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Reforms and Investments

Embedding Digital Skills in Romania’s Public Administration Reform

Supporting reforms to reinforce efficient and high quality public administrations

Funding Programme
Year
  • 2024

Embedding Digital Skills in Romania’s Public Administration Reform

The objective of the project was to embed digital competences in Romania’s public administration by developing and operationalising a Digital Competence Framework for the civil service. The project aimed to define digital competences and integrate them directly into human resource management processes and link them structurally to Romania’s broader digital transformation agenda. By doing so, the project strengthens the human foundatios necessary for sustainable digital transformations and improved public service delivery.

Context

Romania has made significant financial investments in the digitalisation of public administration. However, digital transformation cannot succeed through IT systems and platforms alone. Public administration requires civil servants who possess the right digital knowledge, skills and attitudes. Prior to this project, digital competences in the Romanian civil service were not systematically defined, were inconsistently reflected in job descriptions, and were not structurally embedded into recruitment, training, career development or promotion systems. At the same time, increasing EU regulatory requirements (e.g. in the fields of AI, cybersecurity, interoperability and digital services) and Romania’s own digital ambitions required a coherent and future-oriented approach to workforce development. The key challenge was therefore not only to define digital competences but to embed them as a structural pillar of human resource management and digital governance.

Support Delivered

The project delivered five concrete outputs:

  1. Multi-layered assessment of digital competences needed in the Romanian civil service including i) an analysis of over 2,000 job descriptions across central public administration, ii) study visits to Italy and Spain, and iii) a foresight exercise identifying future digital roles and competences up to 2032.
  2. Digital Competence Framework defining fundamental, digital transformation and digital leadership competences, aligned with DigComp 3.0.
  3. Recommendations for integrating the framework into recruitment, training, career development and workforce planning processes.
  4. Capacity-building support and methodological updates to strengthen institutional ownership and implementation.
  5. Lessons learned to support replication of the model across other EU Member States.

Results achieved

Romania now has a comprehensive Digital Competence Framework tailored to its civil service and aligned with EU standards. The framework creates the structural conditions to embed digital skills into human resource management processes and link them directly to the country’s broader digital transformation agenda. If effectively implemented, it will ensure that investments in digitalisation are matched by the necessary skills and mindset within the administration, strengthening service delivery, governance capacity and institutional resilience.

More about the project

You can read the documents related to the project here: