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  1. ILO Skills Innovation Facility

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  1. 1st Skills Challenge Innovation Call

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ILO Skills Innovation Facility

Skills and Employability Branch
International Labour Office
4 Route des Morillons
Geneva, Switzerland
CH-1211

Email : skills@ilo.org

Skills Innovation Facility

Skills systems are confronted by the need to respond to increasingly dynamic and fluid labour market and societal conditions. Climate change, technology, demographic shifts, migration and globalization are causing increasing disruption to the world of work, while making skills development increasingly complex, fluid and unpredictable. Addressing contemporary skills challenges requires more dynamic and integrated skills and lifelong learning ecosystems.

Recognizing the importance of innovation for the renewed calls for lifelong learning, the ILO has initiated the development of a Skills Innovation Facility. The Facility identifies and tests promising and innovative ideas and solutions that address the major skills challenges of today and of tomorrow. Learn more

Our goals

  • To engage with constituents in all regions on key skills issues;
  • To provide the technical and financial assistance to partners to facilitate innovation in skills systems;
  • To support the development, piloting and replication of successful and innovative solutions to major skills challenges;
  • To create a global collaborative network of innovators that work together to solve the most pressing skills issues.

The process

We support innovation by identifying the most pressing challenges in skills development, sourcing new ideas and potential solutions, providing technical support and guidance to develop and test prototypes, and facilitating knowledge sharing and access to a global network of skills innovators. These five stages are shown in the figure below.


Skills Innovation Facility process

Our Initiatives

Skills Challenge Innovation Calls Inviting individuals and organizations to propose new and practical ideas and solutions to key challenges.
Skills Innovation Labs Convening key stakeholders to design and test prototype solutions to difficult skills challenges.
Skills Innovation Network Building a network of innovators to share ideas, experiences and collaborate to develop and scale innovations for identified skills challenges.
 

Latest

  1. ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call: winning proposals from Ecuador and Comoros start their innovation journey

    Winning entries of the 2nd and 3rd Skills Challenge Innovation Calls were successfully launched in Ecuador and Comoros, with winning teams, partners and their networks expressing their commitment to support e-formality through skills development in Latin America and the Caribbean and around the prevention of forced labour through skills and lifelong learning in Africa.

  2. ILO announces the winners of the 3rd ILO Skills Innovation Call on Preventing forced labour in Africa

    The winner of the 3rd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call has been announced, and the USD 30,000 prize has gone to a youth entrepreneurship network in Comoros.

  3. ILO announces winners of the 2nd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call on e-formality and skills development

    Winning proposals offer innovative solutions for labour formalization in Latin America and the Caribbean through new technologies and skills development.

  4. Meet the finalists of the 3rd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call on Preventing forced labour in Africa

    The finalists will be invited to present their ideas in a virtual pitch event, which will be the final stage of the evaluation process.

  5. e-formality and skills development

    Pitch Day: The power of innovation

    During the event, the finalists of the 2nd Skills Challenge Innovation Call will present their ideas to boost formalization through technology and skills development in the region.

  6. Finalists of the 3rd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call on Preventing Forced labour to be announced on 27 October

    The finalists will move on to the next stage of the evaluation process and will be invited to present their ideas to an independent panel of judges.

  7. Meet the finalists of the 2nd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    The finalists will have the opportunity to present their projects during a live-streamed event on 4 November 2021.

  8. 2nd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call: Finalists to be revealed on 13 October

    Finalists will be invited to pitch their ideas during a live event taking place on 4 November.

  9. 3rd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    Preventing forced labour in Africa through skills and lifelong learning

    The ILO Skills Innovation Facility, in collaboration with the Alliance 8.7, is calling on entities or legally recognized non-profit organizations to share innovative ideas and solutions that can contribute to the prevention of forced labour in Africa through skills and lifelong learning.

  10. 2nd ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    e-formality and skills development in Latin America and the Caribbean

    The ILO is looking for entities or organizations that have innovative ideas and solutions that, based on the use of new technologies, promote skills development to facilitate the formalization of labour and economic units in Latin America and the Caribbean.
    Deadline for participation: 15 June 2021, midnight Geneva time.

  11. Cambodia Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    Winners of the inaugural Cambodia Skills Challenge Innovation Call announced

    The Innovation Call has identified three promising and innovative projects that will contribute to providing young Cambodians, especially those most affected by COVID-19, with opportunities to acquire skills that lead to decent jobs as well as accredited certificates.

  12. Winner Announcement Ceremony

    Meet the winners of the 1st Cambodia Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    The Ceremony will be presided over by the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training and the Resident Coordinator of the UN in Cambodia, along with the participation of the Director of the ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR.

  13. DACUM workshop

    Support for the Development of a Curriculum for Domestic Workers in Zimbabwe

    The International Labour Organization (ILO), together with national stakeholders, is organizing a three-day workshop on domestic workers curriculum development as part of the Skills Innovation Lab’s activities to support the Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe (DWAZ), winner of the 1st Skills Challenge Innovation Call.

  14. Online workshop

    1st Meeting of ILO Skills Innovation Network Core Group 

    The Skills Innovation Network intends to engage all organizations and individuals having submitted proposals in the ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call and provide them with space to connect with lead organizations working on similar issues across the world, refine their proposals, and initiate new endeavours around joint areas of interest.

  15. Online bootcamp

    ILO Skills Challenge and Innovation Bootcamp

    The Skills Innovation Bootcamp will provide the required support to help the Decent Workers Association of Zimbabwe to implement its project.

  16. Interview

    Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe wins the ILO Skills Innovators Challenge

    Winner of the ILO Innovators Challenge proposes to empower domestic workers with skills that respond to their current working world.

  17. Press release

    1st ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call winner announced

    The winner of the first ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call has been announced, and the USD 50,000 prize has gone to a domestic workers association in Zimbabwe.

  19. Results announcement

    Meet the finalists of the 1st ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    The finalists and semi-finalists of the first ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call has been announced.

  20. Call

    ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call draws 473 applications from nearly 100 countries

    The Skills Challenge Innovation Call , launched by the International Labour Organization on 29 January, attracted an impressive number of participants. A total of 473 proposals from 96 countries were received by the end of the submission period on 30 April 2020.

  21. Call

    First ILO Skills Challenge Call: Finding solutions to skills mismatch

    The ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call will recognise and support the development of solutions that aim to address the different forms and dimensions of skills mismatch.

  22. Article

    What is skills mismatch and why should we care?

    Skills mismatch is a discrepancy between the skills that are sought by employers and the skills that are possessed by individuals. Simply put, it is a mismatch between skills and jobs.

  23. Event

    Launch of the 1st Skills Challenge Innovation Call

    The first Skills Challenge Innovation Call will recognize and support the development of solutions that aim to address the different forms and dimensions of skills mismatch.

  24. Tool

    ILO launched the Skills Tracker in Tanzania

    As part of the innovative approach to promoting skills development and ensure lifelong learning opportunities for all, the ILO is developing a text-messaging tool to help skills systems better understand the quality and relevance of training programmes and institutions.