Blog of Evelyne Para, Soroptimist International Representative at UNESCO, Paris.
Digital transformation in the public sector is essential to modernise public services delivery, improve transparency, foster citizen participation, and ensure secure, data-driven decision-making. However, the public sector often lacks the capacity to support digital transformation due to insufficient digital skills, outdated infrastructure, and legal or institutional frameworks that do not support innovation. This lack of capacity is a significant obstacle for governments wishing to harness the potential of digital technologies and bridge the digital divide.
In this context, UNESCO organised a Conference on “Capacity Building for AI and Digital Transformation in the Public Sector” in Paris on 4 and 5 June 2025.
This two-day conference brought together a wide range of participants, including numerous policymakers, business leaders, academics, several NGOs and civil society representatives. It highlighted and provided an opportunity to discuss strategies to empower public servants to drive digital transformation in public administration, ensuring sustainable, human rights-based, and inclusive governance, particularly for women and certain population groups affected by the digital divide.
I had the opportunity to participate in this conference, and I would like to share with you some of the information I gathered.
What are the main challenges to be addressed?
>>> Cultural and organisational barriers
A work culture that is unwilling to experiment and innovate, as well as a low level of leadership support for pursuing innovative ideas, pose challenges to digital transformation initiatives within governments. For example, 47 per cent of the 198 countries surveyed at this conference do not have a strategy to improve digital skills.
>>> Data and Structure Obstacles
In several countries, the lack of available, well-managed and accessible data sets is hampering national digital transformation efforts.
>>> Human resources skills
Skills gaps related to AI and digital transformation are amplified by low investment in digital skills and in training staff to understand, analyse and use data.
The main objectives of the Conference
- Empowering public administrations: Fostering an environment conducive to digital transformation by improving the digital skills of civil servants, including by encouraging a network of public administration schools for digital transformation.
- Foster knowledge exchange and partnerships: A platform for sharing experiences and best practices, promoting mutual learning and collaborative approaches with a diverse range of stakeholders on AI, data governance and digital transformation in the public sector.
- Enhance global digital cooperation: Strengthen global digital cooperation and advance global frameworks and standards, coordinating with the private sector, governments and UN entities.
UNESCO’s important contributions …
UNESCO provides its Member States and the international community with the tools needed to advance digital cooperation for the benefit of all, so that no one is left behind. It serves as a standard-setting body for new forms of digital regulation, the creation of enabling digital environments, and the protection of societies, by establishing international standards.
Thus, a Skills Framework on AI and digital transformation for civil servants has been established.
UNESCO has also led robust and diverse capacity-building efforts by launching trainings, webinars, and online courses at the national, regional, and global levels. For example, UNESCO has played a central role in improving teachers’ capacity to use ICT for online learning. And also in enabling their students to fully exploit the benefits of digital technologies, critically analyse collected data, and combat their misuse, telling them: “Think critically, and Click wisely”.
… And also the contributions of NGOs
Working within several working groups within UNESCO, NGOs have encouraged these different orientations. They have ensured inclusion in terms of accessibility, gender equality and quality of information, but also that access meets specific local needs and the material situation of learners, including those related to the digital divide.
Ethics must remain the compass that will guide us into the future. For us, this is an issue to follow closely…
