Digital Ad Expert’s programme to align with UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy to empower economies to unlock economic growth, beginning in Grenada

Miami, FL, 17th October 2023: Digital Ad Expert, Aleph Group, Inc’s social initiative to create economic opportunities through digital advertising education, is delighted to join UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition. 

Formed in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Education Coalitionwas established by UNESCO – the United Nations agency dedicated to bringing people together through education and science - to bring together multi-sector partners to mobilise local, national, regional and global responses to ensure the continuity of learning. In 2023 and beyond, the Coalition has moved from pandemic response to focus on the transformation agenda, and aims to help realise the power of digital transformation, close the global educational gap, and support actions and investments for pilot projects that can be brought to scale at a national level in a sustainable way. 

Joining more than 200+ partners, Aleph’s Digital Ad Expert initiative – a skills-based education platform that provides students with the fundamentals they need to manage digital advertising channels and campaigns - will specifically support UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy, an initiative that aims to help ten million young people build skills for employability and resilience by 2029. 

Commenting on the partnership, Gaston Taratuta, CEO & Founder at Aleph Group, Inc, said: “As CEO & Founder of Aleph, I am incredibly proud to join this initiative to align with UNESCO’s ambitious plans to upskill ten million people by 2029. At Aleph, we believe that the provision of digital literacy is a fast track to helping local communities and economies unlock huge economic opportunities. Combining the experience of UNESCO - one of the world’s leading global authorities on digital literacy - with Aleph’s industry leading expertise in digital advertising, the agreement will ensure people can confidently navigate the digital landscape, access greater employment opportunities, and help shape sustainable growth for generations to come. The learnings from this initiative will also aid the continued evolution of Digital Ad Expert, which we believe has the potential to become the world’s leading skills-based digital advertising education platform.” 

Borhene Chakroun,  Director of Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems Division at UNESCO, added: We have witnessed the positive impact of the Digital Ad Certificate program in Grenada. This is a remarkable demand-driven example of UNESCO Global Skills Academy action in the Caribbean and we are excited to expand our efforts beyond. We look forward to creating similar opportunities in other countries, unlocking the potential of digital skills for economic growth and sustainable development.

To kick start its partnership, Aleph launched Digital Ad Expert’s Digital Ad Certificate programme with a specific cohort in Grenada. During the programme, which comprises several uniquely designed modules, students met virtually for four hours per week and had access to a wealth of online resources. Approximately 200 students from Grenada took the Digital Ad Certificate programme for three months.

In addition to education for students, Digital Ad Expert launched Train the Trainers – a bespoke one-month intensive training course - to upskill more than 50 digital advertising trainers in Grenada. Combined with Digital Ad Certificate, this will provide a strong platform that initially upskills students in the country and equips trainers with the skills and resources they need to maintain digital literacy over the long term.

The programmes offered by Digital Ad Expert and UNESCO in Grenada will provide an important opportunity to improve accessibility to digital education and, in turn, drive economic growth. As part of Grenada’s National Sustainable Development Plan 2020-2035 (NSDP), the national government is aiming to create a vibrant, dynamic, and competitive economy, which will—in part—be achieved through expanding training and building national capacity in digital literacy. 

Over the coming months, Digital Ad Expert and UNESCO will use the learnings from activity in Grenada to evolve the pair’s cooperative agreement, which is targeting the launch of similar schemes in other countries. 

“We are hugely excited to kick start our work with UNESCO in Grenada, a country with bold national development plans that will be unlocked through digital skills,” said Francisco Anello, SVP - Education at Aleph Group. “We look forward to introducing students to our free Digital Ad Expert programme in the months ahead and look forward to playing our part in helping Grenada’s young people learn digital skills and access new economic opportunities.”

To find out more, visit www.digitaladexpert.com.

About Digital Ad Expert

Digital Ad Expert is a social initiative to create economic opportunities through digital advertising education. 

Totally-free, fully online, and designed by global digital advertising experts in the field, Digital Ad Expert is part of Aleph Group, Inc, which connects local and global advertisers with billions of consumers worldwide through digital media. It is a core part of the Group’s mission to make digital advertising accessible to all. 

Digital Ad Expert’s programme, Digital Ad Certificate, provides students with the fundamentals they need to understand and manage digital advertising channels and campaigns. It is available in two formats: live and self-paced. Students who choose the live format will meet virtually with other students around the world while self-paced students can access resources 24/7, on demand. 

At the end of the programme, students receive their Digital Ad Certificate and can join Digital Ad Expert’s alumni network. Here, they can expand their own professional network, learn from peers, access exclusive Masterclass content and connect with employers seeking talent. 

Digital Ad Expert was launched by Aleph in 2015. Since Aleph has exclusive representation for the largest global platforms (Snap, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Meta, Spotify, and 40+ others) the content that powers Digital Ad Expert is updated based on new industry trends, as soon as partners launch new products or features for advertisers. 

At a local level, Digital Ad Expert provides communities with access to skills that unlock the rapidly increasing economic opportunities available through digital advertising. Meanwhile, at a global level, it is primarily fuelling long-term, digitally driven growth for emerging economies.

Media Inquires:
Andrew Leach / Andy Richards / Adam Joste-Smith
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