In 2000 the GOI and the US Department of Labour (USDOL) entered into an agreement on joint action to assist India in its efforts to eliminate child labour. As a result the US$40 million, three-year INDUS Project was launched in February 2004 in partnership with ILO-IPEC and with ILO-IPEC responsible for the direct management and execution of the US$20 million provided by USDOL. In line with the agreement between the partners, this Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of INDUS was commissioned as a joint mid-term, formative, independent evaluation coordinated by the Design, Evaluation and Documentation (DED) section of ILO-IPEC acting as an independent entity. It was executed by an international four-person team of independent evaluation and child labour experts appointed by GOI (MOLE and the Ministry of Human Resources Development, MHRD), USDOL and ILO-IPEC.