Ouagadougou (ILO News) – The CLEAR Cotton project ("Eliminating child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chains: an integrated approach"), in collaboration with the project "Towards SDG Target 8.7: supporting efforts to eliminate child labour and forced labour across Africa and in the cotton and garment supply chains in Burkina Faso", continues its actions to combat child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chain in Burkina Faso.
 Through these projects, the ILO, in partnership with the Permanent Secretariat of the Accelerated Schooling Strategy (SSA/P), contributed to the mainstreaming into formal school of 978 children aged between 9 and 13 years, in or at risk of child labour in the Boucle du Mouhoun region during the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 school years. 

 The SSA/P is an innovative educational alternative that allows out-of-school children or school drop-outs to enter or re-enter primary school after nine months, at the fourth grade level and to continue their school curriculum normally.
This opportunity  increases the offers of basic education and contributes to the achievement of the objectives of quality education for all children. The SSA/P was proven a powerful tool for (re)enrolling in the school system children who find themselves too quickly and very often in child labour.
The action undertaken in Burkina Faso within the framework of the CLEAR Cotton project, co-funded by the European Union, joined forces with the project "Towards SDG Target 8.7: supporting the elimination of child labour in cotton and garment supply chains in Africa" funded by Germany.
This joint effort, which has made it possible to expand the scope of the project, is part of the broader commitment made by Germany in Buenos Aires (2017), to join forces globally to end child labour, forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking (target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by becoming a Pathfinder country of the Alliance 8.7
 The Koudougou optimization workshop of the SSA/P brought together several stakeholders including members of the Permanent secretariat, the focal points at the levels of the Provincial Directorates and Basic Education Districts, schools directors and the implementing partners (NGOs) of the SSA/P, the Directorate of the Fight against Child Labour of the Ministry of the Labour as well as the CLEAR Cotton project team in Burkina Faso. 

 

 

 The participants drew the lessons from the implementation of the SSA/P within the framework of the ILO. At the end of the workshop, they strengthened their knowledge of concepts and standards relating to child labour and acquired skills to ensure a better consideration of child labour in the implementation of the SSA/P and the follow-up of children who have already benefited from it (social mobilization, census of children, intensive enrolment in centres and transfers to mainstream schools).  
The members of the Directorate for the Fight against Child Labour now know that this educational alternative is an effective mean for the social reintegration of children withdrawn from child labour. The Regional Director of Labour and Social Protection of the Centre-West region as well as the Permanent Secretary of the SSA/P unanimously welcomed this activity and wished for the support of the project in order to reach more stakeholders. 
 Co-funded by the European Union and the ILO and implemented by the ILO in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the CLEAR Cotton project aims to combat child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chains in Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan and Peru.
In Burkina Faso, the CLEAR Cotton project receives further financial support from the project "Towards SDG Target 8.7: supporting efforts to eliminate child labour and forced labour across Africa and in the cotton and garment supply chains in Burkina Faso ", funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.