One foundation · Three flagships
POWER UP FUTURES
Foundation
Skills Diplomacy

The institutional home of Skills and Talent Diplomacy

Skills and Talent Diplomacy is not a programme beside the summits, GSLI or the funds. It is the core strategic function of the Secretariat and the doctrine connecting every part of the ecosystem.

01 — Definition

What is Skills and Talent Diplomacy?

Skills and Talent Diplomacy is the use of international cooperation, policy dialogue, evidence, finance and institutional partnerships to develop, recognise, mobilise and deploy human capability across countries, regions and sectors for shared prosperity.

It connects:

  • Education and employment
  • Countries of origin and destination
  • Governments and employers
  • Universities and industries
  • Talent and opportunities
  • Diaspora and domestic institutions
  • Skills investment and economic development
02 — Why it matters

The mobility, recognition and transition case

Labour markets are integrating faster than the institutions that certify, recognise and protect the people who move within them. Qualifications earned in one system are discounted in another. Employers hire around the recognition problem rather than solving it. Workers in transition — from education, from displaced sectors, from informal work — carry capability they cannot evidence.

Diplomacy is the correct instrument because these are inter-institutional problems: they are solved by agreements between governments, employers and universities, not by training alone.

03 — Framework

Our diplomacy framework

Mechanism
Policy dialogue and structured negotiation convened by the Secretariat.
Evidence
GSLI and the Evidence Suite establish the shared factual base.
Finance
The GSEF Twin Funds align public-good and enterprise capital.
Compacts
Agreements are registered, time-stamped and publicly tracked.
Implementation
APLIS regionally, NPMTI nationally — with reported outcomes.
04

Skills recognition and portability

Qualification-recognition agreements and portability initiatives negotiated between national qualification authorities, professional bodies and employers, supported by the Capability Maturity Profile as a common assessment reference.

  • Global Qualifications Recognition Roundtable (Diplomacy Forum component).
  • Bilateral recognition pilots between participating countries.
  • Portability commitments registered as GSTLW Compacts.
05

Talent mobility and ethical recruitment

Mobility partnerships designed so that origin countries gain, not lose. Ethical-recruitment dialogue covers recruitment fees, contract transparency, return and circular mobility, and replacement investment in origin-country training capacity.

06

Diaspora skills cooperation

Africa–diaspora talent partnerships: short-cycle teaching and mentoring placements, diaspora-led enterprise investment, joint research appointments, and structured return pathways negotiated with national ministries.

07

Government and employer compacts

Workforce compacts and hiring commitments — specified as a number, a cohort, a deadline and a named accountable institution. Compacts without those four elements are not registered.

08

Regional skills corridors

Corridor dialogues and design work across CEMAC, ECOWAS, East, Southern and North Africa — matching sectoral demand with training supply and recognition arrangements along defined economic corridors, aligned with AfCFTA implementation.

09

Evidence through GSLI

The Index powers negotiations across nine applications:

  • Skills-recognition agreements
  • Mobility partnerships
  • Talent exchanges
  • Diaspora policy
  • University–industry partnerships
  • Joint training investment
  • Qualification portability
  • Labour-market cooperation
  • Regional corridors
Explore the GSLI
10

Financing through the GSEF Twin Funds

Global Skills Endowment Fund
Public good: scholarships, inclusion, mobility-access support and recognition initiatives. Governed under PUFF-USA. Finances the public-good side of international skills cooperation.
Global Skills Enterprise Fund
Growth: workforce technology, talent platforms, education infrastructure and employment marketplaces. Governed through PCA Group or an appropriately authorised investment vehicle — never through the Secretariat.
11

Global Skills and Talent Diplomacy Forum

The diplomatic backbone of the Global Week — not an eighth track. It operates across the Opening Plenary and Track G, and its outputs are registered as GSTLW Compacts.

See the Forum programmeOpen the Compact Tracker
12

Join a dialogue or propose a compact

Institutions may request a seat in a Diplomacy Forum dialogue or propose a compact for registration. Proposals are reviewed against four tests: a named accountable institution, a measurable commitment, a deadline, and a public reporting undertaking.

Propose a compact or request a dialogue seat

Tell us the institution, the commitment you have in mind and the dialogue you want a seat in. The Secretariat responds within ten working days.

We use your details only to respond and to send the updates you asked for. See our Privacy Policy.

Four-entity mandate model
Power Up Futures Foundation (PUFF-USA)
Power Up Futures Foundation (PUFF-USA) is the U.S.-incorporated, IRS-recognised Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation providing governance, philanthropy and public-benefit oversight for the ecosystem.
GSTLW
Global convening, partnerships, policy, research and publisher of record; institutional home of Skills and Talent Diplomacy.
APLIS Africa Foundation (NGO)
Continental institutional implementation partner: continental programme ownership, public-sector transformation and regional coordination of APLIS Forums.
NPMTI — National Project Maturity & Transformation Initiative
Country-level execution framework (maturity methodology, government engagement model, assessment and reporting mechanism). Never a separate brand, entity or event.

Fund governance: the Global Skills Endowment Fund is governed under PUFF-USA (public benefit). The Global Skills Enterprise Fund is governed through PCA Group or an appropriately authorised investment vehicle — never through the Secretariat. Accelera 1000 is a platform brand only; contracts issue through approved legal entities. Commercial services are delivered separately through approved ecosystem partners (Paraklete Institute / PCA Group). All references to UN and multilateral participation are aspirational and subject to those institutions' own priorities and approval processes.

GSTLW is the institutional home of Skills and Talent Diplomacy. GSLI supplies the evidence, the GSEF Twin Funds align capital, the Global Week creates the compacts, APLIS coordinates regional implementation, and NPMTI translates cooperation into national project maturity and transformation.