Village savings and loans: A viable strategy in the fight against child labour
14 April 2015
Child labour deprives children from going to school and it affects their physical, mental and social well-being. This affects personal, family and community development in many ways. The Government of Malawi has put in place a National Action Plan (NAP) that guides partners to implement different programmes aimed at curbing child labour. In line with NAP, the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE) with funding from the International Labour Organization (ILO) is currently implementing a programme called “Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in Support of Education (ARISE). The programme aims to prevent, protect and withdrawn children from child labour in the area of T/A Chimutu-Lilongwe district.
Based on the results from the Child Labour Monitoring System (CLMS), which is a real-time monitoring system, poverty at the household level has been among the drivers of child labour. Parents fail to send their children to school due to an inability to pay for school funds and provide scholastic materials and food.
A total of 18 females and 1 male from Msambo have been regarding child labour as something normal up until the Community Child Labour Committee members visited their homes and sensitized them about its harmful effects. After being enlightened, they signed an oath of commitment to take part in the fight against child labour.
To motivate their commitments in the fight against child labour and reduce poverty, CYECE trained men and women in basic business management skills using Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) tools and Village Savings and Loans (VSL). After the training, parents were provided with grants to start small-scale business on a condition that they would keep their children in school. Additionally, they started a Village Savings and Loans group to invest more money to retain their children in school.
The group started in August 2014 and they invested their shares for 5 months – investing a total of 381 shares at a cost of MK 200 each. After lending it to members at an interest of 20% per month, the money increased from MK 56,200 to MK 129,160, a profit of 130%.
Since the group started, all members are able to pay for school funds, provide scholastic materials, feed their children; and others have bought pigs to enhance their investments and contribute towards the development of their village.
In as little as 5 months, the VSL strategy has become a viable way of improving grassroots efforts in Malawian village to not only attain financial empowerment for families, but to also fight against child labour and ensure children have the right to an education in the areas where ARISE is being implemented.
Source: Article written by Mussa Black, ARISE Service Outlet Center Coordinator, under the ILO-ARISE project to reduce the worst forms of child labour in tobacco-growing communities in Malawi. Article published on 11/01/2015 by the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (YECE) at: http://on.fb.me/1ctyLIT
Based on the results from the Child Labour Monitoring System (CLMS), which is a real-time monitoring system, poverty at the household level has been among the drivers of child labour. Parents fail to send their children to school due to an inability to pay for school funds and provide scholastic materials and food.
“After lending it to members at an interest of 20% per month, the money increased from MK 56,200 to MK 129,160, a profit of 130%”
A total of 18 females and 1 male from Msambo have been regarding child labour as something normal up until the Community Child Labour Committee members visited their homes and sensitized them about its harmful effects. After being enlightened, they signed an oath of commitment to take part in the fight against child labour.
To motivate their commitments in the fight against child labour and reduce poverty, CYECE trained men and women in basic business management skills using Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) tools and Village Savings and Loans (VSL). After the training, parents were provided with grants to start small-scale business on a condition that they would keep their children in school. Additionally, they started a Village Savings and Loans group to invest more money to retain their children in school.
The group started in August 2014 and they invested their shares for 5 months – investing a total of 381 shares at a cost of MK 200 each. After lending it to members at an interest of 20% per month, the money increased from MK 56,200 to MK 129,160, a profit of 130%.
Since the group started, all members are able to pay for school funds, provide scholastic materials, feed their children; and others have bought pigs to enhance their investments and contribute towards the development of their village.
In as little as 5 months, the VSL strategy has become a viable way of improving grassroots efforts in Malawian village to not only attain financial empowerment for families, but to also fight against child labour and ensure children have the right to an education in the areas where ARISE is being implemented.
Source: Article written by Mussa Black, ARISE Service Outlet Center Coordinator, under the ILO-ARISE project to reduce the worst forms of child labour in tobacco-growing communities in Malawi. Article published on 11/01/2015 by the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (YECE) at: http://on.fb.me/1ctyLIT