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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Country Program for Combating the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Panama [Closed]

Region/Country

THE AMERICAS/Panama

Project Duration

September 2002 – June 2006

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 2002: USD 1,000,000

Problem to be Addressed

Many children in Panama who are members of indigenous groups or living in rural or poor urban areas do not attend school. Lack of land, migration and poverty push many of these children into work in potentially hazardous occupations, such as harvesting sugar cane, at an early age.

Results

The project withdrew 967 children and prevented 570 children from rural and informal urban work.

Project Objectives

Development Objective:
To contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor in Panama through the following two immediate objectives:

  • By the end of the project, the institutional capacity of various government and non-governmental actors to take action against child labor will have been strengthened; and
  • By the end of the project, 1,000 children will have been removed from the worst forms of child labor in Panama and reintegrated into the education system.

Summary of Activities
  • Organized workshops for employers, unions, journalists, universities, regional and local government, NGOs and parents associations to raise awareness of the problem;
  • Improved coordination mechanisms among national and provincial government in regard to the issue of child labor;
  • Developed a national plan for the eradication of child labor and defined the worst forms of child labor in the country;
  • Provided technical assistance to strengthen the legal framework against the worst forms of child labor;
  • Enhanced the quality and accessibility of education;
  • Developed local monitoring systems for child labor; and
  • Improved employment conditions for adolescents and parents.
Grantee International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC)

Implementing Partners

National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Adolescents (which includes, among other agencies, the Ministry of Labor; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Youth, Women, Children, and Family; the First Lady’s Bureau; and the National Ombudsman); the Institute for the Training of Human Resources; and the National Institute for Vocational Training.

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843