Soledad Patiño

Soledad Patiño leads the strategic coordination and global partnership development of UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy (GSA), a flagship initiative of the UNESCO Global Education Coalition that mobilizes governments, international organizations, industry leaders and civil society to expand access to quality skills development worldwide. Based at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, she drives UNESCO’s engagement with global partners to strengthen Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), digital skills and lifelong learning ecosystems, supporting countries in preparing learners for the future of work. Since the launch of the Global Skills Academy in 2020, she has played a leading role in shaping and scaling multi-stakeholder partnerships that have reached millions of learners across all regions, contributing to UNESCO’s ambition of equipping 10 million learners with market-relevant skills by 2030. Her work focuses on developing strategic alliances, mobilizing collective action, advancing innovative implementation models, and translating global commitments into scalable impact at national and institutional levels.
With more than 16 years of experience across the private sector and the United Nations system, Ms. Patiño specializes in strategic partnerships for skills development and sustainable development. She began her work with UNESCO through Paraguay’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO before joining UNESCO’s Secretariat in 2019, first in the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector and later in the Education Sector. Prior to UNESCO, she held executive leadership roles as an architect, entrepreneur and CEO in the private sector. An Erasmus Mundus Scholar, she holds a Joint Master’s Degree in Sustainable Territorial Development from the University of Padua, KU Leuven and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Catholic University of Asunción, Paraguay, and completed executive training at the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) in Partnerships, Financing and Resource Mobilization for Sustainable Development.