BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin helped lead a joint session organized by ITU and UNITAR on the need to accelerate actions around digital skills development, as part of efforts to bring meaningful connectivity to the billions still unable to leverage the full transformational power of digital technologies.
The session highlighted the importance of digital skills and capacity for achievement of the SDGs, and presented methodologies for carrying out national digital skills assessments that can help inform government policy and actions by other stakeholders.
During the session, the Director highlighted the ITU's new Digital Skills Assessment Guidebook, which offers step-by-step guidelines on how to undertake assessments, which methodologies and approaches to apply, and which data sources to use.
The session was moderated by Ursula Wynhoven, ITU Representative to the United Nations, New York, and Ms Bogdan-Martin was joined by Einar Bjorgo, Director, Division for Satellite Applications and Applied Research at ITU's sister agency, UNITAR.
In her keynote address to the more than 1,200 participants registered for the event, she observed that COVID has thrown a sharp spotlight on what it means to be unconnected in the digital age. “There is no doubt whatsoever that the next ten years of our UN Decade of Action will also be a decade of ever more rapid technological progress," she said. “And I believe that the 'transformative pathways' and 'accelerated action' we are searching for to drive faster progress towards the SDGs need to be built on broadband. Digital technologies are the vital catalyst that will help us achieve our Global Goals. And empowering people to use, adapt and develop digital tools will be a fundamental stepping stone to progress on each and every one of the 17 SDGs.
Keynote addresses by Ms Bogdan-Martin and Mr Bjorgo were followed by a lively panel discussion addressing questions such as why digital capacities and skills are critical to development, how countries can assess national digital skills needs to better target policies, and how to ensure young people have the digital skills demanded by industry. Panelists included Susan Teltscher, Head, Capacity and Digital Skills Development at ITU; Stacey Wedlake, Research Analyst and Coordinator, Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington; Angus Mackay, Director, Division for Planet, UNITAR; and Abraham Kofi Asante, CEO, Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications.
