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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Program to Combat Child Labor in the Fishing Sector in Indonesia and the Philippines—Phases I and II

Region/Country

ASIA/Indonesia, the Philippines

Project Duration

October 1999 – June 2004 (revised)

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY1999 & FY2000: USD 1,208,833

Problem to be Addressed

In Indonesia, children are engaged in hazardous child labor on the jermals (fishing platforms) off North Sumatra, where they work for up to three months at a time in hazardous conditions, unable to attend school.  
In the Philippines, children are engaged in deep-sea fishing, either utilizing the potentially hazardous pa-aling (bubble) technique, or night fishing on kub kub fishing boats that trawl offshore all night.

Results

The project withdrew 145 children and prevented 1,089 children from hazardous work on jermals in North Sumatra, Indonesia, and from deep-sea fishing in Negros Oriental, Cebu and Palawan, the Philippines.

Project Objectives

Development Objective: Contribute to the effective elimination of child labor in the fishing sectors of Indonesia and the Philippines, focusing on jermal and pa-aling fishing, respectively. 

By the end of the project:

  • 1,700 children working in the fishing sector in selected areas of Indonesia and the Philippines will have been systematically removed from hazardous and exploitative work, and an additional 800 younger siblings will have been prevented from starting work; further, some 1,100 adult members, particularly women, will have improved income earning capacity through mechanisms established for workplace monitoring and social protection; and
  • The capacity of national partners in Indonesia and the Philippines will have been strengthened to plan, initiate, implement and evaluate action to prevent and progressively eliminate child labor.

Summary of Activities
  • Supported research to understand the extent of the problem of child labor in the fishing sector;
  • Progressively eliminated child labor in the fishing sector and provided appropriate alternatives to work for children, siblings at risk, and adult family members;
  • Raised awareness about the hazards of child labor, and built the capacity of local and national institutions to combat it; and
  • Developed an effective system for monitoring workplaces.

Grantee

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

Implementing Partners

Indonesia: Provincial Government of North Sumatra; Department of Manpower; KKSP Foundation; PKPA Center for Study and Child Protection; WAPPEMDES; Al-Kautsar; People’s Organization of Danau Sijabut Village; Yayasan Pokmas Mandiri; Belatani Foundation; Forum Media Swara; Kolektif Medan Foundation; BPKB (Center on Learning Activity Development) of North Sumatra; Yayasan Pusaka Indonesia; Yayasan Kekar Indonesia; Yayasan Tanah Rakyat.

The Philippines: Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR); Philippine Coast Guard; Technology and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); Municipal Agricultural Office; provincial and local governments; Punla Foundation; Ateneo Human Rights Center; Institute for Labor Studies; Community Unlimited, Inc.; Assistance for the Welfare of Filipino Children; Dumaguete Labor Center; Association for the Welfare of the Filipino Children (AFWCI); Philippine Information Agency; Dumaguete Information Center; Silliman University; ASB Fishing Corporation; Negros Oriental Fishing Boat Operators Association and Cooperative (NOFBOAC); Prime A Corporation; Unity Fishing Corporation.

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843