12 June 2013
Millions of children around the world, mainly girls, are working in households other than their own, doing domestic work such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and looking after other children and the elderly. According to a new report on domestic work from the International Labour Organization, it's estimated at least two-thirds of these children are working under the legal minimum wage, or in conditions that are hazardous. Often, the working relationship between the child and their employer is ambiguous at best, exploitative at worst. But solutions are possible, even in a place where using children as domestic workers is a long tradition.
12 June 2013
In Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, half the population lives under the poverty line, and it's estimated one and a half million children are in child labour. But according to the International Labour Organization, a new, community based approach to tackling the child labour problem is showing promise to eradicate it in areas where child labour has long been a part of daily life.
08 May 2013
The global jobs crisis is taking a heavy toll on young people in the advanced economies of Europe where 1 in five are out of work, but in the developing world the situation is much more severe. Two out of three young people in developing countries are either unemployed or trying to survive day to day in low paying, irregular jobs. There is an urgent need for training and education programs that prepare young people with the skills employers are looking for.
01 December 2010
It’s tough to be an entrepreneur; it’s a lot tougher when you’re a woman from a low income background, running a small scale enterprise across international borders. But in Malawi the challenges for pioneering women entrepreneurs also include the risk of HIV infection. That’s why a local business association is welcoming a new initiative to educate entrepreneurs how to protect themselves. And the classroom is an unconventional one; on board the bus to buy goods across the border in Tanzania.