Child labour

ILO to hold training workshop on responses to working street children

Participants from a number of countries in the Arab States and North Africa regions will meet to exchange experiences on how to tackle the problems facing nations with working street children.

In coordination with ILO Cairo Office, the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States will convene a   training workshop aimed at exchanging experiences on tackling the problem of working street children. The ILO will deliver the workshop together with the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Hope Village Society in Egypt.  Participants from Lebanon will range from ministerial officials from the Ministries of Labour, Justice, Education, Social Affairs as well as Interior and Municipalities to civil society actors (the BEYOND Association and the Home of Hope) and representatives from workers’ as well as employers’ organizations. Representatives form Jordan’s Ministries of Labour, Social Affairs, Interior, the Governorate of Amman and the Ruwaad El-Tanmia non-governmental organization will take part in the workshop. From Egypt, government officials from the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Social Solidarity will also be in attendance alongside representatives of the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

Workshop sessions will focus on:
  • Working street children’s’ characteristics, as well as challenges and opportunities in attending to them;
  • the “Tahya Masr” programme, a national development initiative sponsored by the   President under which working street children is a major component;
  • Egypt’s National Plan for working street children administered directly by the Ministry of Social Solidarity; and
  • presenting information and case studies on the contribution of the private sector to tackling the problem of working street children.
The programme will also include field visits to projects and centres for young male and female working street children, as well a Christmas recital by working street children at the Egyptian Opera House directed by Maestro Selim Sahab.

The workshop is a joint initiative between two projects: “Combating worst forms of child labour amongst Syrian refugees and host communities,” funded by the Government of Norway and the project  “Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon,” funded by the Regional Development and Protection Programme (RDPP), with contributions from the European Union, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Czech Republic.