ACCEL Africa Gender LABb: Turning gender equality commitments into action to address the root causes of child labour
The ILO's ACCEL Africa project brought together partners from six African countries to strengthen gender equality and non-discrimination in efforts to eliminate child labour. The initiative focused on addressing structural inequalities and developing more inclusive interventions. ACCEL Africa is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
2 November 2026
ABIDJAN (ILO News) – Addressing child labour requires more than interventions targeting children alone. It also means tackling the gender inequalities, discriminatory social norms and unequal economic opportunities that shape the lives of women, men, girls and boys in households, communities and supply chains.
This was the central message of the ACCEL Africa Gender and Non-Discrimination Innovation Lab (Gender LABb), held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 26 to 29 October 2026. The four-day event brought together representatives of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and non-governmental organizations from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria and Uganda.
"This LABb is the kind of innovation Africa needs: solutions that are locally rooted, intersectional and shaped by those most affected... The ambition of this LABb is therefore important : to lead, to amplify and to break barriers, so that gender justice and dignity become lived realities rather than aspirations." Said Mr. Coffi Dominique Agossou, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Africa.
The Gender LABb aimed to strengthen the integration of gender equality and non-discrimination into ongoing ACCEL Africa interventions. Using a hackathon approach, country and partner teams examined existing activities, identified gender-related barriers and explored practical ways to redesign interventions to better address the underlying causes of child labour.
Discussions highlighted how gender inequalities influence access to decent work, productive resources, income and decision-making, as well as the distribution of paid and unpaid work.
Participants considered how unpaid care responsibilities, domestic work and unequal household expectations can affect children's education and protection. Girls may face the combined demands of productive work and domestic responsibilities, while boys may experience social pressure to contribute to household income at an early age.
Women's economic empowerment in rural supply chains was another important area of discussion. This included access to land, credit, markets and cooperative structures, as well as women's ability to retain and control their earnings and participate in household and community decisions.
The LABb also emphasised the role of men and boys as partners in advancing gender equality. Discussions explored positive masculinities, shared caregiving responsibilities and more equitable decision-making within households and communities.
The work was anchored in the ILO's international labour standards, including Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration and Convention No. 111 on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation, as well as the ILO Transformative Agenda for Gender Equality (TAGE). Participants also explored the ILO Resolution on Decent Work and the Care Economy, particularly the recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work.
From analysis to the redesign of ACCEL Africa interventions
A central feature of the LABb was its focus on applying these discussions to ongoing programme activities.
Country and partner teams presented ACCEL Africa interventions across areas including policy and institutional frameworks, occupational safety and health, social protection, livelihoods, youth employment, cooperatives and community-based monitoring.
Through a gender audit exercise, participants assessed whether existing activities were gender-blind, gender-sensitive, gender-responsive or gender-transformative. They then examined the social norms, institutional practices and barriers that could limit participation, influence the distribution of benefits or leave gender-specific risks unaddressed.
The exercise encouraged teams to look beyond increasing women's participation and consider how interventions affect access to resources, control over income, decision-making and the distribution of unpaid care responsibilities. These factors are important in understanding the circumstances that can increase children's vulnerability to child labour.
Employers' and workers' perspectives further informed the discussions, highlighting the roles of enterprises, employers' organizations and workers' organizations in advancing gender equality and decent work. Participants also considered how employer-led initiatives and institutional practices could offer approaches for strengthening leadership, enterprise practices, accountability and women's economic opportunities.
The final stage of the LABb focused on translating the analysis into practical changes.
Working in teams, participants developed proposals to redesign existing activities, identifying the gender-related barriers they aimed to address, the changes they sought to achieve, the actors required for implementation and the resources needed.
Particular attention was given to safeguards and potential unintended consequences, including risks of exclusion, stigma or backlash. This helped ensure that proposed changes considered the different circumstances and needs of women, men, girls and boys.
The four-day process concluded with team presentations, peer feedback and refinement of the proposed interventions. Each country or partner team was tasked with defining concrete 90-day commitments, identifying responsible actors and support requirements, and establishing arrangements for reviewing progress.
The resulting proposals and commitments are intended to inform the continued implementation of ACCEL Africa activities and contribute to future learning and the development of practical tools on child labour and gender equality.
In her closing remarks, Fanfan Rwanyindo, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, underlined that gender equality must be reflected in the way programmes are designed, implemented and evaluated, rather than treated as a separate consideration.
“Gender equality must not simply be something we discuss; it must be systematically integrated into the way we design, implement and evaluate our work,” Fanfan Rwanyindo, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa.
The LABb reinforced the importance of collective action in addressing the structural inequalities that shape access to decent work and influence the vulnerability of households and communities.
Through ACCEL Africa, the ILO will continue working with its constituents and partners to strengthen gender-responsive approaches, promote women's economic empowerment, engage men and boys in transforming discriminatory norms, and advance the elimination of child labour across African supply chains.
Relevant projects
Accelerating action for the elimination of child labour in supply chains in Africa (ACCEL Africa)