Other Initiatives Against Child Labour in Bangladesh
UNICEF has — through the Directorate of Non-Formal Education (DNFE) — been implementing the
Urban Hard-to-Reach Project. This Project aims at addressing the needs of underprivileged children,
including those engaged in child labour. Non-formal education (NFE) programmes have been established
in six metropolitan cities. It aims at mainstreaming NFE graduates into the formal primary education.
The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) implements a hazardous child labour project, funded
by the Council of Denmark. The project's interventions include enhancing education through NFE,
provision of vocational training to create employment opportunities for working children and awareness
raising programmes on children's rights. Their geographical coverage is limited to four mainly outer
administrative areas within Dhaka, i.e. Tongi, Gazipur, Mirpur and Keranigonj.
It should be noted that IPEC projects have been coordinating with all these projects and programmes
regarding geographical areas and child labour sectors to avoid duplication.
Under its poverty and working children programme, Save the Children UK has been approaching the
child labour issue by:
- Reducing child labour by reducing families' dependency on their children, conducting research and
advocating/influencing major development NGOs to incorporate child labour issues in their
mainstream development activities. Targeted interventions on the economic/social empowerment of
families are undertaken through the BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Centre) ultra-poor
programme in Rangpur and PKSF in Jamalpur.
- Pilot programmes focusing mainly on the informal economy (selected areas in Dhaka, Jamalpur,
Kurigram and Khulna), including the provision of non-formal education and improvement of
workplaces (environment and conditions) through employers' participation and establishing community
pressure groups.
A Joint Child Labour Working Group (JCLWG) was formed in 1999 as there was a felt need for broader
cooperation, information sharing, and joint advocacy initiatives to tackle the vast problem of child labour
in Bangladesh. The group argues that with the ILO Convention No. 182 and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child — all of which have been ratified by the Government of Bangladesh — there is
a strategic opportunity for all concerned to work together in a comprehensive way towards specific goals
and make the rights of children in the most hazardous and exploitative forms of child labour a living
reality. The JCLWG aims at achieving greater programme synergies through systematic sharing of
information and lessons learnt from the various activities of the group members, as well as planning
joint research agendas, policies, and strategic plans. The JCLWG focuses on the development and
effective implementation of the national Time-Bound Programme, within the frameworks of the ILO
Convention No. 182 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The present members of the
group are the ILO, UNICEF, the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (an alliance of NGOs), the Dhaka
Ahsania Mission, the Centre for Mass Education in Science, and the Save the Children Alliance.
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