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In October 2004, UNESCO in partnership with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), hosted the meeting entitled ‘Learning for work, citizenship and sustainability’, five years after the Second International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education (TVET). UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura, highlighted the challenge of sustainable development, the major role that TVET must play, and the need for TVET to adapt and change if it is to play this role effectively. Key questions to be considered included: What has been the progress in individual countries? How has TVET been reoriented to sustainable development? What successful approaches have been developed in pre-employment courses and in work-site based training? What industry and training sectors have led the way? Which ones have lagged? What factors are essential to success in this? What actions need to be taken by individual instructors and trainers, TVET colleges, and managers of TVET systems? What support roles can be played by UNESCO-UNEVOC Centres? What actions can UNESCO undertake to support instructors, colleges and systems, especially as the United Nations has declared 2005-2014 to be a special Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and has recommended that all countries take progressive steps to integrate sustainable development into their education plans at all levels and in all education sectors? This document is the background paper, prepared to inform discussions of such questions and to assist in the development of an Action Plan to promote TVET for Sustainable Development during the 2005-2014 United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The contents are: Background, scope and purpose; Understanding sustainable development; TVET and sustainable development; Key issues/themes in the reorientation of TVET to sustainable development; Towards an action plan.