The EU4Digital Facility organised a virtual training on the establishment and management of National Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs on 13 July 2020. 

The objective of the training was to introduce participants to best EU practices for the establishment and management of National Coalitions and to discuss recommendations and principles for the establishment of Coalitions in Eastern partner countries. More than 30 participants from all six Eastern partner countries participated in the training, representing a wide range of stakeholders, including the public sector, NGOs and the private sector. 

The training covered the role of the National Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs in four key activity areas: 

• digital skills for all;
• digital skills for the labour force;
• digital skills for ICT professionals;
• digital skills in education. 

During the training, experiences in establishing and running National Coalitions from Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland were shared. The training featured Mary Cleary (Irish National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, Irish Computer Society), Loreta Krizniauskiene (Association Langas į ateitį, National Digital Coalition in Lithuania) and EU4Digital Facility experts as speakers. The training concluded with a discussion on the status, priorities and challenges in establishing and running National Coalitions of each Eastern partner country. 

In their feedback, participants from the Eastern partner countries welcomed the information about managing Coalitions and the key steps in the process, expressing the hope that such trainings would lead to greater cooperation to harmonise digital skills developments in every country.

“It is very important to organise the coalition well (structure, goal setting, activity plan), to identify and involve all necessary actors in different fields that would bring value to the basic goal, clear setting of priorities, but also responsibilities, expectations from each member,” said one participant.

Currently, National Coalitions have been established in two Eastern partner countries – Armenia (2017) and Ukraine (2019) – with discussions on their establishment underway in other countries. This training was carried out as part of EU4Digital Facility activities, which include a series of trainings, conferences and study visits to support best practice sharing between the EU and Eastern partner countries on digital skills topics. The priorities for trainings were defined by the Digital Skills Network during a Webinar held on 29 April 2020. 

The EU4Digital Digital Skills Network serves as platform for sharing best practices and experiences among the six Eastern partner countries and with the EU, promoting synergies and developing ideas for joint harmonisation projects. The EU4Digital Facility supports the Network through several activities, including the organisation of trainings, conferences and study visits for policy makers and training providers and support for the establishment of National Coalitions in Eastern partner countries.