The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) supports cities around the world in developing inclusive, equitable and sustainable lifelong learning systems through the Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC). In a rapidly changing world shaped by digital transformation and artificial intelligence, there is a growing need to ensure that individuals and communities can engage with technological change in informed, critical and responsible ways. From this perspective, adult learning and education (ALE) plays a particularly important role, as reflected in the Marrakech Framework for Action (MFA), which emphasises the contribution of lifelong learning systems in enabling adults to navigate the implications of technological change for work, society and everyday life.

As artificial intelligence increasingly reshapes how cities design and deliver public services, coordinate learning ecosystems and respond to economic and social transitions, UIL is establishing a dedicated and sustained domain of work on digitalisation and AI within the GNLC programme.

This domain is anchored in UNESCO's normative framework on AI — principally the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence — and is designed to support learning cities in engaging with AI in ways that are human-centred, inclusive and aligned with the principles of lifelong learning. It addresses the intersection of AI with urban governance, civic capacity, adult learning and education, social inclusion and sustainability: the systemic questions that city administrations and local learning ecosystems must navigate as AI becomes embedded in public life.

The domain of work covered by this consultancy encompasses the following components:

• The Global AI Learning Cities Accelerator, an envisioned people-centred initiative aimed at supporting GNLC member cities in navigating the opportunities and challenges that AI presents for lifelong learning. The Accelerator is expected to be further developed in collaboration with the consultant and structured around the AI Path for Learning Cities, an emerging operational framework that organises its work across thematic dimensions and progressive phases of engagement.

• Through capacity-building, peer exchange and knowledge generation, the Accelerator is intended to strengthen understanding, promote practical approaches and foster cross-sector collaboration. Indicative activities may include an AI Lab, city micro-case studies, thematic dialogues and a dynamic online platform, with the City Guide on AI for Inclusive Lifelong Learning as a core knowledge product.

• The Accelerator is also expected to be guided by the AI Learning Futures Circle, a rotating cross-sector group bringing together city officials, educators, technology developers and representatives of learners.

• Substantive preparation for the Seventh International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC 7), to be held under the theme Learning Cities in the Age of AI: Towards Inclusive Digital Urban Futures.

• City consultation and co-construction processes, digital communications and resource mobilisation, running across all programme activities as enabling functions.

• Contribution to the renewal of GNLC monitoring mechanisms, specifically the renewal of the Key Features of Learning Cities, ensuring that this process adequately reflects the growing role of AI and digitalisation in urban lifelong learning systems.

This domain of work also connects to and builds on existing UIL frameworks and resources, notably the DELTA Framework (Digital Empowerment for Lifelong Learning and Transformative Andragogy), developed by UIL in partnership with Shanghai Open University (SOU). The DELTA Framework strengthens the digital competencies of adult educators across four domains — instructional practice, digital empowerment, media and information literacy, and transformative practice — and provides a relevant conceptual and practical foundation for the learning cities work on AI and digitalisation.

Purpose of the Consultancy

UIL is seeking a consultant to coordinate the establishment, co-construction and delivery of the AI and Digitalisation domain of work within the GNLC programme. The consultant is expected to take a leading role in shaping this domain from the ground up — from the full design and iterative development of the Global AI Learning Cities Accelerator (including its AI Path framework and all component activities) and substantive preparation for ICLC 7, through to city consultation and co-construction processes, digital communications, resource mobilisation and contribution to the renewal of GNLC monitoring mechanisms.

The consultant will be responsible for developing the strategic architecture of this domain in close collaboration with the UIL team, engaging cities in a genuine process of co-construction, and ensuring that by the end of the consultancy period, the foundations for a continuing and institutionally embedded programme are firmly in place.

Scope of Work and Responsibilities

1. Conceptual Development and Programme Leadership

The consultant is expected to lead the overall establishment and strategic development of the AI and Digitalisation domain within the GNLC programme, ensuring coherence across all its components and alignment with UIL's normative foundations and the strategic priorities of the learning cities agenda. This encompasses the development and iterative refinement of the AI Path operational framework as the conceptual backbone of the Accelerator, the maintenance of an integrated overview of the full programme arc, and the grounding of all activities in the principles of human-centred and inclusive lifelong learning. The consultant will also contribute to UIL's positioning on AI and learning cities, including through the preparation of thematic knowledge products, policy briefs or position papers directed at the learning cities community.

2. Global AI Learning Cities Accelerator

The consultant is expected to lead the full design, coordination and delivery of the Global AI Learning Cities Accelerator, structured around the AI Path operational framework. The Accelerator is intended to be guided by the AI Learning Futures Circle, and the consultant's responsibilities cover all of its envisioned components:

2.4 Accelerator Design and Activity Programme

A core responsibility of the consultant is to design the Global AI Learning Cities Accelerator as a coherent programme, determining how its components fit together, how they are sequenced over time, and how they collectively serve the needs of GNLC member cities. The design should be grounded in evidence from city consultations and co-construction processes, and oriented towards building lasting capacity and knowledge within the network. The Accelerator is expected to be organised around the following areas, though the consultant will determine the precise scope, format and sequencing in the course of the consultancy:

• Rolling practical toolkits, modular and practice-oriented, addressing real city needs such as running AI literacy workshops for residents, using AI for multilingual learning, or co-creating with learners

• A city micro-case study programme, inviting GNLC member cities to share brief snapshots of local AI-for-learning initiatives to populate the knowledge base and inspire cross-city exchange

• Thematic dialogues on AI risks and ethics, engaging city officials, educators and AI ethicists in structured risk analysis covering issues such as bias, surveillance and overdependence

• Contextualisation of the DELTA Framework for learning cities: the consultant will provide substantive oversight and advisory support to the contextualisation of the DELTA Framework — developed by UIL in partnership with Shanghai Open University (SOU) — for learning city ecosystems, ensuring that the adapted framework is aligned with the learning cities agenda, reflects the realities and priorities of city administrations, and is appropriately pitched for city officials and local policymakers as the primary audience
• A dynamic online platform, serving as a living repository of Accelerator outputs, city reflections, audio stories and accessible visual summaries of key learnings  

2.5 City Guide on AI for Inclusive Lifelong Learning

The City Guide on AI for Inclusive Lifelong Learning is envisioned as the Accelerator's core knowledge product and constitutes a central deliverable of this consultancy. The consultant will lead its conceptualisation, content development and editorial process, drawing on evidence and insights generated across all Accelerator activities — city consultations, the AI Lab, toolkits, micro-case studies and thematic dialogues. The Guide is intended for publication in 2028 and is expected to synthesise key principles, policies and practices for integrating AI into urban lifelong learning systems, with dedicated attention to inclusion, ethics and risk. It is designed as a strategic reference for city decision-makers and leaders, and should reflect the diversity of urban contexts represented in the GNLC network.

4. City Engagement, Communications and Resource Mobilisation

These functions run across all programme activities and are essential to building and sustaining the domain of work.

• City consultation and co-construction: the consultant will design and facilitate structured rounds of engagement with GNLC member cities to understand needs and priorities in relation to AI and digitalisation, incorporate city feedback into the design of the Accelerator, and nurture a community of practice around AI and lifelong learning within the GNLC.

• Digital presence and communications: the consultant will establish and maintain the AI and Digitalisation web presence within the GNLC digital infrastructure, including pages dedicated to the Accelerator and AI Lab.

• Resource mobilisation and network development: the consultant will draft funding concept notes and proposals targeted at donors and foundations with an interest in learning cities, lifelong learning or AI governance, and identify city networks, research institutions and organisations whose engagement could strengthen the Accelerator and ICLC 7.

5. Strategy, Monitoring and Continuity

The consultant will contribute to the renewal of GNLC monitoring indicators on digitalisation and lifelong learning, drawing on evidence gathered through city consultations, the AI Lab, Accelerator activities and the webinar. Concrete suggestions for how existing indicators might be updated or expanded to better reflect the role of AI and digital technologies in local learning ecosystems will form part of this contribution.

The consultant may also be called upon to provide advice and inputs to other GNLC initiatives that intersect with digitalisation and lifelong learning, such as projects addressing digital health literacy for older adults in learning cities.

Deliverables and Timeline

The consultancy runs from 18 May to 18 December 2026, organised across four periods aligned with the programme timeline.

Period 1: Groundwork (May 2026) 

Key deliverables: 

Report on second city consultation, including revised AI Lab design

Full AI Lab facilitation package: session guides, participant materials, expert briefs and facilitator notes

Reviewed programme structure following expert review meeting

Launch of micro-case study call to GNLC member cities, with submission template and communications plan

ICLC 7 thematic framing note on 'Learning Cities in the Age of AI'

Deadline: 30 September 2026 

Period 4: Implementation & Consolidation (October – December 2026) 

Key deliverables:

Duration and Remuneration

The consultancy runs from 18 May to 18 December 2026. The total remuneration for this period is €22,400, disbursed in instalments tied to the satisfactory completion of deliverables at the end of each period, as specified in the table above.