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Technical Cooperation Project Summary

Project Title

Reducing exploitive child labor in mozambique (reclaim)

Region/Country

AFRICA/ Mozambique

Project Duration

September 30, 2005 – September 27, 2008

Fiscal Year & Funding Level

FY 2005: USD 3,000,000

Problem to be Addressed

The effects of HIV/AIDS, combined with the legacy of civil war, have left a generation of children in Mozambique orphaned and vulnerable. An estimated 32 percent of children aged 10 to 14 years worked in Mozambique in 2002. Children work in commercial agriculture, domestic labor, and prostitution, with children who live in rural areas being more likely to work. There are not enough schools and teachers in Mozambique, and many schools suffer from overcrowding. Only half of school-age children attend primary school.

Results

The project withdrew 1,529 children and prevented 648 children from exploitive labor through the provision of educational and non-educational services. The project targeted children for withdrawal and prevention from work in agriculture, domestic work, street work, and commercial sexual exploitation. RECLAIM operated in 18 communities in the districts of Chifunde and Macananga in Tete province, as well as in the districts of Moatize, Changara, and Tete along the Tete transport corridor.

Project Objectives

To contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor in Mozambique, the project will achieve the following objectives:

  • Improve access to higher quality education for children who are engaged in, or at risk of entering, exploitive child labor;
  • Raise the level of public awareness on the importance of education for all children;
  • Strengthen formal and transitional education systems for children who are working, at risk of working, or were formerly working;
  • Strengthen national institutions to respond to the issue of child labor; and
  • Strengthen the capacity of local government and local NGOs to implement anti-child labor activities.

Summary of Activities
  • Expanded vocational education through the establishment of 12 Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools;
  • Provided material assistance to working children to enable them to attend school;
  • Improved vocational education by developing and implementing life-skills curriculum;
  • Mainstreamed life-skills curriculum into target government schools;
  • Provided material assistance to schools in target areas;
  • Trained 60 teachers and school managers to respond to the needs of child laborers and OVCs;
  • Raised public awareness of child labor through drama troupe performances and radio dramas;
  • Trained peer educators to work with child prostitutes and street children to facilitate their withdrawal from the worst forms of child labor and, in turn, their entry into school;
  • Conducted surveys on child domestic workers, child prostitutes, and street children, and disseminated findings to stakeholders;
  • Reviewed current education legislation and suggested reforms;
  • Conducted and disseminated baseline and follow-up surveys to gauge effectiveness of awareness-raising campaigns, including street children and child domestic worker surveys;
  • Conducted action research to identify local child labor and education issues; and
  • Facilitated the organization of working children and youth.

Grantee

American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Implementing partners

The Mozambique Red Cross Society

Contact Information

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

(202) 693-4843