IGF 2019 WS #252
Equipping the workforce for the digital transformation

Relevance to Theme: This workshop aims to contribute to the broader discussion on policies for improving access to equitable opportunities for all in a digital age and will focus on ICT skills for employability.
Both co-organisers have digital inclusion as a core mission. The ALL DIGITAL network has been working for more than 10 years in Europe to promote the right access, skills, motivation and trust for everyone to confidently go online. Its annual flagship awareness-raising campaign ALL DIGITAL week, previously called Get Online Week, is aimed exactly at this – demystifying technology and getting more and more people to use the Internet confidently and critically. It tackles all four aspects mentioned above (1) access 2) skills 3) motivation and 4) trust.
NairoBits Trust is a not for profit organisation based in Nairobi, Kenya. For the last 20 years NairoBits exists to promote creative use of ICT that positively transforms and empowers disadvantaged youth for enhanced quality of life. NairoBits advocates for proper use of Internet and technology to provide innovative solutions for marginalised and underserved communities and employment for the youth, especially the minorities such as those living with disabilities. The Nairobits model has been successfully exported in other countries in the region.
Our collective experience has shown that when it comes to motivation, the prospect of (better) employment is key. People are more likely to embrace skills training when they know that the newly acquired skills will lead them to (better) jobs, and respectively, better future. This is why in this workshop we chose to focus on the 5th illustrative question under the Digital Inclusion theme, namely “How do we best equip the workforce of the 21st century with the necessary skills to take advantage of the new employment opportunities that will result from digital transformation? How do we ensure that these skills and employment opportunities are equitable to all and that the global south is equipment to participate on an equal footing?”.
The workshop proposers are working on equipping the workforce with the necessary skills for accessing (new) job opportunities in Europe and Africa. In both regions they implement a number of projects and initiatives focusing on different target groups, because their offers are tailor-made and flexible. Thus, based on their experience, the organisers have identified three inter-related sub-topics which will be the basis of the breakout group discussions. Each topic will be introduced by experts and illustrated by examples from the two focus regions, before participants engage in the group discussions.
- supporting girls and women with digital and entrepreneurship skills (SmartWomenProject.eu and https://nairobits.com/program/sistech/). Under this sub-topic, we will discuss the gender gap in ICT from the perspective “empowerment” of girls and women and boosting their participation. Labour market participation rates of women are lower in Europe and across the world. The digital transformation offers plenty of opportunities to use digital tools to provide flexible working opportunities for women and men. According to Eurostat, the ICT field is predominately male, with females representing only 17.2% of all ICT specialists employed in the EU. According to a survey conducted by Joburg Center for Software Engineering, only 21% of ICT jobs in Africa are held by women. The Research ICT Africa survey results show that Internet usage is not common in Africa (https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/After-Acces…). Disparities within the region are significant with 49,7% total internet users in South Africa against 8,2% in Rwanda. In Kenya 25,6% of the population access the Internet, with 50% more men using it than women.
Against this background, Smart Women and Entrepreneuship4Women are two examples from the ALL DIGITAL network that aim to integrate women into the labour market. Women gain entrepreneurial and digital skills they need for the job market. The concept behind these projects is to raise the digital skills of entrepreneurial women to take their business online. The course is delivered to women who already have a business or a business idea and a basic level of digital skills. The women who took part in the pilots represented a diverse group: elderly women in rural communities who gained digital skills to sell their agricultural products and handicrafts online, migrants and refugees, women managing a family business, e.g. a guest house. Women who were left out of the workforce after starting a family also took part in the course, noting the it gave them tools to re-start their careers.
Nairobits’ SisTech program was established in 2015, when Nairobits in partnership with the Malala Fund opened three girl centers targeting marginalized girls aged 17 to 19 from informal settlements. Nairobits works with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to reach the most vulnerable girls and actively involves business companies to provide information on skills demands and job market, train and thereafter offer job placements for the girls who successfully complete the training. This model provides relevant hands-on skills for the girls; therefore, channeling qualified and skilled girls to meet the needs of the labor market. Since its inception in 2015, 399 girls have received training with 50% girls employed in ICT companies, 20% ventured into entrepreneurship, 10% are currently pursuing higher education with a significant number involved in community projects.
- re-skilling unemployed people with digital skills for digital jobs by working in partnership with companies (Digital SkillShift). Here we will focus on how to work together with companies and why they should be interested in working with non-formal training providers to prepare their future workforce. One of the highest risks for society in the future is not that jobs that will disappear because of the digital transformation, but the shortage of reskilling and upskilling training offers that can qualify employees to access other or even newly created jobs. 74% of people who lack sufficient digital skills expect that their job will change/become automated due to the use of robots and AI, and 44% who are currently working think their current job could at least partly be done by a robot or AI (EC Eurobarometer survey, May 2017). At the same time, there are not enough training offers to equip people with digital skills and many are at risk of being left behind from the digital translation. Companies should be equally concerned with this trend because they will be in need of people with the right skills for their jobs. To counter this challenge, training offers need to be developed that include the skills and competencies that companies need and that builds on the existing skills level of the trainees. The new skills will include critically using the Internet as a resource to solve problems, to communicate, and to organise.
The ultimate aim of the Digital SkillShift project is to enable new work-related opportunities for the beneficiaries of the training, by developing new skills and attitudes required for today’s labour market. The project also wishes to mobilise employers to support a new way of thinking about employment and recruitment. It promotes the idea of employers’ ongoing engagement in the process of preparing their (future) employees through tailor-made training programmes, rather than simply going to the market when they need to fill in a position.
The Nairobits 3-stage ICT training (https://nairobits.com/program/information-communication-technology/) is also aimed at equipping low-skilled young people and getting them ready to get decent jobs. In doing this, Nairobits works closely with business partners who absorb the trained youth for internships in Nairobi and across the country. This network of Partners has placed NairoBits in a wider social network as the alumni are to be found in the ICT sector all over the country and beyond.
- up-skilling low digitally skilled people (people with no or basic digital skills) to get them started and give them a chance in today’s labour market. The focus here is on basic digital skills needed, the DigComp and the possibility to adopt it at global level, the fact that when we are talking about digital skills for the workforce, it is not only about ICT professionals, but everyone. This topic is illustrated by the Digital Competence Development System, that ALL DIGITAL is developing in Europe, as well as by the first course of Nairobits’ ICT training, known as Getting Connected. It introduces basic computer knowledge aiming to have the students feel comfortable using the computer and familiarize themselves with the possibilities it offers. This first course also aims to get the students in the right frame of mind for the rest of the training.
Thus, by focusing on digital skills for the workforce, we also address issues raised in the other illustrative questions such as addressing disadvantaged groups, gender equality in ICT (in Internet access, but also skills), how to share responsibility with companies and public authorities in skills development, and digital literacy as a forth pillar of education.

Relevance to Internet Governance: The pursuit of sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs cannot be complete without considering the effects of digitalisation. Digital inclusion is conducive to sustainable development by supporting no less than 4 sustainable development goals: Quality education, Gender equality, Decent work and economic growth and Reducing inequalities. For this to be possible, populations must be equipped with the necessary skills to meaningfully use and benefit from the full potential of ICT. Digital inclusion is a political and sociodemographic issue related to internet governance.
The Internet has an immense potential to facilitate people’s lives in many ways: finding crucial and sometimes even life-saving information, accessing a wide array of public services, staying connected with friends and family, studying and finding employment. Today is it almost impossible to find (or keep) a job if one does not have the necessary skills to use the Internet and digital technology.
Further to this, according to European statistics, in the coming years 90% of jobs will require digital skills and competences at a higher than basic level (https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/grand-coalition-digital-j…). While some are sceptical about the extent to which the nature of work will change due to the digital transformation, hardly anyone doubts that people will need to be able to access and use the Internet in almost all workplaces. Not only in, but also outside of the office. Farmers, electricians, car mechanics, police detectives, teachers and doctors, among others (https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/report-shows-digital…), use digital tools and Internet in their everyday tasks. Most job offers are advertised and applied for online. Therefore, education and empowering learners and workers with digital skills is one means to ensure digital skills gaps do not create further inequalities, people can be employed in decent work, and attain quality education to fully tap the potential of the Internet.
Basic digital skills in the EU are tightly related to Internet use. In fact, the number of people without basic digital skills is estimated to a large extent based on their ability to perform various operations using the Internet (e.g. finding information online, sending/receiving e-mails, making online purchases, using online services, etc. – see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/tepsr_sp410_esmsip2.htm). In 2018, even in Europe 15% of the population aged 16-74 did not use Internet in the last 3 months, while in 2017 as many as 43% of Europeans lacked basic digital skills. All these people are at risk of losing their jobs or being unable to find one. In Africa 43% fewer women than men have access to Internet. In Kenya, only 21.3% of women are salaried. The lack of digital skills locks them out of the labour force and hinders them from accessing decent and gainful employment.