Governance and monitoring system for the National Plan for Digital Skills (PNCD) 

In a decentralized country such as Spain, a sound governance and monitoring system for the National Plan for Digital skills (Plan Nacional de Competencias Digitales – PNCD) is needed, to support the implementation of such an ambitious Plan and to ensure the effectiveness and impact of each individual investment. The Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service is the national entity responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Plan across the Spanish territory. 

The objective of this TSI project was to design a follow-up and monitoring system for the PNCD. This system shall support the evaluation of the implementation of the Plan and help ensure its effectiveness in the development of digital skills throughout the national territory.

Context

The project is in line with numerous European policies, particularly the European Skills Agenda, the Digital Education Action Plan and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, all of which prioritise the strengthening of digital skills in EU Member States. This strategic alignment seeks to ensure effective harmonisation between national initiatives and the EU's digital skills objectives, thus contributing to the creation of a strong and competitive digital economy in the region.

Support Delivered

The project has generated a number of key outputs to support the development and monitoring of digital skills in Spain:

• Firstly, a comprehensive study of the external and internal context related to digital skills monitoring was carried out, addressing strategic and operational frameworks at national and international level. This analysis included aspects such as existing digital skills frameworks and assessment tools, training ecosystems, certification schemes and digital skills observatories.
• Secondly, technical support was delivered to support the establishment of the Generation D Pact, a public-private partnership aimed at boosting the development of digital skills in the country. In this phase of the project, the support was provided by way of workshops, thematic seminars, and targeted recommendations to strengthen the impact and governance of the Pact. 
• Also during the lifetime of the project, the new Generation D Portal was developed, to display the range of available upskilling and reskilling opportunities in the digital sphere, support the assessment of skills, and incentivise stakeholder collaboration. Through the TSI, a self-assessment questionnaire was developed, based on DigComp 2.2, to support the early identification of digital skills gaps. In addition, a number of recommendations were issued, to further develop the monitoring and evaluation functionalities of the Portal. 
• To improve the coordination and monitoring of the National Plan for Digital Skills, an Action Plan for the Spanish administration was drawn up, comprised of concrete action points and a series of implementation support measures. Notably, as part of this phase, more than 1000 situational assessment indicators were developed, across three levels of complexity and for everyday life situations, professional contexts, education and training and public service functions. 
• Finally, a Pilot of the designed Action Plan was implemented, with the collaboration of more than 48 entities, focusing on four thematic areas through four working groups. These areas included: (i) the analysis and development of indicators for the PNCD, (ii) the development of metrics for monitoring the Generation D Pact and its initiatives, (iii) the analysis of possible scenarios for the implementation of the European Digital Skills Certificate in Spain, and (iv) the development of learning outcomes for a DigComp 2.2. update and the EDSC evaluation.

Result achieved

The results achieved by the project have been significant and are expected to reap substantial benefits for both direct beneficiaries and key stakeholders. Thanks to the Generation D Portal, the Spanish administration now has a powerful monitoring tool that facilitates the monitoring and evaluation of digital skills developments in the country. In addition, citizens have access to a centralised place to assess and improve their digital skills, which contributes to bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusion across the population.

The actions outlined in the PNCD Action Plan promise to improve the coordination and monitoring of digital skills development in Spain. This coordinated approach will enable more effective implementation of digital skills policies and programmes, which in turn will boost the country's economic growth and competitiveness in the digital age.

The PNCD Pilot will strengthen the monitoring of the Generation D Pact and, consequently, of the PNCD as a whole. This ensures a more comprehensive assessment of progress and provides a solid basis for future initiatives in the area of digital skills.

In addition, thanks to the EDSC Pilot and the PNCD Action Plan Pilot, a roadmap for developing a national digital skills certification procedure has been established. This will further boost the development of digital skills in Spain by providing a standard framework for assessing and recognising these skills. In short, these efforts are expected to generate a significant impact on the ground, promoting digital inclusion, improving employability and fostering innovation and economic growth in the country.

More about the project

You can read the documents related to the project here:

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