Future-Ready Governance- Skilling the Public Sector Workforce in the Age of Generative AI
July 01, 2025
26 June 2025 - On 23-25 June 2025, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the Government of Uzbekistan hosted the 2025 UN Public Service Forum in Samarkand, under the theme "Five Years to 2030: Accelerating Public Service for a Sustainable Future".
The Forum compromised of a series of workshops, with the United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG)/DPIDG taking lead on 'Workshop 4: Skilling, and Upskilling the Public Sector Workforce - What's Next After GenAI?' and the workshop explored the evolving impact of artificial intelligence on the public sector and focused on strategies to bridge the skills gap, strengthen digital and data literacy, and equipped public sector employees with the competencies needed to harness emerging digital technologies such as generative AI and agentic AI for effective and responsible governance.
The Workshop brought together over 50 participants from Asia and the Pacific and beyond and examined how to identify and address evolving skills gaps, strengthen digital and data literacy through forward-looking discussions. It also supported the development of an AI-ready public workforce capable of leveraging frontier technologies to enhance public service delivery and advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
The key messages from the workshop emphasised the need for structured and inclusive AI training, ethical and transparent implementation, people-centered leadership, strategic integration across government, data quality and digital literacy, multidisciplinary skills development, and a whole-of-government approach to build a future-ready, trustworthy, and accountable public sector in the age of generative and agentic AI. It will be included in the 2025 UNPSF report. The lessons from the Workshop will also be added to the Regional Syposium on 24-26 September to ensure that continuous learning.
To learn more about Workshop 4, visit the UNPOG site here.
More information about the UNPSF 2025 can also be found here.
