Asia-Pacific Delegation visits UNESCO-UNEVOC

02 May 2016

The German Society for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) (GIZ) organized a visit for representatives from Asian countries to UNESCO-UNEVOC coinciding with an overseas study visit to Germany. Thirteen ministry and national institute representatives from Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam had the opportunity to find out more about the role and mandate of UNESCO-UNEVOC, as well as the International Centre’s activities in three thematic priority areas, namely Greening TVET, ICT in TVET and Youth and Skills.

UNESCO-UNEVOC was represented by Mr Shyamal Majumdar, Head of UNESCO-UNEVOC, Ms Kenneth Barrientos, Programme Officer, and Ms Barbara Trzmiel, Associate Project Officer. Ms Trzmiel briefed the delegation about the outcome of UNESCO’s TVET Progress Review in the Asia and the Pacific region conducted by the UNESCO Office in Bangkok.

Mr Shyamal Majumdar spoke about the implications that the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) will have on the development of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and specifically pointed out SDG4 as particularly important as it refers to education. Remarking that TVET is at the centre stage of the sustainability agenda, Mr Majumdar demonstrated how TVET also directly impacts SDG5 and SDG8, and indirectly supports the other goals as defined in Transforming Our World – the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In the discussion that followed this input from UNESCO-UNEVOC, members of the delegation highlighted the need to continue creating more synergy with other regional organizations in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthen the UNEVOC Centres in their countries and engage with UNESCO-UNEVOC through country-level support.