Global Skills | Skill Development | Employability

As technology reshapes jobs, industries and workplace expectations, access to relevant skills training is becoming increasingly important for young people and adults seeking employment and career progression. UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy (GSA) is working to address this challenge by supporting learners worldwide through skills development opportunities focused on employability and workforce readiness.

Operating under the UNESCO Global Education Coalition and aligned with UNESCO’s Strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the Global Skills Academy aims to support 10 million young people and adults globally in building essential skills for improved employability by 2029.

The initiative focuses on digital literacy, entrepreneurial capabilities and green technologies—areas that are increasingly relevant as labour markets respond to technological, economic and societal change.

For the global skills development community, the central question is how initiatives of this scale can help learners move beyond access to training and towards meaningful opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and lifelong learning.

What Is UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy?

The Global Skills Academy is an international initiative designed to address labour-market skills gaps and help individuals prepare for a changing world of work.

It works through strategic partnerships and mobilises 230 TVET institutions across 150 countries through UNESCO and the UNEVOC networks. By examining changing labour-market skills supply and demand, the initiative seeks to connect learners with free training and mentorship programmes that develop capabilities relevant to employment.

Its stated priorities include:

1. Digital literacy and digital skills: Building the capabilities needed to participate in increasingly technology-enabled workplaces.
2. Entrepreneurial skills: Helping learners develop capabilities relevant to business creation, innovation and economic participation.
3. Green technologies: Supporting skills development in areas connected to environmental sustainability and the transition towards greener economies.
4. Employability: Helping young people and adults strengthen their readiness for changing labour-market requirements.

The academy’s approach reflects a broader principle in technical and vocational education: training needs to respond to the skills employers require while helping learners adapt as occupations and technologies evolve.

Why the Global Skills Academy Matters

The information published by UNESCO highlights several challenges affecting access to skills development and employment.

Youth disengagement from education and work: The cited International Labour Organization report states that one in five people aged 15–34 globally remain disengaged from education, employment or training. The source estimates that this represents 360 million young people seeking opportunities through education, training and employment.

Changing workplace requirements: The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 is cited in UNESCO’s material in connection with the expectation that 43% of business tasks would be automated by 2027. This points to the importance of reskilling and upskilling as organisations adopt new technologies and change how work is performed.

The need for green skills: UNESCO’s material cites LinkedIn research indicating that 12% of jobs have green skills, while 22% of job postings require at least one green skill. The figures highlight the importance of understanding the relationship between the supply of skilled workers and employers’ changing requirements.

Informal employment: The material also cites an estimate that 58% of workers globally remain in informal employment. For these workers, access to relevant learning and skills development can be important, although training alone cannot resolve every barrier associated with informal work.

Taken together, these challenges demonstrate why skills development needs to be accessible, relevant and responsive to labour-market change.

Skills for the Future: A Global Collaboration Platform

A key component of the initiative is the Skills for the Future platform, an open-access global hub convened by UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy in collaboration with KPMG International.

The platform aims to connect businesses, civil society organisations and young people, enabling them to build partnerships, share initiatives and contribute to progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which focuses on quality education.

Its objectives include:

1. Connecting organisations and initiatives working on future-oriented skills.
2. Encouraging inclusive partnerships across sectors.
3. Amplifying collective action to improve education and skills opportunities.
4. Supporting a more inclusive, resilient and future-ready generation.

The platform’s value lies in bringing different stakeholders into a shared space. Employers understand changing workplace requirements, education and training institutions deliver learning, and civil society organisations can help connect underserved communities with opportunities.

Collaboration can make skills initiatives more responsive, provided that partnerships translate into accessible programmes and tangible benefits for learners.

Explore the UNESCO Skills for the Future platform.

AI EmpowerED and the Changing Skills Agenda

UNESCO’s supplied Global Skills Academy material introduces AI EmpowerED as a further component of its skills-related content. However, the provided text does not include details of the programme’s eligibility, course offerings, delivery format, duration, certification or application procedure.

Readers interested in AI-related training should consult the official UNESCO pages for current information before assuming that a particular course is available or that registration is open.

The broader skills agenda described by the academy nevertheless places digital capabilities alongside entrepreneurship and green technologies. This reflects the importance of helping learners develop skills that can remain useful as workplace tasks and technologies change.

Digital literacy is not simply about knowing how to operate a device or application. In many contexts, it also involves using digital tools appropriately, evaluating information and adapting to new systems. The specific capabilities required will vary by occupation and training programme.

Who Can Benefit From the Global Skills Academy?

The academy’s stated ambition covers young people and adults around the world. Its emphasis on employability and future-ready capabilities is relevant to several groups.

Young people preparing to enter employment may benefit from opportunities to develop digital, entrepreneurial and other relevant skills alongside their formal education.

Adults seeking to change careers may find reskilling and upskilling important as technology and economic change affect their existing occupations.

Workers looking to strengthen their capabilities may use further learning to respond to new tools, processes and workplace requirements.

TVET institutions and training providers can contribute through partnerships and programmes that connect skills development with changing labour-market needs.

However, the supplied information does not establish a single eligibility process or guarantee that every learner can enrol directly in a particular course. Availability, entry requirements and delivery arrangements should be checked for each programme.

From Training Access to Employment Outcomes

The Global Skills Academy’s ambition to support 10 million learners by 2029 is substantial. Achieving meaningful impact, however, requires more than expanding the number of people who encounter training opportunities.

The effectiveness of skills development depends on whether learners acquire relevant capabilities and can use them in real situations. This requires attention to the quality of instruction, accessibility of programmes, relevance of course content and connection between learning and employment opportunities.

For initiatives such as the GSA, useful measures of impact would include learner participation and completion, demonstrated skills, access to further learning, employment transitions and the ability to apply acquired capabilities in the workplace. These are suggested evaluation measures, not outcomes established by the supplied UNESCO material.

Training can strengthen employability, but employment also depends on job availability, local economic conditions, employer practices and other factors. A credible skills initiative must recognise this distinction.

What the Initiative Means for India’s Skills Development Ecosystem

For India, the Global Skills Academy’s focus on digital literacy, entrepreneurship, green technologies and TVET offers a useful international perspective on the skills required in a changing economy.

Its network-based approach also highlights the importance of collaboration among training institutions, employers, policymakers and other organisations. Skills programmes become more relevant when learning opportunities reflect actual occupational requirements and learners can access practical pathways to apply what they learn.

India’s skills development ecosystem can draw broader lessons from the academy’s stated priorities:

1. Keep training aligned with evolving labour-market requirements.
2. Expand access to relevant digital and green skills.
3. Support lifelong learning and opportunities for adults to update their capabilities.
4. Strengthen partnerships between training providers and employers.
5. Evaluate skills initiatives through learner outcomes, not participation figures alone.

These are broader implications of the initiative’s approach, rather than evidence of specific partnerships or programme availability in India.

Conclusion: Preparing People for a Changing World of Work

UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy aims to support 10 million young people and adults worldwide in developing essential skills for improved employability by 2029. Through its international TVET network, free training and mentorship opportunities, and the Skills for the Future platform, it seeks to strengthen access to learning relevant to the changing world of work.

Its priorities—digital skills, entrepreneurship and green technologies—reflect the need for workers to adapt as economies, industries and occupations evolve.

The challenge is to ensure that access to training translates into relevant capabilities and better opportunities for learners. That requires quality learning, inclusive delivery, effective partnerships and a clear understanding of employment needs.

For SkillCouncils.Com, the key takeaway is that future-ready skills development must connect learning with opportunity. The measure of success is not simply how many people receive training, but whether they gain capabilities they can use to build sustainable livelihoods and navigate a changing labour market.