V. Integration of Education for Sustainable Development

Integrating issues concerning sustainable development, in particular Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD), in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is a subject that has been on the agenda of the
UNESCO TVET Programme for over a decade. The Second International Congress on TVE held in Seoul, South
Korea in 1999 drew attention to the need to do so by recommending that TVET be re-oriented to sustainable

development. Five years later, an international experts meeting held in Bonn, Germany in 2004 highlighted this

subject. The Bonn Declaration that was issued at the close of the meeting captured the continuing importance

of re-orienting TVET to sustainable development. This can be seen in references in several paragraphs to phrases

and clauses such as ‘sustainable societies’, ‘sustainable industries’, ‘TVET initiatives that alleviate poverty...’, and

‘TVET initiatives…pivotal to human-centred sustainable development’ (UNESCO, 2004a). Going further than the

Second International Congress, the International Experts Meeting produced concrete suggestions for action

planning, comprising the following:

advocacy and vision building; support for the review and development of national TVET policies;

guidelines for planning and implementation; capacity building and  training programmes; learning

support materials and resources and equipment; networking and partnerships in TVET; and ongoing

monitoring, evaluation and research