to be here.

Celeste Drake: Thank you very much, Chair. And I want to begin by thanking the ITU for organizing the session. ITU has been a great partner of the ILO on the skills issue, as you heard, and we are happy to recently join the Digital Skills Coalition with ITU. And I also appreciate the Minister’s remarks and thank you for describing it so thoroughly and the focus on inclusion of all kinds, whether geographical, gender, what have you. So the short answer to the question, I would say it’s important to address digital skills gaps, but also to remind us that that’s not enough. There have to be the right policies, whether tax, investment, development, or otherwise, to shrink the digital divide, including, in particular, between the Global North and the Global South. And finally, we have to create, as we create jobs, there must be social dialogue, and there must be labor market policies to create decent work. AI and the world of digital work really present an opportunity to shrink the gaps, whether it’s between men and women, whether it’s between high-income and low-income countries, whether it’s between just a job and decent work. And we really need to harness this opportunity. So let me say a little bit more. At the ILO, to accomplish this, we’re using really a focus of three action items in AI and the world of digital work. One is research, and that research is on what skills are needed, what’s likely to happen in the job market, how can we be prepared for the changes in the job market. Two, providing technical assistance to our constituents, which includes not only the member states, but workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations, so that they can be ready for the change. And finally, developing those use cases, because there are a lot of our constituents who are very interested in using AI to enhance efficiency, productivity, but they’re not quite sure how to go about it and how to make the most of it with what they have available to invest. So looking at the research, I think it’s important to start with what we know now. And our most recent update in terms of the likely impact on the job market of AI tells us that in the very near term, about 3.3% of jobs are at risk of full automation. Those jobs are largely administrative. They are largely held by women. And that number of 3.3% is about doubled in the global north, because there are much more of these types of administrative jobs. So that risk of full automation is much less in the global south. We also have about 25% of jobs which will be transformed, because they will use AI. And the people in those jobs will need to develop the new skills, whether that’s posing the query correctly to AI, or whether that’s programmers who really need to learn to work completely differently, because AI is doing a lot of the work and they need to learn the right skills to check and see that the program is doing what they want. The other jobs will either be impacted in a small way, or maybe not yet. And that’s where it comes to the question of job quality. Workers around the world, many of them are in the informal sector. They’re in informal jobs. There might be technology, but not a lot, or there might be none at all. And those jobs, AI will impact eventually, but we need to also think, how do we get everyone ready, no matter what sector they’re in, rural or urban, men and women. And so we do need to do skilling, reskilling, looking at our technical vocational education and training policies. And everyone has a role to play. Workers need to be ready for the training. Employers and governments need to invest in the training. And we need to do a better job than we have in the past in terms of foresight and skills anticipation, so that we’re not training people for the last job, but for the next job. And that’s where we can work really closely with looking at. not only the skills breakdown of various job categories, but where AI seems ready and poised to be in that job and in that skill and somebody needs the training so they can augment and enhance their productivity and efficiency. And that’s really important. But once people are ready, they’ve taken the training, they’re ready for something, there has to be a job there. And that’s where these policies to create an enabling environment for sustainable businesses are quite important. And it’s important to focus on the digital divide between global north and south. Because if the jobs that really take advantage of AI and its enhanced productivity are concentrated, again, in the global north, then we’re just leaving folks further and further behind. So that’s really important. Looking at development, investment, taxation, how are we creating that environment to lift up micro, small and medium enterprises in countries across the world. And then finally, once we’ve done training, we know it’s the right training, it’s advanced. We’ve looked at making sure that we are addressing the digital divide and we are promoting businesses from the tiniest to the largest to take advantage of AI. We have to look at the job quality. We’ve set up an opportunity for jobs to be created, but we want to make sure they’re not just any job. Are they formalized? Do people have social protections? So they have some protection against periods of unemployment, periods of ill health. Are there livable wages? Can workers exercise the fundamental principles and rights at work? They have a safe working environment. They have an opportunity to engage in social dialogue with their employer, all of those things, making sure that there are the other elements of decent work. And the support for small and medium enterprises. That is how we will get there, so its skill policies, rights, knowing what skills are needed. That’s what gets us where we want to go.

Jacek Oko: Thank you for a very interesting and inspiring remarks or contribution, really. But cross-sexual cooperation and social dialogue. I think it’s the most important element from your contributions. Okay, thank you very much. I should go to the second question. Unfortunately, as I know His Excellency Minister Mutua isn’t connected, my question is directly to His Excellency Misha Cervone, Acting Ambassador of the EU to the UN. What policies can governments put in place to address digital skills needs?

Michele Cervone d’Urso: First of all, I wanted to thank the Chair for organising such a session. Let me just zoom out a second, because here we have the presence also of Celeste Drake, of Dr. Zavazava, because this partnership between ILO and ITU is really important for the EU. And I don’t mention this just here rhetorically, but you know, the top priority at the moment in terms of our engagement in multilateralism with the UN is UNAT. We have, we value a lot the role particularly of Doreen Bogdan, ITU Secretary General, and Gilbert Huangbo, they’re the leads in the specialised agency cluster. And the partnership between these two agencies are critical for us. And we see it now, we see it in the session now. So I would not underestimate the conversation that we are having. I know that ITU particularly is taking a lead across all UN agencies, but I would say the skills development component with the ILO is important. So I just want to mention quickly that, I mean, in terms of, I mean, why is this important for the European Union? First of all, we are discussing in the coming days, our future medium term financing framework, where I’m not going to anticipate it too much now, but I’m sure digital will be quite high in pretty, very high, I must say, not quite high in the agenda. This is important in terms of European competitiveness, innovation capacity and security. I mean, when we talk about, I mean, you just mentioned AI, quantum data, chips and virtual worlds. I mean, digital skills are an enabler for all this, and it will be, I think, a top EU interest at the moment for the coming years. Now, we need, concretely, we need the skills to operate and maintain our infrastructure capacities, you know, be it computing power through AI factories and gigafactories, as well as data centres to the cloud and AI Development Act. So these are really essential issues for us. That being said, there’s this huge need, but I think we have to be frank amongst us. We’re not there yet. We are not there yet in terms of EU. I mean, I just read this digital decade report this year, and it shows that we are far from our 20 million ICT specialist target within the EU. I mean, employed by 2030, we’re around, the figures of last year were 10.4 million. So we’re not, you know, we were still quite far off. And even though there’s an increase of of around 5% from 2023. We have to really step up. So this is the challenge. What are we doing about it? We talk a lot about a comprehensive approach. So in terms of skills development, a lot hangs also with our member states, not only the EU. We have this, and it’s long-term perspectives that we’re looking at. So we have a digital decade policy program. We are, I mean, we are considering skills development, let’s say, has a cross-cutting issues in all of our programs. In AI, we have the AI continent action plan. We are also working on a new set of strategies on AI apply, on quantum, data union. All of them have a critical skills component. This is why I mentioned the cross-cutting element. Okay, this is a lot with the member states, but in terms of EU, the commission particularly, we are also fully mobilized. We have the digital Europe program of around 416 million. And then we’re now discussing potential successor program. This is very, very much focused on education and training on digital technologies. And it focuses on digital, what we call digital academies in crucial areas. So AI, quantum, virtual worlds, semiconductors, together with cybersecurity in these academies, I think for us will be also key enablers to attract more girls and women also there. I think we have to really move forward in tech studies and in careers, but we’re not closed amongst ourselves. We’re looking at international partnerships, just mentioned one. I mean, we have to attract top ICT skills with India, for instance, we have our first multi-purpose legal gateway office. Now that we’ve set up in India, but comprehensive doesn’t mean only skills development and attraction. We need to look at the mobility of digital talent that’s. quite key for us. We have to look also at ways how we simplify and harmonise. Also, ILO here has a key role of qualifications, validation of skills, micro-credentials in the digital field. All this will contribute to reskilling activities tailored to our European industries. Finally, let me just finish off because I see people from all over the world. Our main geopolitical response to this is what we call Global Gateway, a big focus on digital divide, particularly women and girls, amongst other things. Global Gateway will really, I hope, ramp up in the coming years. Our support in partner countries throughout the world, particularly the developing countries. Let me flag also our main flagships in terms of capacity building specifically to the digital sector. We have the EU Digital Initiative. This is really aimed at our eastern partnership countries. Many of you, of course, will have heard of the Erasmus Programme. Also there, we will have a specific focus on digital education and innovation. Horizon Europe is more focused on research and innovation with your top universities. Here, it’s very much digital skill training through innovation initiatives. The Digital Europe Programme aims to build strategic digital capacities and focuses on AI, cybersecurity and digital skills development. Finally, we have Connecting Europe Facility, which aims to enhance connectivity infrastructure. It supports cross-border digital infrastructures and other initiatives. We have a broad toolbox and we really hope we can make a difference. I hope in the coming years, we’ll be able to report in such sessions back to you. Thank you very much.

Jacek Oko: Thank you, His Excellency. As a member of the same EU, I could agree that the huge work is before us, really, because we are at the beginning this way, and the main signal for the rest of the world should be cooperation and fluent initiative and experiences, because we have different people, different schools, different universities, but we are, our wisdom is really together for our work, not only for Europe, not only for America, not only for Africa, for us all. Thank you very much. The third question is to the Mrs. Anna Sophie Herken, member of the board of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and Mrs. Ekaterine Imedadze, Commissioner of the Georgian National Communication Commission. Why do we need the talk about digital skills for digital transformation? How can emerging technologies can help create decent employment opportunity? Mrs. Herken, the floor is yours.

Anna Sophie Herken: Thank you very much, and thank you for organizing this session, and there was already so much foot for thought in the talks of the panelists. So by 2050, almost half of the world’s youth will live on the African continent, and it’s also estimated that by then, potentially, the African digital economy could quadruple up to 700 million revenues per year, and yet the risk is that we will not be ready. If you look at Nigeria, one of the youngest and fastest-growing countries, only four out of five young people do not have the basic digital skills. But that’s not only relevant to the African continent. If you look to India… only one out of three young people are ready for the digital job market. So this is not only about economy and jobs. It’s also about inclusion, given that pretty much all services now will be digital quite soon. And so this, I think one part of the coin is that we look at sort of what are digital skills. And then the other part is what also the ILO referred to is how do we create decent jobs in the growing digital economy? And you know, like when you’re in Germany and I live in Berlin, you know, digital economy jobs are always in these fancy new offices. You have lots of perks, but that’s not true for the hundred millions of data workers in the global South. They label the data behind JTBT and for other AI applications, sometimes they have to look at a thousand pictures, violent pictures per day, or they have to describe objects meticulously and very painfully. So this is really could be even harmful or it’s repetitive at least. And it’s also a massive waste of talent because thanks to the ILO, we know that in India, 90% of these data workers have university degrees. In Kenya, it’s 45%. So what a waste of talent. So the question is how do we unlock decent jobs? And I think we have to face the reality, which is very often big tech only lets the global South participate in the very bottom of the digital value chain. And the benefits accrue to the global North. So the solution must be to move more of the work in the global South to the more value creation where it belongs. And the global South needs to be enabled to develop, deploy and benefit from technology locally. So let me give you a few examples of what we do at GIZ to contribute to that. So one of our projects, it’s called Fair Forward, artificial intelligence for all. And we have teams in six countries, five of them on the African continent, where we support local talent and produce. Publishing Local Data Sets and AI Models And these are published as digital public goods. They are free and open for everyone to use, adapt and build on. Second, we have Digital Transformation Centres in 23 countries worldwide where we have trained so far 20,000 multipliers in digital skills. The idea is to use them to then multiply the skills needed to our partner countries. And third, let me give you an example from the gig economy. We have a dedicated project where we improve the working conditions of platform workers by supporting fair and ethical standards for digital platforms, helping freelancers to connect to better paying opportunities and strengthening the right of workers. So local innovation, support to innovators and robust workers’ rights. This is our recipe for a tech world that values and fosters the enormous talent of the people in our partner countries. Thank you very much.

Jacek Oko: Thank you very much. Mrs. Imanaze, the floor is yours.

Ekaterine Imedadze: Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair. Good morning. It’s a great pleasure and honour to speak about my country’s journey towards the inclusive world of digital skills and how this can support empowering people with new capacities to be part of the world, the digital world in the future. In Georgia, and specifically at ComCom Communications Commission of Georgia, from the very beginning, we were strong believers that digital skills, this is the strategic pillar for the country. So from the year 2018, we have the legal mandate as and the Commission to expand the digital skills and to bring the digital literacy in the country, which in that time maybe was not very popular path by the regulators to be digital skills enablers. But thanks to the donor organizations who played a very vital role in this journey, we were supported by World Bank, by EU, by European Commission projects, by the European Council projects to make this journey really possible. So, what does the Georgia’s media literacy hub, as we call it, as a pillar? So, COMCOM has a mandate of telco regulator as a media regulator, but and also capacity of bringing the digital literacy to the country. So, we have a dedicated hub platform, which is called Mediatik Derby, which is media literacy, and it has a very specific aims and milestones. And one bright milestone, I want to share with you that we made the media literacy part of formal education in Georgia. So, in Georgian public schools, the media literacy is taught as a subject. And we are very proud that we took part in this great journey and we’ve helped to develop the specific teaching, the path with our experience and with our very important counterparties. Also, this hub incorporates, of course, very important partnerships. And we partner with most advanced European countries who have media literacy developed in their countries like Finland. And we wrote this very, maybe you all know the book. Hello, Ruby. We brought this book to Georgian schools and Georgian Comcom was quite active into supporting this book to be brought to the Georgian children school pupils to know what exactly they need to know, what kind of skills they need to have for the digital future going ahead. This is One Direction and this is ongoing process. So now we have around 200 and more than 220 schools who have embedded this media literacy as a part of the mandatory program in their school education. And we are expanding our partnerships also with universities as we’re trying to expand our own skills in media literacy and then bring this capacity to the older generation. Another important mandate we have been given, we have World Bank supported rural broadband project Logging Georgia. And other than this project, we have taken responsibility of very important component of media literacy. So we believe that bringing infrastructure without providing necessary skills will maybe even will increase the digital gap. So it’s very important to bring infrastructure together with the skills and we are providing training. So with our supports there are provided trainings for the teachers for the local communities. We have a digital ambassadors there in the small villages because we believe that it’s very important that local community in local community to find the ambassadors who will really bring the importance of having this digital skills and how can they monetize. on those digital skills, how they will be economically stronger after having this understanding, how to use internet, maybe how to bring their small business on the worldwide, put on the worldwide web or have apps. So this is very important pillar. It’s around 8,000 trainings we have already provided and our team is very proud and very engaged in this journey. And in the beginning, there might be some hesitations about who wants to participate in those trainings, but with ambassadors, it’s really, and I believe this is a very good finding how to approach this population. Another important, I believe, direction I wanted to, I want to mention by ComCom under the same media literacy pillar, we have Media Lab at ComCom. And this Media Lab is concerned with the young entrepreneurs who want to bring some innovative digital ideas. And we provide good co-working space and we provide good trainers who understand how the startups work and they go through the very extensive trainings and they are, this is kind of a startup incubator. But of course, we focus on the digital projects and also the digital safety projects. This is our priority due to our legal mandate. So those are, I believe, important areas where we are trying to develop ourselves, but we want to go further and cover more partnerships. And as I mentioned, it would be our goal to go further to and work with universities and to bring this digital education, not as a standard pillar, like somebody decides to be the ICT professional and they are really taking these subjects, but in the preparation to the future works to understand what exactly the digital is about. And also our team is very eager to also bring the AI to our tools, but this is for the future work. Thank you.

Jacek Oko: Thank you. Thank you for those contributions. We discussed about the young talents, about the youth. Maybe we shouldn’t, not maybe, we have to, we shouldn’t forget about the seniors. My last question is created to the Mrs. Gillian Hindle, Head of EY, Director of the Indian Institute of Management. Ms. Hindle, the floor is yours.

Gillian Hinde: Thanks very much. And I’ve just found the conversation fascinating. So it’s lovely to be surrounded by individuals that are sharing such interesting initiatives and perspectives. And thank you to all of you for, for showing up today to engage in this very important topic. I think from a, from an EY perspective, I’ll probably, I mean, we’ve heard a lot of stats today and I’ll probably start with a big premise for us is around collaboration. And I know that’s stating the obvious, we all collaborate on these initiatives, but we, we really are about forming very deliberate ecosystems where we can harness the best of institutes and organizations to, to bring the best of what they can to the party. For example, when we look at the digital divide, we team with a number of our tech partners, for example, Microsoft, who’s got quite a strong presence at this summit as well, around an AI skills passport, where we’re looking to bring the expertise of EY and the technical capability of Microsoft and scale these learning passports to young students. We’ve scaled it to 16 countries. We plan to go much broader than that. But an important principle is then to work with the local teams as well. So it’s bringing in the tech, bringing in the expertise from the likes of EY, but then actually co-creating with the communities and getting down to grassroots levels. So looking at solutions where you are offering both online and offline support. And then an important point, I think just staying with the community co-creation piece, if I think of the work that we’re doing with ITU and an amazing, vibrant startup or scale-up called Technovation, which some of you may have heard of, where they actually go into schools, they’ve got a digital platform, but they actually work with the teachers, they work with the scholars, and they do a lot of offline accelerator workshops to really look at how they can actually embed the digital upskilling with young students. There’s also a very big focus on addressing the gender divide, where we know that about only 22% of women are actually pursuing AI literacy courses and skills and in the workforce. And then EY recently did a survey, I’ll take the European slant for one, in terms of the European cut, where it was showing that 70% of a lot of industries are battling to fulfil the necessary AI capability, but of that, a big majority were also saying that they don’t believe that that capability will be fulfilled through the education system alone. And for us, that’s where partnering again with industry is so important in terms of how we look at upskilling. So, for example, at EY, we run a very big digital badges program so we can actually validate the involuntary learning that many organizations are doing on the ground so that we are equipping young kids, students with learning badges that actually can get them through the front door when they’re looking for jobs, et cetera. So, those are some of the, I think, important initiatives. But beyond just the digital skills, another important aspect, I think, is around the human-centered learning. So, beyond just equipping young children with digital skills, it’s also about the human transformation. So, how are we equipping them with creativity, resilient mindsets, adaptable learning, the ability to actually discern what’s good AI, what’s bad AI, and to apply logic. So, that’s been a very important part in the curricula that we’re developing. So, we’re running a number of training programs to support young students in that regard. And then I think I’ll just leave three further points. For us, in terms of just the spirit of educating AI in our organization, it’s very much about being continuous learning because we know it’s changing so fast. And that’s where we’ve developed this EY AI Academy, which is just a platform that we are continually putting on new tools, new skills, et cetera. And that’s open externally. It’s about being experimental. So, allowing learning to fail and giving people courage to actually learn and test and trial. And then it’s about being inclusive. And we speak about the gender divide, disabilities. We’ve launched a number of… of the Center of Excellence around Neurodiversity in terms of how do neurodiverse students operate in this world and in the collective world of corporations. So there’s a lot of work around that. And then, I guess the lasting thought is I think we cannot impress upon the importance of when we do collaborate that it starts with the community first, so the local community first, so the grassroots community first. Thank you.

Jacek Oko: Thank you very much. Mr. Professor, the floor is yours.

Himanshu Rai: Thank you very much. It’s always useful to be the last speaker because I can claim that I had the last word. First of all, I would like to thank ITU and ILO for giving us this great opportunity and to my fellow speakers who spoke so eloquently on a topic which is so relevant. So today, if I have to foreground my conversation, digital transformation, it’s no longer optional. It’s a new literacy. And one of the things I always keep saying is for the last two years, I’ve been hearing that AI is the future. I’m sorry, it’s not. It’s a present. It’s actually passing us by. So we don’t have to look at it as something which is about to come, but it is already here. When India hosted the G20, we created a theme, Prime Minister Modi talked about a theme, and he drew from an Indian scripture which said Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. And the short meaning of that is one earth, one family, one future. And that is how I would like to foreground this particular conversation as to what do we do to be more inclusive? I think there are six prominent pillars, and I’m also going to give a lot of data here. The first pillar is that of policy and institutional framework. We need to have national digital literacy missions, which should have some kind of a ring fence budget and outcome tracking. particularly for women, people with disabilities, rural populations and older workers. And I’ll tell you why this is important. For example, in India, what we tried was that there was something called the Pradhan Mantri, which is the Prime Minister Grameen Digital Sakshartha Abhiyan, which was actually to provide digital literacy to people in the rural areas. Why rural areas? Let me give you a staggering figure. 900 million people in India live in rural areas. By the way, that’s more than the population of Europe and US combined. Clearly, the challenges are very, very different. Clearly, the digital literacy is low. So what we have decided is that almost according to this, 60 million people in rural areas and 40% of the rural households will be trained digitally in the next couple of years. Now, how did we manage to do that? There was one important thing, which is where the institutions like ours also came in. And that was a new education policy. India came up with a new education policy, which had a very strong focus on digital skills, number one. Second, it also mandated the institutions of higher education, such as us, the Indian Institute of Management in Indore, to make sure that we are contributing to nation building. And therefore, institutions like us, for example, we were the first institution to have something called the Institutional Social Responsibility. We adopted five villages, and we said we are going to provide them with digital equipment as well as digital training. Now, this has a multiplier effect when a lot of other educational institutions pick it up. So this is the first pillar. The second pillar is infrastructure and accessibility. If you look at the cost of data today, it’s about $6 in the United States. It’s about $12, sorry, it’s $6 in the UK, it’s $12 in the United States. And in Africa, it ranges from $3 to $50. In India, we have managed to bring it down to 26 cents. And how did we achieve that? That was by empowering private sector. So we empowered the private sector, which then came up with low-cost smartphones and low-cost data, as a result of which the kind of digital transactions that we see today in India is mind-boggling. Just to give you a figure, in June, which is last month itself, we had 16.73 billion digital transactions. And in the last year, we have had 185.8 billion digital transactions. Now, that’s a great story. How did we manage that? And that’s where I think there are lessons for all of us. What we did was we created a platform using one bank account, one smartphone number, and one ID. All that was needed was this. Now, you must be wondering as to why is it so special? Because there were many people in India who did not have a bank account. It was a cash-based society. And it’s the same story in many other parts of the world, the remote parts of the world, where not everyone has a bank account. But the moment you give them a bank account connected to a phone number and connect it thereafter to one ID, you can create this platform, which can be really magical in terms of digital transactions. Now, what is the key here? That brings me to the third one, and that is the curriculum and the delivery modes, partnership and community engagement. And what I mean by that is you have to increase the connectivity. For example, even today, we have 55% connectivity. Now, we might pat ourselves on our back saying that’s great, but we’re still 45% people who are not connected. And that’s a large number given my country’s population of 1.4 billion people. It’s the same when we look at Africa. It’s the same when we look at other parts of Asia. And therefore, this connectivity and the penetration has to go in. Where are the challenges? The challenges, I can talk from my own experience. My parents, they don’t use digital. and Ms. Natalia Zagitova, Director, Global Media. Why? Because they say that the user interface is very complicated. And I think here, I would like to make a call to the tech companies. Make the user interface simpler for older people to understand, for it to be comfortable for them. Number two, make the user interface also accessible in the local languages. Because people, not everybody understands the dominant languages. Predominantly, we use English. In India, we speak English, but that’s not the language that people from the disadvantaged sections of the society speak. And therefore, we have to actually invest a lot in the tech to make sure that we are addressing those kind of challenges and going deeper. Women have a different set of challenges, so far as my country is concerned. And therefore, what we started doing was we looked at women from disadvantaged sections of the society. We gave them a laptop. So most of the states in India are giving free laptops to women and then providing them with digital literacy. So I think these are some of the things that we need to do to be able to actually bridge this particular divide. Finally, the last thing that I would like to talk about is monitoring and course correction. All of these ideas are going to fail unless we monitor, unless we ask who’s missing from the room. We have to use disaggregated data, which means by gender, age, disability, and the region, to make sure that we are identifying the right kind of gaps. And most importantly, ladies and men, we all need to be compassionate. You know, we are empathetic, most of us, that is, which means that when we see some kind of an inequality around us, we tut-tut and we say, not a good thing, but we don’t do anything about it. Being compassionate means not only do we get moved by the plight of others, but we also do something to mitigate it. I’ll give you my example, Mayor Kalpa. When COVID came and our country was shut down, we were the first institution which sent our students home. We were the first institution which went online within a week. And we patted ourselves on the back saying, wow, what a great job done. Within a month, I realized that it was not a great job because there were many students who did not have the required bandwidth to attend classes. There were many students who were living in crammed houses and had to share a room. And therefore, while I could do Zoom classes, they did not have a room to sit in. Many of the students were actually, their families were sharing the digital equipment, including the laptop. And therefore, we needed to think out of the box. We started creating modules on WhatsApp. We created module on WhatsApp and we started sending them to students so that they could actually look at it in an asynchronous mode as and when they possibly could. So the moral of the story is that we need to think out of the box. I would like to close it with another quote from one of the Indian scriptures which says, true wisdom is seeing equality in all. Our digital mission must reflect this spirit of inclusion because the future must belong to all of us or it will serve none of us. Thank you very much.

Jacek Oko: Thank you very much for all contributions because we don’t have more time. Maybe one sentence at the end. Next step should be maybe for AI. Maybe the revolutionary sentence could be, let us, AI teach us about AI. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Agreement points

Infrastructure alone is insufficient without accompanying digital skills development

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Ekaterine Imedadze

Arguments

Connectivity alone, as you know, is insufficient. We must match the digital infrastructure efforts and investment with equally robust digital talent development strategies

We believe that bringing infrastructure without providing necessary skills will maybe even will increase the digital gap

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that digital infrastructure deployment must be coupled with comprehensive skills training programs to avoid widening the digital divide

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Sociocultural

Need for inclusive approaches targeting underserved populations

Speakers

– Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Celeste Drake
– Anna Sophie Herken
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Digital Transformation Centers initiative, which equips citizens with basic and intermediate digital skills, especially those in rural and underserved communities

Training programs extend to rural areas, indigenous communities, to women and youth through community innovation centers

We need to have national digital literacy missions, which should have some kind of a ring fence budget and outcome tracking. particularly for women, people with disabilities, rural populations and older workers

Global South often limited to bottom of digital value chain while benefits accrue to Global North

We need to have national digital literacy missions, which should have some kind of a ring fence budget and outcome tracking. particularly for women, people with disabilities, rural populations and older workers

Summary

Multiple speakers agree on the critical importance of designing digital skills programs that specifically target and include marginalized groups including rural populations, women, people with disabilities, and underserved communities

Topics

Development | Human rights | Sociocultural

Importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships and collaboration

Speakers

– Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Michele Cervone d’Urso
– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Gillian Hinde

Arguments

I want to thank industry partners, member states and also other UN agencies who have been working with us

Cross-sectoral workforce development ecosystem involving universities, private sector, and government institutions

Comprehensive approach with digital decade policy program and cross-cutting skills components in all EU programs

Partnership with World Bank, EU, and European Council supporting Georgia’s digital literacy journey

Deliberate ecosystem formation with tech partners to scale AI skills passports across 16 countries

Summary

All speakers emphasize the necessity of collaborative approaches involving government, private sector, international organizations, and educational institutions to effectively address digital skills challenges

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Economic

Recognition of gender gaps in digital skills and technology participation

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Celeste Drake
– Michele Cervone d’Urso
– Gillian Hinde

Arguments

Women-focused cybersecurity scholarship program targeting SME employees with technical training and mentorship

3.3% of jobs at risk of full automation, mainly administrative roles held by women, with higher risk in Global North

Global Gateway initiative focusing on digital divide, particularly for women and girls in developing countries

Focus on addressing gender divide where only 22% of women pursue AI literacy courses

Summary

Speakers consistently acknowledge significant gender disparities in digital skills participation and emphasize the need for targeted interventions to support women’s inclusion in digital technologies

Topics

Human rights | Development | Economic

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the human capital challenges in the digital economy, emphasizing that the issue is not technology replacing humans but rather the need for appropriate skills and the current underutilization of existing talent

Speakers

– Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
– Anna Sophie Herken

Arguments

Workers risk losing jobs not to AI but to people with better digital skills to operate AI-based tools

90% of data workers in India and 45% in Kenya have university degrees, representing massive talent waste

Topics

Economic | Development | Human rights

Both speakers advocate for structured, government-supported digital skills programs with dedicated funding and specific targeting of underserved populations

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Modular and responsive training model offering courses in Python, cybersecurity, and AI with scholarships for youth

National digital literacy missions with ring-fenced budgets targeting women, people with disabilities, rural populations, and older workers

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Economic

Both speakers emphasize the importance of human-centered approaches to digital education that go beyond technical skills to include emotional intelligence, adaptability, and responsive problem-solving

Speakers

– Gillian Hinde
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Beyond digital skills, focus on human transformation including creativity, resilient mindsets, and AI discernment abilities

Compassionate approach requiring action beyond empathy, adapting solutions like WhatsApp modules during COVID

Topics

Sociocultural | Development | Human rights

Unexpected consensus

Regulatory agencies taking active role in digital skills development

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Jacek Oko

Arguments

Media literacy integrated into formal education as mandatory subject in Georgian public schools

Cross-sectoral cooperation and social dialogue are essential elements for digital skills development

Explanation

It is somewhat unexpected that telecommunications regulators are taking such active roles in digital skills education, traditionally outside their core mandate. This represents an evolution of regulatory responsibilities in the digital age

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Infrastructure

Private sector empowerment as solution to digital access challenges

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Internet coverage now reaches plus 85% of our households, including rural and remote areas, through strategic public investment

Data cost reduction to 26 cents in India through private sector empowerment, compared to $6-50 globally

Explanation

Despite different approaches (public investment vs private sector empowerment), both speakers achieved similar outcomes in digital access, suggesting multiple viable pathways to digital inclusion

Topics

Infrastructure | Economic | Development

AI as both challenge and solution for digital education

Speakers

– Celeste Drake
– Jacek Oko

Arguments

25% of jobs will be transformed requiring new skills for AI interaction and programming adaptation

AI should be used to teach about AI as a revolutionary approach to digital education

Explanation

There is unexpected consensus that AI simultaneously creates educational challenges while offering solutions for digital skills development, representing a nuanced understanding of technology’s dual role

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Infrastructure

Overall assessment

Summary

Strong consensus exists around the need for inclusive, multi-stakeholder approaches to digital skills development, with particular emphasis on addressing gender gaps and supporting underserved populations. Speakers agree that infrastructure alone is insufficient and must be coupled with comprehensive skills training.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with complementary rather than conflicting viewpoints. The agreement suggests a mature understanding of digital inclusion challenges and points toward coordinated global action. The consensus spans different sectors (government, private, international organizations) and regions, indicating broad-based support for inclusive digital transformation approaches.

Different viewpoints

Role of private sector vs. public sector in digital infrastructure development

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Internet coverage now reaches plus 85% of our households, including rural and remote areas, through strategic public investment

Data cost reduction to 26 cents in India through private sector empowerment, compared to $6-50 globally

Summary

Costa Rica emphasizes strategic public investment as key to achieving widespread internet coverage, while India highlights private sector empowerment as the solution for affordable connectivity

Topics

Infrastructure | Economic | Development

Scope of digital skills training – technical vs. human-centered approach

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Gillian Hinde

Arguments

Modular and responsive training model offering courses in Python, cybersecurity, and AI with scholarships for youth

Beyond digital skills, focus on human transformation including creativity, resilient mindsets, and AI discernment abilities

Summary

Costa Rica focuses on specific technical skills training in programming and cybersecurity, while EY emphasizes broader human-centered learning including creativity and critical thinking

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Human rights

Approach to addressing digital divide – infrastructure-first vs. skills-first

Speakers

– Himanshu Rai
– Ekaterine Imedadze

Arguments

55% connectivity still leaves 45% of people unconnected, representing a large population gap

Rural broadband project providing infrastructure alongside skills training with local digital ambassadors

Summary

India emphasizes the need to first address connectivity gaps before skills development, while Georgia advocates for simultaneous infrastructure and skills development

Topics

Infrastructure | Development | Sociocultural

Unexpected differences

Integration of digital skills into formal education systems

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Media literacy integrated into formal education as mandatory subject in Georgian public schools

User interfaces need simplification for older people and local language accessibility for disadvantaged sections

Explanation

Unexpectedly, while both countries emphasize inclusive digital education, Georgia focuses on formal curriculum integration for young people, while India emphasizes accessibility improvements for older adults and non-English speakers, suggesting different generational priorities

Topics

Sociocultural | Development | Human rights

Measurement and monitoring approaches for digital inclusion

Speakers

– Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Not just the figures, 5.8 billion people are connected. What are they doing with their connectivity? 2.6 billion people are offline. Who are those? And what are they losing?

Monitoring and course correction using disaggregated data by gender, age, disability, and region

Explanation

Both emphasize the importance of meaningful measurement beyond basic connectivity statistics, but ITU focuses on qualitative assessment of connectivity usage while India emphasizes quantitative disaggregated demographic analysis

Topics

Development | Human rights | Sociocultural

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion revealed relatively low levels of fundamental disagreement, with most differences centered on implementation approaches rather than core objectives. Key areas of disagreement included the balance between public and private sector roles, technical versus human-centered skills training, and sequencing of infrastructure versus skills development.

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level with high consensus on goals but varied approaches. This suggests strong potential for collaborative solutions that combine different methodologies, though coordination challenges may arise from different implementation philosophies and resource allocation strategies.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the human capital challenges in the digital economy, emphasizing that the issue is not technology replacing humans but rather the need for appropriate skills and the current underutilization of existing talent

Speakers

– Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava
– Anna Sophie Herken

Arguments

Workers risk losing jobs not to AI but to people with better digital skills to operate AI-based tools

90% of data workers in India and 45% in Kenya have university degrees, representing massive talent waste

Topics

Economic | Development | Human rights

Both speakers advocate for structured, government-supported digital skills programs with dedicated funding and specific targeting of underserved populations

Speakers

– Hubert Vargas Picado
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Modular and responsive training model offering courses in Python, cybersecurity, and AI with scholarships for youth

National digital literacy missions with ring-fenced budgets targeting women, people with disabilities, rural populations, and older workers

Topics

Development | Sociocultural | Economic

Both speakers emphasize the importance of human-centered approaches to digital education that go beyond technical skills to include emotional intelligence, adaptability, and responsive problem-solving

Speakers

– Gillian Hinde
– Himanshu Rai

Arguments

Beyond digital skills, focus on human transformation including creativity, resilient mindsets, and AI discernment abilities

Compassionate approach requiring action beyond empathy, adapting solutions like WhatsApp modules during COVID

Topics

Sociocultural | Development | Human rights

Key takeaways

Digital skills development requires comprehensive, cross-sectoral collaboration between governments, private sector, educational institutions, and international organizations

The digital divide affects both infrastructure access and skills capacity, with particular challenges in developing countries and among vulnerable populations (women, elderly, rural communities)

Workers face displacement not directly from AI but from other workers who possess better digital skills to operate AI-based tools

Successful digital transformation requires combining infrastructure investment with targeted skills training and inclusive policies

Community-first approaches with local ambassadors and grassroots engagement are essential for effective digital literacy programs

Digital skills training must be continuous, adaptive, and include both technical capabilities and human-centered learning (creativity, critical thinking, AI discernment)

The Global South risks being limited to the bottom of the digital value chain unless deliberate efforts are made to enable local technology development and deployment

Resolutions and action items

ITU and ILO partnership strengthened through Digital Skills Coalition membership and joint toolkit development

ITU Digital Transformation Centers initiative to continue expanding beyond current 500,000+ participants in rural and underserved communities

EU to pursue successor program to Digital Europe Program (currently 416 million euros) focusing on digital academies in AI, quantum, and semiconductors

Georgia to expand media literacy program beyond current 220+ schools to universities and broader population coverage

EY to scale AI skills passport initiative beyond current 16 countries in partnership with Microsoft and local communities

India’s rural digital literacy mission to train 60 million people in rural areas covering 40% of rural households

Continued development of user interfaces in local languages and simplified designs for elderly and disadvantaged populations

Unresolved issues

How to prevent the Global South from being relegated to low-value digital work while benefits accrue to the Global North

Addressing the significant gap between current ICT specialist numbers and 2030 targets (EU currently at 10.4 million vs 20 million target)

Ensuring decent work conditions and fair wages in the growing gig economy and platform work

Bridging the gender gap where only 22% of women pursue AI literacy courses

Managing the transition for the 3.3% of jobs at risk of full automation, particularly administrative roles held by women

Scaling successful local initiatives to national and international levels while maintaining community-centered approaches

Developing effective monitoring systems using disaggregated data to track progress across different demographics and regions

Suggested compromises

Balancing formal education integration with flexible, modular training approaches to accommodate different learning needs and schedules

Combining online and offline training delivery methods to address connectivity limitations and diverse learning preferences

Integrating both basic digital literacy and advanced AI skills training within the same programs to serve different skill levels

Partnering public sector policy frameworks with private sector innovation and investment to leverage both regulatory support and market efficiency

Addressing immediate workforce needs while building long-term educational capacity through dual education models and corporate investment incentives

Focusing on both infrastructure development and skills training simultaneously rather than sequential implementation

Adapting global best practices to local contexts while maintaining international cooperation and knowledge sharing

Today, many workers are at risk of losing their jobs, not because they are being replaced by AI, but because they could be replaced by another person with the right knowledge and skill set. To operate AI-based tools, quantum computing, big data, et cetera.

Speaker

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava

Reason

This reframes the AI displacement narrative from ‘humans vs machines’ to ‘skilled humans vs unskilled humans,’ which is more nuanced and actionable. It shifts focus from fear of technology to the urgency of skills development.

Impact

This comment set the foundational tone for the entire discussion, establishing that the real challenge isn’t AI itself but the skills gap. Subsequent speakers consistently returned to this theme of human agency and the need for proactive upskilling rather than defensive resistance to technology.

We need to take bold steps in addressing the digital skills gaps within our informal sector as well. The likes of street vendors, market traders, artisans, small-scale farmers, and ride-hailing drivers. They too can improve and expand their businesses with the help of AI.

Speaker

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava

Reason

This challenges the common assumption that digital transformation is only relevant for formal, white-collar jobs. It democratizes the conversation by including often-overlooked segments of the economy.

Impact

This broadened the scope of discussion beyond traditional tech jobs and influenced later speakers to address rural communities, women in informal sectors, and grassroots-level interventions. It shifted the conversation from elite-focused to inclusive development.

There have to be the right policies, whether tax, investment, development, or otherwise, to shrink the digital divide, including, in particular, between the Global North and the Global South… we have to create, as we create jobs, there must be social dialogue, and there must be labor market policies to create decent work.

Speaker

Celeste Drake

Reason

This introduces crucial complexity by arguing that skills training alone is insufficient without addressing structural inequalities and job quality. It challenges the techno-optimistic view that skills training automatically leads to better outcomes.

Impact

This comment elevated the discussion from a narrow focus on training programs to broader systemic issues. It influenced subsequent speakers to address infrastructure, policy frameworks, and the quality of digital jobs, not just their quantity.

But that’s not only relevant to the African continent. If you look to India… only one out of three young people are ready for the digital job market… But the risk is that we will not be ready… the risk is that we will not be ready.

Speaker

Anna Sophie Herken

Reason

This creates urgency by highlighting that even in rapidly growing economies like India, digital readiness is critically low. The repetition of ‘we will not be ready’ emphasizes the time-sensitive nature of the challenge.

Impact

This comment shifted the discussion from celebrating progress to acknowledging the scale of unpreparedness globally. It influenced the tone to become more urgent and action-oriented in subsequent contributions.

So this is not only about economy and jobs. It’s also about inclusion, given that pretty much all services now will be digital quite soon… And so this, I think one part of the coin is that we look at sort of what are digital skills. And then the other part is what also the ILO referred to is how do we create decent jobs in the growing digital economy?

Speaker

Anna Sophie Herken

Reason

This reframes digital skills from an economic issue to a fundamental inclusion and citizenship issue, while also distinguishing between skills development and job creation as separate but related challenges.

Impact

This two-part framework (skills + decent jobs) became a recurring theme, with later speakers addressing both components. It helped structure the remaining discussion around these dual imperatives.

I think we have to face the reality, which is very often big tech only lets the global South participate in the very bottom of the digital value chain. And the benefits accrue to the global North. So the solution must be to move more of the work in the global South to the more value creation where it belongs.

Speaker

Anna Sophie Herken

Reason

This is a bold critique of existing power structures in the digital economy, challenging the assumption that any digital participation is inherently beneficial. It calls for structural change rather than just skills adaptation.

Impact

This comment introduced a critical perspective on digital colonialism that hadn’t been explicitly addressed before. It influenced the discussion to consider not just how to participate in the digital economy, but how to participate meaningfully and equitably.

AI is not the future. It’s not. It’s a present. It’s actually passing us by. So we don’t have to look at it as something which is about to come, but it is already here.

Speaker

Himanshu Rai

Reason

This challenges the common framing of AI as a future concern, creating immediate urgency. The phrase ‘passing us by’ suggests that delay equals being left behind permanently.

Impact

This comment created a sense of immediacy that influenced the closing tone of the discussion. It reinforced the urgency established earlier and pushed against any complacency about having time to prepare.

Being compassionate means not only do we get moved by the plight of others, but we also do something to mitigate it… We are empathetic, most of us, that is, which means that when we see some kind of an inequality around us, we tut-tut and we say, not a good thing, but we don’t do anything about it.

Speaker

Himanshu Rai

Reason

This distinguishes between passive empathy and active compassion, challenging participants to move beyond acknowledgment of problems to concrete action. It’s a moral call to action that transcends technical solutions.

Impact

This comment provided a powerful emotional and ethical conclusion to the technical discussion, challenging all participants to examine their own level of commitment to addressing digital inequality. It elevated the conversation from policy discussion to moral imperative.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by progressively deepening and broadening its scope. The conversation evolved from a basic premise about skills gaps to a sophisticated analysis of structural inequalities, power dynamics, and moral imperatives. Zavazava’s opening reframing set a constructive tone that influenced all subsequent contributions. Drake’s emphasis on systemic issues and decent work elevated the discussion beyond simple training solutions. Herken’s critique of digital colonialism introduced critical perspectives on power structures, while Rai’s urgency about AI being present (not future) and his call for compassion provided both temporal urgency and moral grounding. Together, these comments transformed what could have been a routine policy discussion into a nuanced examination of digital transformation’s challenges, moving from technical solutions to questions of equity, inclusion, and global justice. The discussion became increasingly sophisticated and morally grounded as it progressed, largely due to these pivotal interventions.

How can we better measure meaningful connectivity beyond just connection numbers?

Speaker

Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava

Explanation

He emphasized the need to understand what the 5.8 billion connected people are actually doing with their connectivity and who the 2.6 billion offline people are and what they’re losing, suggesting deeper research into connectivity quality and impact is needed.

How can we ensure AI development and deployment benefits are more equitably distributed between Global North and South?

Speaker

Celeste Drake

Explanation

She highlighted the risk that jobs taking advantage of AI’s enhanced productivity might be concentrated in the Global North, leaving others further behind, requiring research into policies that address this digital divide.

How can we move Global South participation from the bottom to higher value creation in the digital value chain?

Speaker

Anna Sophie Herken

Explanation

She pointed out that big tech often only lets the Global South participate in the very bottom of the digital value chain while benefits accrue to the Global North, indicating need for research on strategies to enable higher value participation.

How can we make user interfaces simpler and more accessible for older people and local languages?

Speaker

Himanshu Rai

Explanation

He called for tech companies to address the complexity of user interfaces that prevent older people from using digital services and to make interfaces available in local languages, suggesting research into inclusive design principles.

How can we better anticipate future skills needs rather than training for past jobs?

Speaker

Celeste Drake

Explanation

She emphasized the need for better foresight and skills anticipation to ensure training prepares people for next jobs rather than last jobs, indicating research needed in predictive skills modeling.

How can we create decent work conditions in the growing digital gig economy?

Speaker

Anna Sophie Herken

Explanation

She highlighted poor working conditions for data workers in the Global South who label data for AI applications, suggesting research needed on improving platform worker conditions and rights.

How can we effectively integrate AI tools into digital skills training programs?

Speaker

Ekaterine Imedadze

Explanation

She mentioned that bringing AI to their training tools is part of future work, indicating need for research on effective AI integration in skills development programs.

How can we address the gender divide in AI literacy and careers?

Speaker

Gillian Hinde

Explanation

She noted that only 22% of women are pursuing AI literacy courses and skills in the workforce, suggesting research needed on strategies to increase women’s participation in AI fields.

How can we use disaggregated data to better identify and address digital skills gaps?

Speaker

Himanshu Rai

Explanation

He emphasized the need to use data broken down by gender, age, disability, and region to identify who’s missing and what gaps exist, indicating research needed in data collection and analysis methodologies.