Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder: Sri Lanka’s Child Labour Free Zones
In recent years Sri Lanka has made great strides in tackling child labour. But when a community came together to take action it proved to be a step change. A district-wide child development plan got children out of work and into school. The result is the world’s first Child Labour Free Zone.
The pioneering idea of a Child Labour Free Zone was born when the Sri Lankan government started thinking about how to best implement its 2016 Roadmap on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. There were no existing examples to follow. Thinking outside the box, public health initiatives were used for inspiration, for example those aimed at polio eradication and baby-friendly hospitals.