‘More timely than ever’: EU4Digital holds training on Digital Skills and Jobs Coalitions for Ukraine

The EU4Digital Facility organised a training for Ukraine on the management of National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalitions on 27 October – an initiative described as “more timely than ever” by Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Education and Science for digital transformation.

The objective of the training was to introduce national experts from Ukraine to in-depth principles of managing national coalitions, and to discuss recommendations for the next steps once a National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition is established in Ukraine.

The training covered:

• Principles and best practices for designing National Digital skills strategies and Action plans;
• EU best practices regarding National Coalitions promoting digital skills for all citizens, as well as specifically in SMEs, the workforce and education;
• Best practices of the DigComp Framework recognition, and implementation at governmental level.

The event was positively received by Ukrainian government officials who took part in the online event.

Artur Seletskiy, Deputy Minister of Education and Science in Ukraine for digital transformation, said “the initiative to conduct this training is more timely than ever, because the current situation with forced distance work and study reveals the gaps in digital education, in particular in digital literacy of the population.” 

Reaffirming his own and the Ministry’s commitment to digital transformation and to increasing Ukraine’s digital competence, he said: “I hope that today we were able to gain from our EU4Digital partners invaluable experience, in particular regarding the methodology of assessing the digital literacy skills of teachers and students, and best practices in conducting relevant research.”

Valerie Ionan, The Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine, echoed Mr. Seletskiy’s words on the commitment to digital transformation and increasing the population’s digital literacy, emphasising its importance in the context of the launch of a national digital education platform, which is set to engage and train more than six million Ukrainians. “We highly appreciate the support for our efforts from the EU4Digital eSkills team and network in Ukraine. The EU experience in developing eSkills strategies and initiatives, adapting existing digital competence frameworks, introducing new job profiles, sharing best practices, all of these help to speed up our internal digitisation process, especially in the field of digital skills,” she said.

Tatiana Nanaieva, Digital Skills Expert at the Ministry of Digital Transformation in Ukraine and EU4Digital eSkills Network Coordinator in Ukraine, emphasised the success of digital transformation in the EU Member States and the importance of adopting the best EU practices: ”The EU4Digital network helps to consolidate the efforts of the different stakeholders in Ukraine aiming to develop strong digital skills in society. It empowers us with EU experience and best practices in digital skills strategies development, setting initiatives, adapting the DigComp frameworks for different target audiences.  The achieved results in the Basque Country, Latvia, Ireland other EU countries are really inspiring. By adopting the best EU practices and developing our own strategies and activities, we strive to foster our internal digital transformation processes in society and the economy. Digital skills are crucial. The most innovative technologies mean nothing if people cannot use them properly and efficiently.”    

The EU4Digital Digital Skills Network serves as a 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 as well as providing in-depth expert insights for the development of digital skills.