Malawi Anti-Child Labour Programmes on Track, say UNICEF Officials

Despite having ratified all of the eight ILO conventions on core labour standards, and the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the situation in the country for the hundreds of thousands of child labourers remains unabated. Current trends, however, show a considerable improvement of attitude among employers, media interest in the issue and an increased general awareness among various sectors of the society.

The UN Children’s fund (UNICEF) officials have expressed great optimism that in spite of the current increased rates of child labour in Malawi, especially domestic child labour, the situation is expected to be considerably put under control if current coordinated efforts among Civil Society Organisations, relevant government institutions and line ministries, the general public and the media are sustained.

Head of Social Policy, Advocacy and Communication, Gopal Sharma, says as a result of the advocacy and other interventions from a number of stakeholders, largely led by UNICEF, there was now a clear indication that the attitude of many Malawians towards child labour is improving.

“We are quite hopeful that we are making positive progress through the various intervention programmes we have been running. We can really see the attitude of people on the issue is changing so drastically. All that is required now is to simply strengthen the process (of changing their attitude),” he said in a recent interview.

Sharma also cited the coming in of more donors, especially the Royal Norwegian Embassy (Norad), to support anti-child labour initiatives and the stabilisation of HIV/AIDS infection rate as the major boost to UNICEF’s interventions against child labour.

The spread of HIV/AIDS as of 2003, showed that about 760,000 Malawian adults were living with HIV/AIDS, and 900,000 Malawians are infected with HIV today, leaving tens of thousands of helpless orphaned children behind who are vulnerable to exploitative work and other abuse. But National AIDS Commission (NAC) statistics show that the adult HIV prevalence is no longer growing rapidly, raising hope of significant progress on the fight against child labour, as more and more stakeholders join in to combat child labour.

UNICEF Malawi, he recalled, started the campaign against child labour in 2000, in which we were involved in the sponsorship of workshops countrywide. The workshops resulted in the formation of the steering committee of all stakeholders and the establishment of some intervention programmes, which we later started implementing with support from other donors like Norad.

The steering committee also comprises the Ministry of Gender, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, and the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU). Besides Norad, UNICEF has involved Plan Malawi, faith-based organisations, and the media. In consultation with the Malawi government, UNICEF Malawi has since July 2002 taken the leading technical role in the implementation of the two-year project to fight child labour.

The project called “Strengthening the Fight against Child Labour,” has been developed using the a human rights framework and having identified the rights of children in special need and is mainly aiming at strengthening the capacity of duty bearers to create an enabling environment to protect the rights of children enrolled in child labour.

According to Alessandra Dentice, UNICEF project Officer (Child Protection), the project which has been specifically targeting 11 impact areas (districts) in the country, is a multi-sectoral approach based on five main strategic interventions, including the institutional framework; policy legislation; advocacy and social mobilisation; Education; and reintegration of children.

She cited Advocacy and Social Mobilisation as one of the most successful interventions, as it had brought about a noteworthy amount of awareness among various sectors of society. The intervention is working closely with the media to disseminate information and communication materials on child rights using participatory approaches.

Dentice said, for example, people now start to understand the difference between “child work” and “child labour,” as in the past the confusion resulted in employers finding excuses to exploit children under the pretext of engaging them in child work. As opposed to “child work,” she noted that people are today able to define “child labour” as any work that is physically, morally, socially and mentally harmful to the child; work that robs the child of his or her rights to education, health, play and association; and work that exceeds four hours per day.

“Experience in Malawi have shown that it is only through the mobilisation of all levels of society that significant progress can be achieved in the area of child labour, hence we have intensified social mobilisation efforts with the families, communities and children themselves,” said Dentice.

Although the successes for the interventions have proved significant, Dentice however was quick to point out that the successes have not come without UNICEF and its partners facing major challenges during the implementation of their projects. She therefore isolated labour inspection, reintegration of children withdrawn from all kinds of exploitative employment, lack of law enforcement, and the hidden domestic labour, among other things.

She said child labour in domestic households had proved very challenging to police and deal with, as it is something that is hidden in homes, noting that was largely the reason why Unicef Malawi welcomed this year’s theme for the World Day Against Child Labour: Behind Closed Doors; Child Domestic Labour.

The Project Officer bemoaned the fact that girls are even much more affected than boys since they are vulnerable to sexual abuse. According to the Tisazunze Ana booklet produced by Story Workshop Educational Trust, current data show that for every child who finishes primary school, only one is a girl. This is because many Malawians do not value education for girls, as a result, they start work at a tender age. The fact that girls are socialised to be submissive and to keep silent even when they are abused makes it easier for adults to exploit them.

Dentice also lamented the worsening poverty as one of the main barriers towards combating child labour, especially domestic labour, acknowledging that many parents have been forced into sending their children into exploitative work against their will, resulting in increased school drop-out rates.

The African French Presse (AFP) some two years ago quoted Alessandra Dentice as saying:
"When children begin working prematurely and do not attend school, they are also likely to remain trapped in the cycle of poverty and disadvantage that forced them into the labour market. Protecting children from exploitation due to worst forms of child labour and breaking this cycle is the principal goal of UNICEF’s work in child labour elimination."

Today, the two UNICEF officials’ optimism that the child labour situation could soon be ultimately tamed is even buoyed by the new government’s political will, following the state president’s pledge made during the swearing in ceremony this year, to seriously confront poverty and make it reduction the number-one priority.

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