An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

Cross-cutting Skills Gaps

This section highlights two of the most commonly cited cross-cutting skills gaps across existing

reports. This should not be considered an exhaustive list of cross-cutting skills gaps but rather a

starting point upon which the primary findings from this consultancy will add to and build from.

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ICT/Digital Skills

Many of the 2014 National Private Sector Assessment Reports by Compete Caribbean

highlighted a lack of technological skills and the growing demand for such skills as

technology adoption becomes widespread across all sectors (Compete Caribbean 2015).

More recent studies, like the 2022 USAID Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment for the

Eastern and Southern Caribbean, reconfirm a lack of digital talent and an even more severe

deficit of technically skilled workers functioning in high-tech environments (Cowen et al.

2022). Among the specific ICT/digital skills gaps identified across different studies are

software development and engineering (including mobile app and web development),

programming, user interface and user experience design, multimedia development skills,

cybersecurity, information and database management, data protection and FinTech

regulation (Cowen et al. 2022; Belize Chamber of Commerce and International Labour

Organization 2018; Schoolderman, Bicer, and Valencia 2017). Many of these areas are also

identified as priority training areas under national development scholarship programmes of

many CARIFORUM states (see Annex 3), with some even highlighting training needs for

emerging tech (e.g. under the 2022 Barbados’ National Development Schola rship, an

outlined training priority area was AI in Learning and Gamification – see Annex 3).

Noteworthy also are the complementary skills highlighted by Pierre (2018) for successfully

deploying ICT skills, notably problem-solving and critical thinking, which are often

lacking. Although this finding was highlighted in the 2018 National Training Authority

Sector Study for Suriname, it still holds relevance for other CARIFORUM states.

Cybersecurity is one subset receiving increasing regional attention as digital transformation

accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the 2022 Caribbean Regional

Cybersecurity Training Needs Analysis, training is needed in the following cybersecurity

speciality areas: governance risk and compliance; cybersecurity architecture; incident

response; laws and data protection; cybersecurity architecture; cybersecurity research and

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