Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook
Official Launch Webinar for Africa
ITU was pleased to organise a virtual workshop to launch the
ITU Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook on
14 October 2020 from 13:00 to 16:00 CAT (GMT+2). Under the theme “
Towards the Development of National Digital Skills Strategies: Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook", ITU officially launched the guidebook to ITU stakeholders in Africa and elaborate on its role.
Organized within the framework of the ITU Regional Initiative for Africa on
“Strengthening human and institutional capacity building", the objective of the worshop was to seek the engagement of stakeholders in the development of the national digital skills strategies across the region. The webinar was built on the Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook, officially launched on 28 May 2020 and aimed to share practical use cases in the context of African countries.
The
Guidebook aims at assisting the Member States in determining the existing national supply of digital skills, to assess the skills demanded from industry and other sectors to identify skills gaps, and to develop policies to address future digital skills requirements.
The Guidebook, which draws on and complements the ITU Digital Skills Toolkit published in 2018, is designed for use by policy-makers and other stakeholders, such as partners in the private sector, non-governmental organizations and academia, who may need to undertake skills assessments at the national level.
Digital skills are fast becoming essential for people to navigate ordinary day-to-day activities such as using a mobile phone to transfer money to family members via digital financial services, using the Internet for remote education classes and to research, prepare and deliver coursework, and acquiring basic skills for staying safe online. In the workplace, digital skills are required for an ever-growing number of jobs, and even in traditionally manual sectors like agriculture, digital applications are beginning to make inroads, with a corresponding requirement for some level of digital literacy.
The guidebook comprises the following five chapters:
- Chapter 1 reviews existing work on national digital skills assessments, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of digital skills assessment tools that can be employed as part of a national-level assessment
- Chapter 2 provides a step-by-step approach for assessing the current supply of digital skills.
- Chapter 3 provides a step-by-step approach for determining a country's current level of demand for digital skills and identifying any skills mismatch.
- Chapter 4 addresses future technology trends and how to conduct digital skills anticipation exercises.
- Chapter 5 contains a summary and conclusions.
In the Appendix, readers can find additional resources and tools which policy-makers and stakeholders can use in developing ideas suited to their specific country or context.
AGENDA
Wednesday, 14 October 2020
13:00 – 16:00 Central African Time (CAT) (GMT+2)
Towards the Development of National Digital Skills Strategies :
Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook
The Africa launch of the ITU Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook, under the theme
“Towards the Development of National Digital Skills Strategies: Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook" will focus on elaborating the role of the Guidebook in the development of National Digital Skills Strategies.
13:00 – 13:15
Opening and Welcoming Remarks
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Opening and Welcoming remarks: Mr Andrew Rugege, Director, ITU Regional Office for Africa, BDT/ITU
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Practical Information on the conduct of the workshop:
Ida Jallow, Program Coordinator, ITU Regional Office for Africa, BDT/ITU
13:15 – 14:15 ITU Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook
ITU’s work on developing digital skills | Objectives, target audience and content of the Guidebook | Review of existing frameworks and approaches (examples) | How to implement national digital skills assessments (step-by-step guidance)
14:15 – 14:40 Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook rollout
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The role of the ITU Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook for the development of ICT Blueprint for skills development and capacity building at national and regional level
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Ms Thelma Efua Quaye, Head of Digital Infrastructure, Smart Africa (Presentation)
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ITU-ILO-AU joint initiative on Boosting decent jobs and enhancing skills for youth in Africa’s digital economy
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Ms Christine Sund, Senior Advisor, ITU Regional Office for Africa BDT/ITU (Presentation)
14:40 – 15:50 Interventions by countries and open discussion
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National Digital and Future Strategy: Originality, agility, critical thinking and problem-solving for digital inclusion
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Mr Lwazi Ndzena, Chief Director, Information Society Development and Coordination, Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, South Africa (Presentation)
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Digital skills critical for empowerment, jobs and social inclusion in Africa
- Mr Kossonou Kouakou Rodolphe, Head of Continuing Education, Ecole Supérieure Africaine des Technologies de l'Information (ESATIC), Côte d'Ivoire
- The shortage of digital skills as one of the factors inhibiting growth of the ICT sector in Ghana
- Ms Abena Nyamesem, Ghana Invevestment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Ghana (Presentation)
15:50 – 16:00 Conclusions and way forward for implementation
- Mr Andrew Rugege, Director, ITU Regional Office for Africa
