ABSTRACT
Rethinking the learning and capacity-building agenda is relevant because of some opportunities and several challenges the world is facing today. Notable is the ongoing digital transformation that is leading to a ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT), advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that are changing the stability of jobs and careers, while also requiring lifelong learning as the “new normal.” Equally significant are the multiple challenges the world is facing today: the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that pivoted the entire global community to virtual learning; the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution, disrupting safe jobs while highlighting the urgency to pursue lifelong learning; the persistence of learning poverty in the poorest countries of the world that constrain the ability of youths to compete for 21st-century jobs; concerns with climate change and, more broadly, on how the 2030 targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved. The scale of the above challenges highlights the critical role of capacity building and the massive reskilling and upskilled needed.
