At UNESCO’s Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education, which was held in the

Republic of Korea in 1999, participants had adopted a range of recommendations concerning the development and

improvement of technical and vocational education and training in Member States.

While these recommendations received unanimous support, participants expressed the need to make them more

operational and to promote their implementation, particularly in developing countries.

To this end, the Department of Vocational Education and Training of the Ministry of Education of Botswana and

UNESCO’s International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC) in

Bonn jointly elaborated an initiative entitled “Learning for Life, Work and the Future: Stimulating Reform in

Southern Africa through Subregional Co-operation”. This initiative was launched at a workshop held in

Gaborone, Botswana, in December 2000.

The workshop addressed a number of challenges which are common to the countries in Southern Africa, and

developed them into individual follow-up project proposals. This bottom-up approach, with an intense inclusion

of experts and decision-makers from the region from the outset of the project, ensured that the needs of the

countries are closely met, and that the approach will be instrumental in achieving sustainability of project results.

The immediate presentation of the workshop results to representatives o donor agencies added another dimension

to that approach.

The International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC) is currently

examining the launching of similar initiatives in other regions.