Projects
Our international grants support projects to combat some of the most abusive labor practices, including the use of child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking in global supply chains. ILAB-funded projects also promote trade partners’ compliance with the labor requirements of U.S. trade agreements and preference programs – helping to ensure a fair global playing field for workers in the United States and around the world.
Building Governments’ Capacity
ILAB works with governments to make them more effective in combating labor abuses, through efforts in areas such as data collection, monitoring, and enforcement. As a direct result of ILAB initiatives:
- More than 80 countries have strengthened their monitoring and enforcement of laws, regulations, policies, and programs to combat child labor, forced labor and human trafficking;
- More than 60,000 labor inspectors and law enforcement officials have been trained to more effectively enforce child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking laws and regulations; and
- Governments have adopted best practices to assist victims of child labor and forced labor. For example, ILAB worked in partnership with the Government of Paraguay to develop and pilot an electronic system that registers adolescent workers to ensure they are protected under the law and assist with enforcement of labor laws.
Assistance for Vulnerable Children and Families
ILAB projects adopt a holistic approach to promote sustainable efforts that address child labor’s underlying causes, including poverty and lack of access to education. Project strategies include linking vulnerable groups to existing government social programs, providing children with quality education or afterschool services, helping families improve their livelihoods to meet basic needs without relying on child labor, and raising awareness about risks of trafficking so that adults don’t end up in situations of forced labor.
ILAB at the Forefront of Rigorous Evaluation Research
ILAB continues to invest in impact evaluations of innovative interventions to broaden the global knowledge base on effective strategies for combating child labor and forced labor. ILAB’s randomized controlled trials, the gold standard for impact evaluations, allow governments and policymakers to make evidence-informed decisions about programs that affect child laborers and their families.
Find out what ILAB projects are doing in response to COVID-19.
Title | Amount | Grantee | Start Sort ascending | End |
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Mexico Awareness RaisingThe Mexico Awareness Raising project aims to support the government of Mexico, including the federal and state-level Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, to design, execute, and sustain effective communication strategies that inform workers, unions, and employers of the legal ramifications of the country’s labor law reforms. |
$10,000,000 | Partners of the Americas | 01/01/2021 | 06/30/2025 |
Eliminating Child Labor in Mica-Producing Communities and Promoting Responsible Mica Sourcing in Madagascar and Globally (MICA)The goal of the UNDP’s MICA project is to eliminate child labor in four communes in Madagascar and to promote environmentally- and socially-responsible mica mining by bolstering the resiliency of vulnerable households in mica producing communities, building government capacity, and increasing engagement with stakeholders. |
$4,500,000 | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | 12/16/2020 | 06/09/2025 |
CACAO: Cooperatives Addressing Child Labor Accountability OutcomesThe CACAO project seeks to strengthen capacity, connections, and accountability across child labor enforcement and monitoring within cocoa cooperatives and to build capacity of cocoa cooperatives to support vulnerable member households directly and by linking their members with other service providers. |
$4,000,000 | Save the Children | 12/10/2020 | 06/09/2025 |
Supply Chains Tracing ProjectThe Supply Chains Tracing Project by ELEVATE seeks to increase downstream tracing of goods made by child labor and forced labor. The project is designed to address the barriers/challenges in supply chain traceability, and result in the development and sharing of open, accessible and replicable tools that can advance the knowledge base on supply chain tracing and scale the adoption of traceability solutions by various actors in different sectors. |
$4,000,000 | ELEVATE Limited | 12/10/2020 | 12/09/2024 |
STREAMS – Supply Chain Tracing and Engagement MethodologiesThe STREAMS project seeks to increase downstream tracing of goods made by child labor and forced labor. The project will develop a comprehensive analytical framework for use by a broad set of stakeholders to categorize supply chains and methods for tracing and validating supply chain connections. The project will disseminate the supply chain tracing tools and methodologies to enable and promote adoption by diverse actors across sectors. |
$4,000,000 | Verité | 12/10/2020 | 06/09/2025 |
MATE MASIE – Making Advances to Eliminate Child Labor in More Areas with Sustainable Integrated EffortsThe MATE MASIE project seeks to strengthen capacity, connections, and accountability across child labor enforcement and monitoring within cocoa cooperatives and will work to build capacity of cocoa cooperatives to support vulnerable member households directly and by linking their members with other service providers. |
$4,000,000 | Winrock International | 12/07/2020 | 12/06/2024 |
She Thrives: Reducing Child Labor in Ethiopia’s Agricultural Sector using a Gender-Focused ApproachThe She Thrives project seeks to build agency of vulnerable women and girls in the Ethiopian agricultural sector, change community social norms and traditions that uphold child labor and gender inequality, and transform structures (including laws, policies and institutions) to be more gender equitable and support efforts to reduce child labor in Ethiopia. |
$5,000,000 | Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) | 12/07/2020 | 02/06/2025 |
Mexico Auto EmployersThe Mexico Auto Employers project aims to bring automotive sector employers into compliance with the country’s labor law reforms while improving working conditions in the automotive supply sector. The project strives to reach this goal by raising awareness of the labor reforms, supporting employers to implement relevant provisions and proactively adopt policies for compliance, and strengthening industrial relations between employers and workers. |
$3,000,000 | Pan American Development Foundation | 11/01/2020 | 10/31/2024 |
EQUAL - Equal Access to Quality Jobs for Women and Girls in MexicoIn support of Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP), focusing on women and adolescent girls, EQUAL will increase job quality and safety, create opportunities for economic participation, and address gaps in social programs to reach remote and impoverished families in Mexico. |
$5,000,000 | World Vision | 12/15/2019 | 12/14/2023 |
CAPSA - Capacity Strengthening of Governments to Address Child Labor and/or Forced Labor, and Violations of Acceptable Conditions of Work in Sub-Saharan Africa.The CAPSA project seeks to build the capacity of the government of Kenya and other African governments to more effectively combat child labor, forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work by helping them strengthen enforcement of their laws and regulations, improve assistance services for victims, and improve coordination between law enforcement and social protection entities. |
$5,000,000 | International Labor Organization (ILO) | 12/15/2019 | 12/14/2022 |