With the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the six goals of Education for All (EFA) fast-approaching, debates on what a post-2015 agenda and framework should look like are taking place across the globe. Recognizing the potential of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in supporting rapid demographic and technological changes, countries are prioritizing TVET and more broadly skills development as a key strategy to address youth unemployment and sustainable development. Central to the skills development agenda beyond 2015 is to ensure that all young people and adults have equitable access to learning opportunities and possess skills, knowledge and competencies that are recognized and relevant for work and further professional and personal development.

The global forum, organized by UNESCO-UNEVOC from 14 to 16 October 2014 in Bonn, Germany, will build on the outcomes and gains from previous regional consultations that centered on youth, skills and greening TVET. It will expand the debate by looking beyond the 2015 education goals and the future agenda for TVET. The global forum will be followed by a UNEVOC Network Meeting on 17 October 2014.

The forum will provide a platform for exchange between representatives from the UNEVOC Network, industries, international and regional organizations, development agencies and national TVET institutions and facilitate global dialogue on repositioning TVET in the context of the Post-2015 education and development agenda. Prominence will be given to partnership and cooperation by engaging the UNEVOC Network in elaborating concrete interventions in greening TVET and youth and skills development.

Objectives

Through a number of plenary sessions, panel discussions and working groups, the four-day forum will seek to gather answers to the following questions:

• What are the expectations from TVET beyond 2015?
• How can the expectations be met involving multiple stakeholders?
• What roles can the private sector and enterprises play to stimulate bottom-up transformations?
• What do promising practices in TVET have to do with the shaping of contemporary agenda for TVET?

For questions, please contact us at global-forum-unevoc@unesco.org