Missed the VET Chain? – New sessions in autumn 2025

The learning journeys along international supply chains have so to date included:

• From grain to bread – regional and sustainable?
• From plastic granulate to heart catheters – from China to Costa Rica
• From fish to tuna pizza – from Portugal to production in Rhineland-Palatinate
• From cocoa beans to chocolate – from Ghana to Bonn
• And from the source to the water bottle on the shelf

For the first time, interested participants were also trained as trainers. Our participants come from NGOs (e.g. Greenpeace and Südwind), technical development cooperation (GIZ, KfW, Enable Europe), vocational training research and education providers, among others.

A particular highlight was the workshop with all BIBB trainees on the Easter VET Chain – from cocoa bean to the Easter bunny.

The aim of the VET Chain is to raise awareness among national and international vocational training stakeholders of the ecological and socio-economic challenges along global supply chains. With the knowledge gained, participants can implement concrete practical approaches to sustainable design in their professional environment.

The focus is on reflections along economic, ecological, social and cultural dimensions of vocational education and training – with sustainable learning and action impulses, focusing on the journey from raw material to product or service.

GOVET expert Julia Olesen, who specialises in Latin America and Africa, emphasises that the VET Chain can also support or inspire the implementation of the standard occupational profile ‘Environmental Protection and Sustainability’ in vocational schools and by trainers.

Further to the east, Dr Hannelore Kress advises interested countries on current challenges in vocational education and training. She emphasises the need for the mandatory integration of environmental and sustainability issues into training concepts – both nationally and internationally, also with regard to European legislation on corporate reporting obligations along the supply chain.

What comes next?

The VET Chain workshops and Train-the-Trainer courses in the first half of 2025 were core building blocks on the path to sustainable vocational education and training. With practical exercises, stimulating exchange formats and professional materials, the VET Chain strengthens modern-day skilled workers – for an ecological, socially and economically responsible future of vocational education and training.