Combating Worst Forms of Child Labour by Reinforcing Policy Response and Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods and Educational Opportunities in Egypt (CWCLP)

Participating UN Agencies: International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP)- (Administrative Agency).

Project Background

Child labour remains a widespread phenomenon in Egypt. There are no accurate statistics on the number of Egyptian children in child labour since most work is in unlicensed facilities. However, a study conducted in 2010 by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) with the financial and technical assistance of the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), revealed that about 1.6 million were engaged in child labour according to international definitions.

Child labour estimates vary widely, depending on the age range and survey:

• 9.3% of children between the ages of 5-17 are engaged in some form of child labour;
• 14.3% of them are boys;
• 4% of them are girls;
• 45.7% of children in child labour are working in fume and dust, a common occurrence because most children in Egypt work in agriculture on family farms;
• 52% of children engaged in child labour in Egypt are unpaid family workers in agriculture;
• 63.5% of the children engaged in child labour work in the agricultural sector;
• 18.9% in the industrial sector;
• 17.6% in the service sector.

Implementation Strategy

The project has targeted five rural governorates of Upper Egypt: Minya, Fayoum, Assiut, Sohag, Sharqiyah – the most affected by food insecurity, vulnerability, poverty, malnutrition, and child labour.

Objectives and expected outcomes

Objectives

1. Provide direct educational services and address the root causes of child labour through the promotion of sustainable livelihoods of target households.
2. Strengthen policies on child labour and support the review of relevant legislation on child labour.
3. Strengthen the capacity of national institutions to combat child labour and address its root causes.
4. Raise awareness of child labour and its root causes and the importance of education for all children. This will mobilize a wide array of actors and improve education.
5. Foster oversee research, evaluation and collection of reliable data on child labour.
6. Create and implement a documentation and dissemination strategy for success stories and lessons learned.

Outcomes

• Strengthen partner capacity to design, develop, and implement income generation activities, micro-enterprises, and cooperatives for women and households of children at risk.
• Capacity of Ministry of Manpower and Migration (MoMM), Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) and other relevant social partners to improve the learning conditions at workplaces of children engaged in exploitative conditions in traditional and/or for apprenticeship is built or increased and made sustainable.
• Implementation of the National Action Plan on child labour with special focus on child labour in Agriculture and in the framework of the Decent Work Country Programme.
• Government support in revising child labour legislation, especially in agriculture.
• Revision of the Hazardous Work List (HWL) and support of the government in the process of its adoption and enactment by law.
• Strengthen partner capacity to design and implement effectively child labour policies and programmes.
• Increase of capacity of relevant institutions, partners, and stakeholders towards the elimination of hazards in the workplace with a focus on agriculture and decent work.
• Households of children in child labour at risk become aware of negative consequences of child labour and benefits of education.
• Enhancement of awareness of relevant legislation, policies, and rights on child labour.
• Development of a child labour monitoring system both in the target area and at the national level.

Implementing partners

NGOs

• Caritas Egypt – Fayoum
• Terre des Hommes – Assiut
• Coptic and Evangelical Organization for Social Services – Minya
• Community Development Association for Women and Child Improvement – Sohag and Sharqiyah

Governmental Organizations

• Ministry of Manpower and Migration (MoMM)
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
• Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS)
• National Council for Childhood and Motherhood

Target groups

16.000 children and 5.000 household heads, as follow:

3.000 children aged 14-17
5.000 children under 15 years old engaged in exploitative child labour.
8.000 children at high risk who are primarily siblings of working children.
5.000 household heads and vulnerable mothers of targeted at-risk or working children.