Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has signed an agreement with five national NGOs namely, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Resource Integration Center, Nari Moitree, Center for Development Services and Population Services and Training Center under the ILO-DCC Action Program on Child Labour. The signing ceremony was held on 20 August 2009 at the Dhalpur Community Center of DCC.

Under the partnership between DCC and NGOs will include Non Formal Education (NFE) for relatively young children engaged in hazardous work, followed by mainstreaming into formal education or formal/informal (pre-) vocational training programs; Skill Development Training (SDT) for relatively older children engaged in hazardous work, followed by placement in employment that could vary from decent self employment, wage employment and supervised apprenticeship schemes; and Social and Economic Empowerment (SEE) for the guardians or households/families of NFE and SDT enrolled children, in order to shift their reliance away from their children’s earnings.

The Chief Executive Officer of Dhaka City Corporation, Md. Nurul Haque chaired the signing ceremony. The ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Ms. Sachiko Yamamato was present as Chief Guest, Honorable Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Arun Kanti Aich as Special Guest and H.E. The Deputy Ambassador and Head of Development Cooperation of the Royal Netherlands Embassy Ms. Doris Voorbark and ILO Director of Dhaka, Ms. Panudda Boonpala were present as Guests of Honor.

Since December 2008, the ILO has entered into a partnership with the Dhaka City Corporation to implement a child labour project (initially in four Zones of DCC) aiming at preventing and eliminating hazardous child labour in the urban informal sectors of Dhaka Metropolitan City.

Under this partnership with the ILO, DCC will execute child labour programs through partnership with NGOs, which - in conjunction with the regulatory and monitoring mechanisms – aim to identify children under 18 years of age who are engaged in hazardous work and provide them with viable alternatives in the form of education and or decent (non-hazardous) work. In addition, DCC will develop and implement regulatory and monitoring mechanisms for urban informal sectors, social mobilization and advocacy & awareness raising activities, and strengthen conditions for sustainability of the program and its impact.

The partnership between DCC and NGOs will initially cover a period of two years. Approximately a total of 10000 children engaged in hazardous work will receive non-formal education and 1500 children will receive vocational training on various marketable trades, while 10000 parents/guardians of the enrolled children will receive social and economic empowerment support through the provision of micro credit.

After the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of DCC along with the Chief Guest and Special Guests inaugurated a Multi-purpose Center (MPC) at Kazirbagh area of Dhalpur in presence of a group of working children, their parents and employers. The MPC is the focal point for service delivery and community mobilization activities.