📍 What are Transformative Capabilities, and why do they matter?
In a world shaped by climate goals, rapid digitization, and shifting job markets, we need the ability to adapt, upskill, and respond to change.
That’s what DIAMOND Empower calls transformative capabilities:
The real-life mix of knowledge, confidence, and conditions that help us take on challenges, learn new skills, and access meaningful work.
These capabilities include:
- Digital skills for evolving workplaces
- Green competences to support sustainable futures
- Motivation and readiness to reskill or change direction
- The confidence to navigate transitions, especially for people facing structural barriers
🔎 How does DIAMOND study this?
- Led by Aarhus Universitet, the project began by identifying key skill gaps and barriers faced by people in different life and employment situations.
- Through surveys across 9 countries and input from grassroots groups, the team mapped out what helps, or hinders, people in building these capabilities.
- Researchers are now testing how these capabilities connect to real employment outcomes, using collaborative and online learning environments.
The following partners contributed to this research and survey process:
Freie Universität Berlin, Universidad de Burgos, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Universität Wien, Immersion, Proportional Message Associacao, Ente Morale Giacomo Feltrinelli per l’incremento Dell’Istruzione Tecnica, Deinde Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia, Fundacja Obiektywna, Youth Power Germany EV, & Fundación Miradas.
The insights gained are already feeding into the development of DIAMOND’s tools, like the ᴱGROW Index and MOVEᴱ, to ensure that new skills programs actually reflect people’s needs, contexts, and goals.
Learn more: https://diamond-empower.eu/
