UNESCO
EXTENDED - Artificial Intelligence Capacity Building Report and Digital Transformation Competency Framework Request for proposal

Reference: CI/DIT/21/65
Beneficiary countries: France
Published on: 05-Nov-2021
Deadline on: 21-Nov-2021 23:59 (GMT 1.00)

Description

UNESCO launches a Request for Proposals on behalf of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, particularly its Working Group on AI Capacity Building.

In 2021, UNESCO published the Artificial Intelligence Capacity Building Needs Assessment survey in Africa that outlined the policy priorities and capacity building needs of 32 countries in Africa. Governments play a critical role in addressing the social, legal, economic, and ethical challenges and opportunities associated with AI.  The report identified an urgent need to strengthen capacities of government officials to leverage digital technologies and to respond to the socio-economic and human rights challenges engendered by their use.

 

The challenges of digital era governance require a new set of skills and competencies from civil services to ensure that digital transformation and regulatory initiatives are in line with a human rights-, openness-, inclusive access- and multistakeholder participation and gender equality-based approach. Gender equality, one of UNESCO’s two global priorities, needs to be included in the reflection and research from the outset, including screening proposed frameworks and actions from a gender transformative perspective, thus also contributing to SDG 4.

Objectives of the report

The research will assess human capacity needs for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital transformation in the public sector, particularly from a Global South perspective. Original research for the report will include:

  • Series of interviews with potential users of the framework, particularly national policy makers, but also future regional and international users,
  • Collection and assessment of good practices and case studies globally,
  • Competency Framework on Digital Transformation including AI, in support of civil services and policy makers, particularly of the Global South and
  • evidence-based recommendations and the design of a pilot programme and strategic advice on how to network and scale up the deployment of the competency framework for capacity development for civil servants.

The recommendations and the framework should be context sensitive and adaptable for use to support capacity building for civil services across different ministries and levels of government, depending on the diverse context of the country.

Please refer to attached procurement notice.

NOTE : New/Extended submission deadline, 21 November 2021, 23:59 CET