This project aims to promote increased use of forced labor research in policy and programmatic decision-making to help eliminate forced labor around the world. The project will achieve this by increasing knowledge through robust research on forced labor in the textile and garment sector and engaging decision makers and stakeholders to use this knowledge to take actions against forced labor.

This project is raising the visibility and understanding of child labor in agriculture in Argentina and contributing to improved tools and coordination among government entities, the private sector, and civil society to confront the problem. It focuses on the provinces of Tucumán, Misiones, and Buenos Aires. The project is working with the private sector to develop agricultural certifications and mechanisms for addressing child labor in yerba mate, lemon, and blueberry production. Additionally, the project is assisting the government to improve tools and coordination to address rural child labor.

This project is building the capacity of labor and agriculture stakeholders to more effectively implement the National Action Plan on Child Labor and coordinate efforts to combat child labor. The project is generating knowledge and information on child labor and adolescent work in agriculture; raising awareness of and advocating for a solution to the problem; and helping labor and agriculture stakeholders build their capacity to address child labor by designing local-level models, methodologies, and tools. It utilizes existing structures at the national, provincial, and municipal levels to expand coordination to reduce the risk that children will be harmed by performing hazardous work in agriculture.

The ATLAS project builds the capacity of governments to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking by helping them strengthen their laws, regulations, and enforcement efforts and enhance coordination between law enforcement and social protection entities. After completing the implementation and institutionalization of interventions in Argentina, Thailand, and Paraguay in 2022, ATLAS will continue working in Liberia to help develop a new child labor law and advocate for its passage. The project will also support the dissemination, implementation, and institutionalization of best practices in support of labor laws and policies recently approved by the Government of Liberia.

The United States supports the goal of bringing meaningful change to the lives of the 152 million child laborers and the 25 million adults and children in forced labor around the world by eradicating child labor, forced labor and human trafficking. USDOL’s MAP 16 project supports this goal through efforts to (1) improve the knowledge base on child labor, forced labor and human trafficking; (2) improve awareness of these issues through the use of data-driven techniques; (3) strengthen policies and improve the capacity of governments and other stakeholders to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking through national, regional, and global initiatives; and (4) strengthen partnerships to accelerate progress in combatting child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.

Project Noemi is helped bridge the skills gap in Argentina by increasing the number and quality of on-the-job training programs, such as internships and apprenticeships, while ensuring these opportunities are accessible to the youth who need them the most. The project supported improvements in the legal and policy framework surrounding youth training, raising awareness about the benefits of work-based training, documenting and disseminating good apprenticeship practices in Argentina, and helping both public and private sector youth training programs to increase their effectiveness.

The Promoting Apprenticeship as a Path for Youth Employment Project (GAN) worked directly with employers, workers’ organizations, and governments to help increase the number of apprenticeship opportunities for vulnerable youth in Argentina, Costa Rica, and Kenya. The project created and strengthened private sector networks in support of apprenticeship and other types of work-based training, such as internships, in all three countries. It helped employers launch quality work training programs while ensuring these programs were accessible to disadvantaged youth.

This global, multi-country project sought to improve occupational safety and health issues of young workers, and to promote a culture of prevention of occupational illness and injury.  Programming placed a particular focus on those aged 15-24, who, as they join the workforce, may be positioned to contribute to a sustainable and prevention-focused OSH culture.