REE-Skill Ukraine: Upskilling the Workforce for a New Energy System
Mentor to Impact is co-implementing a REE-Skill Ukraine project, where REE stands for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. It brings together companies, experts and organizations within the energy sector and the green transition around a common goal: supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction where the need is greatest and where they themselves have the most to contribute – energy.
This project responds to a shortage of skilled labor that is holding back Ukraine’s energy reconstruction. A secure, resilient, and decentralized energy system is central to Ukraine’s future. However, rebuilding the infrastructure affected by the ongoing attacks and building new, renewable, and sustainable capacities requires both manpower and specialized expertise that are currently in short supply.
Key Objectives:
REE-Skill Ukraine aims to strengthen the ability of the Ukrainian workforce to rebuild the country’s energy, water, and heating systems. The main objective of the project is to strengthen Ukraine’s workforce capacity within the energy sector by reskilling and upskilling the workforce for new careers, supporting the reconstruction of critical energy infrastructure and enabling the transition towards a resilient, decentralised and green energy system.
Missions and pillars:
Two missions guide the project. Mission 1 focuses on defining scenarios for the development of a decentralized energy system in Ukraine and identifying the skills these scenarios will require. Mission 2 focuses on securing stakeholder collaboration, mobilization, and funding needed to scale the project further, building toward a conference event, an advisory board, and continued outreach to key partners.
The project approach is divided into two complementary pillars:
Pillar 1 (short term) – Immediate reconstruction of energy installations in the building mass. The goal is to support the establishment and expansion of a trade union-led initiative for informal professional training in micro-credentials within electrical installations in Ukraine’s construction sector (electrical). This pillar focuses on strengthening and supporting the existing coalition between PROFBUD (the Construction and Building Materials Industry Workers’ Union of Ukraine), BWI (Building and Woodworkers International), and Global Power Trade.
Pillar two – Strategic Development of the Workforce for a Decentralized Energy System. This pillar focuses on launching a pilot project on skills development for a decentralized renewable energy system, based on existing and anticipated skills demand from businesses and authorities throughout Ukraine, along with a mapping of expected technology developments in Ukraine. Based on the anticipated demand for skills, mobile training units, curricula, and trainer capacity-building programs can be developed.
Project partners:
The project is led by Mentor to Impact and Rud Pedersen Denmark together with the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association. The first phase of the project is supported by the Ramboll Foundation.
