Investments in skills are instrumental in achieving social and economic goals. From the perspective of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, skills are important to achieving SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, SDG 4 which includes TVET, and others.

Be that as it may, levels of financing of skills and lifelong learning remain inadequate and not in tune with national development needs. The national financing gap for SDG4 during the period 2023-30 for example is large and growing in low- and middle-income countries.

The importance of skills will be reaffirmed at the Second World Summit for Social Development in November 2025 that builds on the 10 Commitments of the first Social Summit in 1995 and aims at accelerating poverty eradication and promoting full employment, decent work, and social inclusion.

So, can we bridge the investment divide? In this podcast, we address these issues, specifically the issue of financing skills and lifelong learning for economic and social development, with our guests Jean-Francois Klein, ILO Employment Policy advisor, and Pedro Moreno da Fonseca, ILO Technical Specialist on Lifelong Learning.