Project Background

The recently launched ILO report “Marking progress Against Child Labour” highlighted the fact that while some progress is being made in reducing child labour there is a need to reinforce action in many sectors. The estimates suggest some 168 million children remain in child labour and almost 60% of those work in agriculture.

Building on the initiative of the 2010 Conference, in September 2013 the Government of Brazil convened a follow up Conference to review progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labour. The event had a strong focus on the problem of child labour in agriculture and called for effective services and policies on vocational training to help empower children in rural areas. Insufficient education deprives large numbers of young people in rural areas from acquiring basic skills. Formal education may either not be available or may be of such poor quality that children lack interest and drop out of school. However lacking basic skills children can be vulnerable to exploitation in the labour market and are often destined for a future of insecure work.

Much work by ILO-IPEC involves support to older children involved in or vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour. In many countries IPEC has programmes working with this group, usually those aged15 -17 years old. Within the on-going IPEC project Combating child labour through education there has already been some work undertaken on vocational skills and livelihoods, but it has not been the project’s main activity. The new project will enable more attention to be given to this issue. At the same time the project will build on and benefit from the work undertaken and partnerships established by the current project.

Project Strategies

The project will follow three strategic dimensions of work:

• Country level interventions will be implemented to support programmes that provide skills training to adolescents (15-17 years) in or vulnerable to child labour. These interventions will in the main build on existing partnerships that IPEC has but may also develop new partnerships with others doing similar work. The focus of training will include not only vocational skills but development of core work skills to enhance employability. As a second element of the country level work the project will build synergies and linkages with broader initiatives of the ILO or partners in the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture in order to raise the issue of skills for adolescents in other initiatives on rural development
• Capacity building for skills training providers in each of the target countries. This will be delivered through in country programmes and an international training programme at the ILO’s Training Centre in Turin. Capacity building work with partners will utilise a new resource material developed under the current project on Child Labour and Education. The resource material Skills and Livelihoods Training: A guide for partners in child labour projects was developed in Uganda and tested in both Uganda and Indonesia before completion.
• Using the knowledge generated by the project and wider research the project will contribute to national and international discussions on skills for adolescents. This will include production of a thematic report on child labour, skills and youth employment linkages in agriculture undertaken through the inter agency Understanding Children’s Work project (ILO, UNICEF and World Bank). The key findings of this report will be used in the context of the 2015 World Day against Child Labour, which will explore linkages between work on child labour and promotion of decent work for youth.

Main Activities in Indonesia

The project will:

• Build and strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to map the child labour situation and conditions in the village including the identification of skill training needs for children aged 15-17 years.
• Enhance the capacity of the vocational Training Providers, a development institution for formal or non-formal training and education based in targeted areas to deliver skills and entrepreneurship training for children aged 15–17 years old.
• Use relevant ILO resource material support planning of programmes and training of trainers using facilities of Sanggar Kegiatan Belajar (Government Learning Centres), Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat (Community Learning Centres) and Vocational Training Institution (BLK) in the selected districts of province.

Key Partners

• Ministry of Manpower
• Ministry of National Education and Culture
• Ministry of Social Affairs
• Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo)
• Trade Unions
• Non Government Organizations