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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Combating Child Labor in the Footwear Industry of Vale dos Sinos, Brazil

ILAB Program

International Child Labor Technical Assistance

Region/Country

THE AMERICAS/Brazil

Project Duration

Completed

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 1995: USD 234,435 (modified)

Problem to be Addressed

The region of the Sinos Valley is the principal center of shoe production in Brazil. Although statistics on child labor in this sector do not exist, children work in shoe workshops where chemicals such as glues and solvents are used, which cause skin problems, stomach ulcers, and eyesight problems.

Results

The project withdrew or prevented 149 children from working in the informal footwear production sector in Novo Hamburgo and Dois Irmaos, of the Vale dos Sinos region, of the Rio Grande do Sul province, where 35% of the country's shoe production takes place.

Project Objectives

Development Objective:
To contribute to the phasing out of child labor in the home-based shoe industries and to establish alternative education activities for these children.

Immediate Objectives:

  • Increase capacity and impact of the Permanent Forum for the Elimination of Child Labor in each of the municipalities of Novo Hamburgo and Dois Irmaos to promote labor inspection, the liberation of children from work, and children’s full-time education;
  • Negotiate a commitment from the organized shoe entrepreneurs against the employment of children and for the protection of working children;
  • Withdraw at least 120 children (60 in each city) from hazardous work, and ensure their re-enrollment in regular schools; and
  • Provide withdrawn children with complementary education to ensure their rehabilitation and to prevent their return to work.

Summary of Activities

  • Withdrew children from work in the footwear industry in specified municipalities;
  • Integrated former working children into the school system or education centers; and
  • Raised awareness about the problem of child labor in the footwear sector.

Partner Organizations

Executing Agency
International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC)

Implementing and Collaborating Agencies
District Attorney's Office of Novo Hamburgo; Pastoral Commission of the Child; Association of Commerce, Industry and Services of Novo Hamburgo; Democratic Federation of Workers in the Shoe Making Industry of Rio Grande do Sul; FASE (Federation of the Educational Services Association); Associacao do Bem-Estar do Menor (ASBEM); Diocese of Novo Hamburgo; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Regional branch of the Ministry of Labor; Instituto Pro-Crianca; Fundacao Abrinq pelos Direitos da Crianca (Fundacao Abrinq pelos Direitos da Crianca; Semear Foundation.

Contact Information

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)

(202) 693-4843