ACCEL Africa’s Media Production Competition: Leveraging the power of media to combat child labour in Mali
The video was the award-winning entry to ACCEL Africa’s Media Production Competition, which was launched in April 2022 and conducted in the lead up to the World Day Against Child Labour in June 2022.
The stories of child laborers such as Sira Coulibaly and Sadio Kante are told. They work in a gold mining site found in Diabarou in the Kenieba district, where many generations of families have been searching for gold and dolomite, for which Mali is the second largest producer in Africa, after South Africa and Ghana. In 2016, the mining industry brought 280 billion CFA (425 million EUR) to the state, constituting 22% of fiscale revenue and 6% of the GDP.
Sira and Sadio had to quit school at the 5th and 6th grades, respectively, to help their families. On this mining site, they work from dusk until dawn in dangerous conditions, only to bring home 6000 CFA – equivalent to just around 11 EUR. There are risks everywhere, with only 1 out of 4 girls working in the site making it out, according to authorities.
Despite these challenges, many adults still engage in child labour. Daouda Kante, one of the miners, reported, “When the children arrive on the site, we welcome them and show them our craft. Jobs here are not yet developed, so we introduce them to gold working.” The mining site gathers workers from all over Mali, as well as from other African countries such as Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso, where there is a lack of employment. Brahma Keta, another miner, shares, “The lack of jobs is bringing many students and graduates here… After studies, those who have to take care of their families find themselves without a job and are forced to come here…”
The below video shows the steps being taken by authorities to eliminate child labour, primarily through awareness-raising and facilitating access to education. Baghaga Fadimata Camara, the President of the Council of Kenieba says, “We are involved in awareness-raising missions because we need to change behaviors in our environment. I raise a lot of awareness about girls’ access to schooling, but also [the importance of] staying in school. They have to move up to higher grades in order to refine their studies and become empowered later on.” Badiallo Sow, the Vice President of the Children’s Parliament of Mali, also spoke of the fact that children working at the site do not even know their own age: “This is why authorities are coordinating. When we work to give each child a birth certificate, we can find out their age and advocate against child labour.”
The video was the award-winning entry to ACCEL Africa’s Media Production Competition, which was launched in April 2022 and conducted in the lead up to the World Day Against Child Labour in June 2022. The competition focuses on child labour in Mali, particularly in the gold and cotton supply chains. It highlights the role of the media as the fourth power in a state, encouraging journalists and media professionals to make the voices of children heard, reveal abusive practices and violations of human rights, describe the root causes of child labour, and shape public opinion and policies to eliminate child labour.
The competition was open to practicing journalists from various forms of press, including written, audiovisual and online. Candidates must have been in the profession for at least two years prior to the competition, must reside in Mali, and be of at least 18 years of age.
The competition was judged by a panel of journalists and child labor experts, who evaluated the entries based on their creativity, accuracy, balance and positive representation of the work of children in the gold and cotton supply chains. The awarding ceremony > was chaired by Bandiougou Danté, President of the Press House of Mali, as well as the Minister of Labor and the representative of the country director of the ILO.
After careful deliberation, the winners were announced. Mohamed Dagnoko, the Mali correspondent for the Moroccan television channel Medi1tv, bagged the award for Best Video Report. Mohamed is a graduate from the Centre for Information Science and Technology Studies (CESTI) in Dakar. His 6-minute piece, which focuses on the school drop-out rates among young girls in Diabarou, the dangers they face while searching for gold, and the local initiatives undertaken, has also won the prize for best television report at the Mali Medias Awards.
In addition to Mohamed, ACCEL Africa also named the following winners during the competition: Siaka Diamoutene (Best Classic Press Report), Souleymane Sangare (Best Image Blog Article), and Ibrahim Togoola (Best Post). Each winner received a sum of 200,000 CFA and media equipment. During the awarding ceremony, Mr. Danté called on stakeholders to continue the fight against child labour through media: “I invite you to be more interested in these questions, to commit to to making at least one production on the theme even outside of the competition period.”
