Support to the proposed national sub-programme to eliminate the worst forms of child labour: Time-Bound Measures

The project is designed to support the countrys commitment made by ratifying the ILO Convention No.182 which calls for time-bound measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The project will support the proposed national sub-programme to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in Mongolia with two strategic objectives:

• Strengthening the enabling environment for national action against WFCL in Mongolia
• Developing the integrated area based intervention model at the local level targeting boys and girls at risk or engaged in WFCL for prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation that could be replicated at a larger scale.

Enabling actions at the national level include support for coordinated policy responses, coherence in legal framework, knowledge development, capacity building of various stakeholders and awareness raising. Important partners in all processes at national and local levels will be the Government, Trade Unions, the Employers Federation, Local governments and civil society groups.

The project will support the efforts to:

• improve legal framework, integrate child labour concerns in the programmes and plans of line Ministries and build linkages with other ongoing development initiatives and strengthen national coordination mechanism;
• build capacity of partners and promote networking of governmental and non-governmental organizations to combat the WFCL;
• develop and implement a child labour monitoring system;
• build capacity of labour inspectors and law enforcement officers;
• implement a national awareness raising campaign to influence policy, public opinion and mobilize coordinated action on WFCL;
• undertake in-depth studies on WFCL, integrate child labour module in the national LFS and improve capacity to analyze existing information for knowledge base development;
• promote child labour subjects in the school curricula and the universities and etc.

At the local level, support will be provided to Local Government, NGOs and other local partners so that capacities can be improved to take responsibility for the elimination of WFCL, including provision of services for prevention and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, awareness raising and locally managed child labour monitoring system. Project partners capacity to increase the quality and impact of the interventions to children will be improved through development of training materials, training and experience sharing. Subjects of training include health and psychological counseling, occupational safety and health, gender mainstreaming, supporting child rights, prevention of abuse, violence and crime. Good practices and lessons learnt from area-based interventions will be documented.

Direct support aims to remove children from the worst forms of child labour and prevent other children from entering such work.

• The priority sectors of child labour for project interventions are: a) informal mining, b) urban informal sector, c) sexual exploitation of children, and d) herding and domestic work.
• The geographical areas selected for area-based interventions are Ulaanbaatar and 5 aimags: Uvurkhangai, Tuv, Bayankhongor, Dornogobi and Dornod.
• Total beneficiaries of 6,000 children will be targeted for withdrawal and prevention from WFCL through the provision of educational and non-educational services.