Develop meaningful partnerships among trade unions to eliminate child labour with a supply chain approach

The challenge

Child labour remains a critical issue across African agricultural supply chains—where informal employment is high and protections are low. In these sectors, children—particularly those of working age—often lack representation and visibility.

Trade unions are key players in improving working conditions and promoting workers’ rights. However, structural and legal constraints in many countries limit their ability to fully extend their mandate to the informal economy—where many vulnerable young workers in agriculture and artisanal mining are found. As a result, these workers often remain underrepresented and lack access to the protections and support that trade unions strive to provide.

Without strengthened capacity, coordination, and strategy, trade unions face an uphill battle in supporting the unionisation and protection of these workers—limiting their influence on labour rights, social protection, and efforts to eliminate child labour.

Our vision

This regional forum aims to empower trade unions to become stronger, more inclusive actors in the elimination of child labour—by:

• Fostering intra-African partnerships
• Promoting South-South cooperation
• Building knowledge and action-oriented collaboration

This is a follow-up to the ACCEL Africa Regional Conference (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire 2023) and the Forum on innovative solutions to reduce child labour and forced labour in Africa (Naivasha, Kenya, 2024), where trade unions expressed a strong commitment to deeper regional collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Event highlights

The event will feature a dynamic mix of activities designed to strengthen trade union efforts against child labour.

The process has begun with the identification of good practices through a cross-country survey. Knowledge needs analysis were conducted via online group discussions to identify context-specific challenges and gaps.

The main event in Accra will include plenaries, breakout sessions, and group ideation to develop an actionable plan for trade union strategies and map collaboration opportunities with governments, NGOs, and development partners.

The forum will also support the development of South-South Cooperation partnerships focused on capacity building, joint research initiatives, and technology transfer, fostering sustainable South-South cooperation for impact in agriculture and artisanal mining supply chains.

Who should attend?

Sectoral trade union representatives from:

Côte d’Ivoire · Egypt · Ghana · Kenya · Mali · Malawi · Nigeria · Uganda

With a special focus on the cotton, tea, coffee, cocoa and artisanal mining supply chains.

Why this event matters

Empowered, connected, and engaged trade unions can:

• Represent and better protect workers in the informal economy,
• Advocate for stronger labour law enforcement and inspections,
• Create grassroots solutions via their strong linkages with community structures,
• Contribute to eliminating child labour—sustainably and at scale!