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About this webinar
The shift to electric mobility is transforming jobs across vehicle manufacturing and maintenance sectors throughout Asia and the Pacific. This session will examine how training, education, and workforce development initiatives can prepare workers for emerging roles in the electric mobility ecosystem. Ensuring workers are equipped with the right skills is central to achieving a just and inclusive transition to electric mobility across the region.
The session will bring together practitioners and researchers working on workforce development in the context of e-mobility transitions, drawing on experiences from industry, government, and civil society across the Asia-Pacific region. Discussions will cover practical approaches to re-skilling programmes, the policy frameworks that support them, and what a people-centred e-mobility transition looks like in practice.
This session is part of the E-Mobility Webinar Series on Supporting People and Skills in the Just Transition to E-Mobility, a three-part series organised by the Asian Development Bank's E-Mobility Support and Investment Platform (TRA-EMA). The series explores how the transition to electric mobility can be inclusive and equitable across Asia and the Pacific, covering gender-responsive planning, workforce re-skilling, and women's participation in the growing e-mobility ecosystem.
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About the speakers
 | Diana Páez leads the William Davidson Institute's initiatives for just transitions in energy and electric mobility, empowering governments, startups, and industry in emerging markets with strategic support. Specializing in EV value chain development, energy transition pathways, and cleantech innovation, she partners across sectors to deliver actionable insights, build scalable tools, and catalyze collaborations that unlock opportunities and foster equitable and sustainable growth. Ms. Páez's multidisciplinary expertise spans law, international energy policy, and futures studies, shaped by advanced degrees in Mexico and France and specialized training in global energy and mobility from Sciences-Po, Rice University, and the University of Michigan. Her career includes roles at international nonprofits, the World Bank Institute, and other global organizations.
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 | Aprajita Verma is a Senior Program Associate within the Sustainable Cities and Transport program at WRI India, where her work focuses on evidence-based research to support the adoption of EV-friendly policies and regulations. She has contributed to projects and publications related to public service delivery, responsive governance, and socio-economic development, with prior experience at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Factly, and the Department of Planning, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Aprajita holds a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences and a master's degree in Public Policy and Governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
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 | Kathleen Dematera is Coordinator of the Thematic Hubs of the Urban Living Lab Center (ULLC), a UN-Habitat Collaborating Center, at the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI). She works with a diverse range of stakeholders — including partner universities, NGOs, think tanks, Living Lab cities, and young professionals — on capacity building for the transformation of urban mobility, energy, and resource sectors. Prior to this role, she led Sustainable Transport at Clean Air Asia, with a focus on active mobility, cleaner vehicles, and electric mobility.
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 | Sarwono Bawono [bio TBC]
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 | Jack Crawford is an Associate Economic Affairs Officer in the Transport Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), where he co-leads ESCAP's work on just transition to electric mobility with a focus on workforce and skills development for marginalized groups. He brings experience in re-skilling and decent work principles from a previous role with the International Labour Organization (ILO). Since joining ESCAP, he has supported the delivery of electric bus pilot projects across Asia and the Pacific and authored several publications on low-carbon transport. Jack holds a Master's degree in Economics from Kyoto University, Japan.
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 | Swati Mitchelle Dsouza serves as the Climate Change Specialist (Just Transition) at the Asian Development Bank, where she leads just transition work for the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) Initiative and supports ADB's Just Transition Support Platform in integrating just transition principles across energy and transport projects. With over twelve years of experience in clean energy and energy transition strategies, her expertise spans the political economy of fossil fuel systems, demand and supply dynamics, and policy design. Prior to ADB, Swati served as Lead Analyst and Coordinator for the International Energy Agency (IEA) in India, where she shaped institutional strategy for India and South Asia and helped establish the IEA's people-centred transition initiative. She co-founded the India Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Center at the University of California, Davis. Swati holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London. |
