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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

COMBATING EXPLOITIVE CHILD LABOR IN MADAGASCAR

Region/Country

AFRICA/Madagascar

Project Duration

September 30, 2008 – September 28, 2012

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 2008: USD 4,500,000

Problem to be Addressed

A 2005 ILO-IPEC study found that 20 percent of children aged 5 to 9 years and 50 percent of children aged 10 to 14 years worked in Madagascar. In rural areas, children work on farms and care for livestock. Children are also engaged in fishing, mining, and quarrying, as well as in salt production. In urban centers, children work as domestic servants and in the commercial and industrial sectors. The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), especially girls, occurs in both urban areas and rural areas, especially in coastal villages. Children are also trafficked within Madagascar into labor exploitation, especially CSEC.

Targets

The project targets 9,000 children: 4,500 for withdrawal and 4,500 for prevention from the worst forms of child labor through educational services and/or vocational training. Children will be withdrawn and prevented from CSEC, domestic servitude, mining, quarrying, farming, and heavy load carrying work in both urban and rural areas. The project will provide direct services to children in Antananarivo, Alaotra Mangoro, Analamanga, Anosy, Atsinanana, Diana, Haute Matsiatra, and Vakinankaratra.

Project Objectives

To contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor (WFCL) in Madagascar, through the following objectives:

  • Prevent and withdraw current child victims from WFCL by providing educational services to children, income generation activities to families, and awareness raising; and
  • Promote research and put in place databases on child labor.

Summary of Activities
  • Provide education and non-educational services for prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration to children withdrawn from WFCL;
  • Provide economic empowerment services to selected families of targeted children, including training on micro-enterprise creation;
  • Launch a process of identifying and publicly acknowledging businesses with policies and practices and/or sponsorship contributing to the fight against child labor and trafficking;
  • Build partnerships with the private sector to enhance social responsibility with respect to the population living near work or office sites, especially with the mining sector;
  • Raise awareness through media, including children’s plays, radio and TV programs, and general public events;
  • Promote research on child labor and trafficking by developing an agreement for partnership with universities, schools, and institutions, particularly in the fields of law, communication, sociology, and teaching;
  • Collaborate with ILO/IPEC to support the implementation of a CLMS at the national and regional level; and
  • Create national and regional Geographical Information System database systems on child labor and trafficking, which could link with the education database system.

Grantee

Private Agencies Collaborating Together (Pact) in association with Sehatra Ivoaran’ny Vehivavy (SIVE)

Implementing Partners

Non-Governmental Organizations and others to be identified.

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843