ECLT fights child labour in tobacco growing North Africa

The Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation has awarded $3.1 million over four years for projects in Mozambique, Uganda, and Kyrgyzstan to address the root causes of child labour

These projects show that more and more communities are committed to working collaboratively to keep children away from labour and help them succeed in school and in life,†said ECLT Foundation Executive Director Sonia Velazquez. Our projects also offer replicable child labour prevention and withdrawal models that can be used in agricultural communities worldwide.

The three funded projects enable vulnerable families to strengthen their livelihoods, improve access to quality education, raise awareness about the problems associated with child labour, and strengthen the capacity of local and national governments to address child labour. The projects will directly help 15,800 working, out-of-school, or otherwise vulnerable children and orphans and 20,000 families. They will help an additional 150,000 children by strengthening the communities in which they live. Each project is anchored in a national plan to eliminate child labour.

The funded projects are described below:

Mozambique: With Save the Children Mozambique as the lead agency, the Realizing Effective Actions for Children Together (REACT) project will serve selected communities in Angonia and Macanga by launching a community-based system for identifying and withdrawing children from the worst forms of child labour while strengthening capacity at district and national levels.

Uganda: Uganda Women Effort to Save Orphans will implement the Realizing Livelihood Improvements through Savings and Education (REALISE) project to develop sustainable community-based initiatives in two subcounties in Hoima district by identifying and empowering children in child labour and their families and other vulnerable children and households.

Kyrgyzstan: The Alliance on Protection of Child Rights, a new public fund of the Kyrgyzstan Agro-Industrial Workers Unions, in partnership with NGOs will operate the Implementing Practices to Address Child Labour in Tobacco (IMPACT) project, serving the Nookat, Aravan, Kadamjay, and Alabuka districts of Osh, Jalalabad, and Batken provinces.

Prior to these grants, the ECLT Foundation awarded more than $28 million US for 22 multi-year projects in Asia and Africa. For project details, visit www.eclt.org.

The Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation brings together labour unions, tobacco growers, and tobacco companies to make a better life for children in communities where tobacco is grown. Since 2002, the ECLT Foundation has worked with local partners to implement projects addressing child labour in tobacco-growing communities. The ILO is a technical advisor to the ECLT Foundation.