Salima, Malawi, December 9th and 10th, 2021 - ACCEL project partners in Malawi hosted a knowledge sharing workshop to showcase their initiatives to combat child labour and promote decent work for adults and children of working age. The event brought together tripartite constituents to promote coordination and governance of child labour in Malawi and to share information about efforts towards achieving national targets on the eradication of child labour.

The workshop was a platform to identify gaps, shortages, and risks in the implementation of child labour elimination programs and build coherence among the different activities towards achieving sustainability of the results. Its primary objective was to foster collaboration among stakeholders and promote effective strategies for eliminating child labour in Malawi.

The partners shared their successful initiatives, which included organizing strategic planning workshops, capacity development activities, trainings and awareness events, outreach and sensitization campaigns, and support to collective bargaining agreements. They also highlighted the development of comprehensive vocational skills training programs for children of working age. The ACCEL project has also supported the provision of education services and counselling for children and their families and established successful anti-child labour clubs and compliance committees at the community level.

The need to combat child labor in agriculture was highlighted during the ACCEL project partners' knowledge sharing workshop in Malawi. According to the 2020 global child labor estimates, agriculture accounts for 70% of child labor worldwide and up to 82% in sub-Saharan Africa, with younger children being particularly vulnerable to the physical demands and hazards of farm work. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated the issue, as families who have lost jobs elsewhere turn to subsistence farming to survive. To make broader progress in ending child labor, there needs to be a focus on improving rural livelihoods and building more diversified economies, including in rural areas. The ACCEL project and its partners are committed to addressing this issue and creating a brighter future for Malawi's children.

Despite facing internal and external challenges, which have affected the project's implementation, ACCEL continues to engage with stakeholders to address the root causes of child labour in Malawi.

During the workshop, partners also discussed their knowledge needs, which included capacity building of stakeholders working on withdrawing children from child labour, strengthening monitoring of withdrawn children, providing economic empowerment for at-risk youth, institutionalizing CLMS, and promoting access to secondary school education. Other knowledge needs included advocacy, sensitization in workplaces and with employers on child labour, research and data on child labour, and empowering communities to drive child labour elimination.

The implementation of the ACCEL Africa knowledge sharing strategy is a crucial step towards eradicating child labour in Malawi and promoting coordination among different organizations working in this area. In this manner, the workshop served as a basis for partnerships between Malawi and other countries, which will be discussed during the Knowledge-sharing as a pathway for strengthened intra-African collaboration and accelerate action for the elimination of child labour in supply chains.

The ACCEL project partners and stakeholders reaffirmed their commitment to eradicating child labour in Malawi and pledged to continue their efforts towards creating a better future for the children of Malawi.