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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Elimination of Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry in Sialkot, Pakistan, Phases 1 & 2

Region/Country

ASIA/Pakistan

Project Duration

Phase 1:  October 1997 – July 2000
Phase 2:  August 2000 – Sept 2004

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 1997: USD 755,744
FY 2000: USD 1,109,831

Problem to be Addressed

In 1996, an ILO/IPEC-funded survey conducted by the Government of Punjab estimated that 7,000 children were engaged in soccer ball production in Sialkot district.

Results

In combination, Phases 1 and 2 of the project withdrew 9,532 children and prevented 1,440 children from 5 to 14 years of age from work in the soccer ball industry in Sialkot, Pakistan.

Project Objectives

Contribute to the progressive elimination of the worst forms of child labor in Pakistan.
Intermediate objectives include:

Phase 1

  • Prevent and progressively eliminate child labor in the manufacture or assembly of soccer balls in Sialkot district and its environs;
  • Provide appropriate protection to children and families identified by the prevention and monitoring program; and
  • Strengthen the capacity of governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent and progressively eliminate child labor.

Phase 2 

  • Continue to prevent and eliminate child labor in the soccer ball industry in Sialkot through workplace monitoring and the provision of alternatives to children and their families;
  • Implement a social protection program that is fully operational and functional;
  • Provide affected children and selected families with quality basic education, pre-vocational and skills training, basic health care and income generation opportunities; and
  • Increase the capacity of partner organizations, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), and non-governmental organizations to eliminate child labor in the soccer ball industry.

Summary of Activities

Phase 1

  • Established external and internal monitoring system;
  • Established Village Education and Action Centers; and
  • Strengthened the capacity of local governmental and non-governmental organizations to implement concerted action against child labor.

Phase 2

  • Conducted a survey to appraise current needs of (ex-) working children and their families;
  • Continued with the monitoring and social protection program, taking into account lessons learned from the project’s first phase;
  • Established and trained an independent local monitoring body;
  • Strengthened the role of community-based organizations to monitor the school as well as the working status of children;
  • Improved the quality of existing community education and action centers that provide non-formal education to the children, and extended their coverage to other areas;
  • Organized skills training and pre-vocational training for older children;
  • Coordinated credit/savings activities;
  • Improved awareness raising and communications regarding child labor;
  • Assisted SCCI to establish a fund to sustain monitoring and social protection activities; and
  • Established a mechanism for follow-up and tracking of children and families in order to assess long-term project impact.

Grantee

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

Implementing Partners

Save the Children-UK; Government of Pakistan (Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal); Bunyad Literacy Community Council (BLCC); Sudhaar; Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP).  Additional contributions from UNICEF, Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), and SCCI.

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843