Commonwealth of LearningCHOGM26 · Talking points

Digital Skills for Youth

From connection to livelihoods

06

Talking point 06Commonwealth of Learning
infocol.org

Nearly three in ten

In 2025, an average of 27.9% of young people in low-income countries were not in employment, education or training.*

* Source: ILO (2026).

A group of girls crowd around a laptop on a table, one of them typing on the keyboard.
Girls loving open ICT, YAPO, Tanzania, 2023. Credit: COL.

Opportunity for action

Members can accelerate in partnership

Equip 10 million young people with digital and entrepreneurial skills, starting with those not in employment, education or training.

4 milestones to 2030 PDF pp. 11–12

The argument

Connection is not enough

For most young people, including those who are excluded, the internet arrives through a phone. In 2025, three in four people were online, but only 34% in the least developed countries, and 280 million more men than women (UN DESA, 2026). But connection alone does not create opportunity! Young people need digital skills that turn access into income, learning and participation.

The world of work is moving fast. Employers expect 39% of core skills to change by 2030 (WEF, 2025), and AI is reshaping entry-level jobs first. Digital fluency is now the gateway to entrepreneurial, green, blue and creative pathways, and to safe participation in democratic life.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General has pledged to advocate for funding so that COL can expand its digital skills education to more than 10 million young people (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2025). Reaching them means learning that is mobile-first and low-bandwidth; self-paced in short, stackable units; applied to real tasks such as listing a product, taking a digital payment or keeping records; and recognised by employers and national qualifications.

Safety matters as much as skill. Every learner needs basic cyber-hygiene, data protection and the confidence to recognise scams, misinformation and abuse online. Young women, rural youth and young people with disabilities are least likely to be online, so programmes must be designed around them from the start.

Proof points

Proof of reach and results

Each card represents evidence in a strategic talking point, chosen because it shows the need or a result of COL’s work. Use the share button to copy a card as an image with a link back to this page.

38,348

women and girls have completed training through GIRLS Inspire since 2021

ResultCOL

21,945

course completions recorded in India by the COL–Coursera–Google Skills Online Programme

ResultCOL

94,804

learners from at least 25 Commonwealth countries took part in online skills scholarships, 2021–2024

ResultCOL

Case study

From 100,000 to 10 million

COL has already shown that digital and community-based skills can reach young people at scale. When COVID-19 closed classrooms, COL’s partnerships with Coursera, Udemy and Grow with Google provided online skills scholarships across the Commonwealth, giving immediate access to employment-oriented learning. Between 2021 and 2024, 94,804 learners from at least 25 Commonwealth countries took part. In India alone, the COL–Coursera–Google Skills Online Programme has recorded 77,018 course enrolments and 21,945 course completions, and learners in St Vincent and the Grenadines have earned 1,957 certificates through Skills Online.

For those furthest from opportunity, community support made the difference. Through GIRLS Inspire, COL and partners combined life skills, vocational preparation, community mobilisation, links to employers and access to credit: 38,348 women and girls have completed training since 2021. Through Lifelong Learning for Farmers, mobile learning has reached more than 1 million farmers.

Platforms bring scale, but people bring change. Digital skills land when learners also have local facilitation, mentoring, recognition, and routes into work or enterprise.

Countries are ready to build on this. In Papua New Guinea, the Department of Education’s Flexible Open and Distance Education team has already scoped the skills that disengaged young people most need as a basis for national learning pathways. In Grenada, the National Training Agency has brought more than 40 stakeholders from government, industry and civil society together to shape the digital transformation of TVET with COL support, and Grenada is emerging as a model for other small states.

COL’s design for the next stage follows the evidence: short modules in local languages, built for mobile and low bandwidth; community learning hubs and peer mentors; basic cyber-hygiene, data protection and safe conduct for every learner; credentials recognised by national frameworks; placements with small businesses that need digital help; and an inclusion premium that rewards reach to young women, rural and island communities and young people with disabilities.

Success should be measured by completion, certification, income and enterprise, not by enrolments alone.

Two programmes, three measures: what the talking point reports

Figures keep their own units and are not comparable across programmes; none is drawn as a share of another.

In India alone, the COL–Coursera–Google Skills Online Programme has recorded 77,018 course enrolments and 21,945 course completions, and learners in St Vincent and the Grenadines have earned 1,957 certificates through Skills Online. Through GIRLS Inspire, … 38,348 women and girls have completed training since 2021.

Source: the talking point (COL programme results).

“… to advocate for funding of our core priorities as well as for partners, such as the Commonwealth of Learning, to expand its digital skills education to over 10 million young people.”

The Hon. Shirley Botchwey, Commonwealth Secretary-General, opening remarks to the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, October 2025

Places of impact

Member Nations named in this talking point

5 of the 56 Member Nations. Every member is one equal tile, so small states stay visible; select a tile to read what happens there.

  1. IND
    IndiaThe COL–Coursera–Google Skills Online Programme has recorded 77,018 course enrolments and 21,945 course completions
  2. VCT
    St Vincent and the GrenadinesLearners have earned 1,957 certificates through Skills Online
  3. GRD
    GrenadaThe National Training Agency has brought more than 40 stakeholders together to shape the digital transformation of TVET
  4. PNG
    Papua New GuineaThe Flexible Open and Distance Education team has already scoped the skills that disengaged young people most need
  5. TZA
    TanzaniaYAPO: girls loving open ICT (2023)

Opportunity for action

Members can accelerate in partnership

Equip 10 million young people with digital and entrepreneurial skills, starting with those not in employment, education or training.

CHOGM26 · 1–4 November 2026

Milestones

  1. At CHOGM26Commit

    Back the Secretary-General’s call to equip 10 million young people with digital skills, working with COL.

  2. By end 2027Platform

    Deliver mobile-first, recognised modules with mentors and online safety built in.

    Recognised modulesOnline safety
  3. By CHOGM28Connect to work

    Link graduates to placements, apprenticeships and enterprise support, co-financed with private partners.

  4. By 2030Ten million

    Reach and verify 10 million young people, at least half of them young women, with measured gains in income and enterprise.

    Young women

We continue to act

COL will provide open courseware, technical design, quality assurance and an evidence framework, working with governments, institutions and civil society.

From the newsroom

We are already moving

Stories from the Commonwealth of Learning that highlight this strategic talking point. Each opens on col.org.

COL International Youth Day 2026 graphic showing two smiling young women

From voice to action: Empowering Commonwealth youth to shape the future

COL has partnered with the Centre for Global Education on a global youth digital-skills survey to shape OER, and plans a Youth Robotics Innovation Challenge for the CHOGM 2026 Youth Forum.

“Representing more than 60 per cent of the population across Commonwealth Member States, young people have an important role in building stronger, fairer, and more resilient societies.”

Digital Skills for Youth21st Century SkillsBlue Economy Skills

Working in synergy

Connections

This talking point aligns with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Economic and Democratic pillars and the Commonwealth Foundation’s focus on economic inclusion and freedom of expression.

Talking points on the same pillars

References

Sources (6)

Show the sources

As printed in the talking point, followed by the further sources used for this site’s charts and diagrams.

  • Commonwealth Secretariat. (2025, October 13). Secretary-General’s opening remarks to the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting [Speech]. Washington, DC, United States.
  • International Labour Organization. (2026). Employment and social trends 2026 (World of Work series).
  • United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2026). The Sustainable Development Goals report 2026. unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026/
  • World Economic Forum. (2025). The future of jobs report 2025.

Further sources for the charts and diagrams

  • International Telecommunication Union. (2025). Time series of ICT data for the world, by geographic regions, by urban/rural area and by level of development [Data set; version November 2025, for Facts and figures 2025]. Individuals using the internet, total and by gender, urban/rural area and age, 2025. www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx (accessed 2026-10-19)
  • International Labour Organization. (2025). NEET rate: Share of youth not in employment, education or training by sex – ILO modelled estimates, Nov. 2025 (%) [Data set]. ILOSTAT, International Labour Organization. www.ilo.org/data-and-statistics (accessed 2026-10-19)