With this overview as background, the Inter-Agency Report then analyses the resource implications of meeting the national commitment to eliminating child labour. Specifically in this context, the report assesses the economic costs over a five-year period of: (1) providing the poorest of the poor families with a minimum degree of social protection, and (2) providing a package of special, targeted measures aimed at protecting and removing children from employment.
The report shows that while Zambia has witnessed a substantial reduction in the incidence of child labour, this progress will not be enough to eliminate child labour by 2015. Even under a best-case growth and policy scenario a substantial number of children aged 7-15 years– just below one million – is expected to be still in employment in 2015. This signifies that additional policy efforts will therefore be necessary to eliminate child labour within this period.
The cost estimation results indicate that providing poorest of the poor with social protection (through a conditional cash transfer scheme) would cost some $US80.4 million annually, and would help prevent or remove some 100,000 children from child labour over a five-year period. A package of special prevention and protection measures targeting the remaining child labourers would require an additional average outlay of $USD26.3 annually over a five-year time horizon.
These costs are premised on a best-case economic and policy scenario. In a context of slower household income growth and less progress in terms of improving school quality, the target number of children in child labour would be higher over the five-year period, in turn raising the cost of eliminating child labour.
The report shows that while Zambia has witnessed a substantial reduction in the incidence of child labour, this progress will not be enough to eliminate child labour by 2015. Even under a best-case growth and policy scenario a substantial number of children aged 7-15 years– just below one million – is expected to be still in employment in 2015. This signifies that additional policy efforts will therefore be necessary to eliminate child labour within this period.
The cost estimation results indicate that providing poorest of the poor with social protection (through a conditional cash transfer scheme) would cost some $US80.4 million annually, and would help prevent or remove some 100,000 children from child labour over a five-year period. A package of special prevention and protection measures targeting the remaining child labourers would require an additional average outlay of $USD26.3 annually over a five-year time horizon.
These costs are premised on a best-case economic and policy scenario. In a context of slower household income growth and less progress in terms of improving school quality, the target number of children in child labour would be higher over the five-year period, in turn raising the cost of eliminating child labour.
Print
Email