Report of the workshop. 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.