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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

A Better Future for Mali’s Children: Combating Child Trafficking through Education in Mali

Region/Country

AFRICA/Mali

Project Duration

August 20, 2003 – December 31, 2007

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 2003: USD 3,000,000
Matching Funds: USD 802,455

Problem to be Addressed

More than half of Malian children migrating in search of work head to the capital city of Bamako. Large numbers also migrate to neighboring countries, primarily Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Most often, children leave voluntarily. However, lack of money for transportation makes them vulnerable to traffickers stationed at bus stops or along truck routes. Different studies show that between 10,000 and 20,000 Malian children have been victims of trafficking; most trafficked children are under the age of 15. Work conditions for these children are often arduous and dangerous, and girls are more vulnerable to the most abusive forms of child labor than boys. Overwhelmingly, trafficked children and child laborers tend to be out-of-school children. Although school attendance in Mali is compulsory until the end of ninth grade, statistics show that only 29 percent of children aged 7 to 12 years are in school, making them highly vulnerable to child labor and child trafficking.

Results

The project prevented 6,024 children from trafficking for the purposes of exploitive work. The project worked with three primary target groups: children ages 8 to 18 years, parents and key authorities in target communes, and key civil society and government actors. The project concentrated its efforts in the Bandigara, Koro and Bankass cercles of Mopti region, the San and Bla cercles of Segou region and Bamako.

Project Objectives

To reduce child labor through improvements in access to and quality of education in five cercles (districts) in two regions of Mali by the following objectives:

  • Secure the participation of children at risk of being trafficked in quality non-formal and formal education in target zones;
  • Mobilize at least two communes per cercle in project zones to prevent child trafficking/exploitive labor and to adopt re-integration strategies for trafficked or exploited children; and
  • Improve the capacity, collaboration and visibility of key civil society actors in working with government to combat child trafficking and exploitive labor through education.

Summary of Activities
  • Developed and implemented specific recruitment and tutoring/mentoring strategies to increase enrollment and retention of girls;
  • Trained trainers in use of teaching materials on the issue of child trafficking/child labor;
  • Developed funding mechanisms to offer school breakfast or lunch programs;
  • Trained teachers in learner-centered methodologies and in life-skills, world-of-work and girl-friendly classroom practices;
  • Used mass media to promote community awareness of child trafficking/labor;
  • Facilitated development of community action plans, which included strategies to combat child labor/trafficking and promote education activities among at-risk youth/children;
  • Formed savings and credit groups of mothers of children in non-formal/formal education programs;
  • Provided mini-scholarships to needy children;
  • Facilitated a Children’s Parliament Session on enforcement of legal protections for child trafficking and exploitive labor;
  • Trained journalists to cover trafficking issues in a more thoughtful way;
  • Strengthened village-level vigilance committees in target zones; and
  • Established a database on child victims of trafficking and exploitive labor in target zones.

Grantee

CARE Mali

Implementing partners

World Vision; Ministry of Education, UNICEF, and local NGOs.

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843