ILO adopts integrated area-based approach to eliminate child labour
By: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh
The International Labour Organisation (ILO), through its Cocoa Community Project (CCP), is focusing on the integrated area-based approach to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in four districts.
The approach would centre on child labour in cocoa production as an entry point, but would address other forms of child labour, when noticed.
Mrs. Stella Ofori, Principal Labour Officer, Child Labour Unit of the Labour Department of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, said it would also concentrate on the improvement of working conditions of children above the minimum age of 15.
She said this at the opening of a four-day technical meeting to design direct action programmes with potential implementing agencies, key districts and national partners in Accra on Tuesday.
Mrs. Ofori said the project would also emphasise a holistic involvement of children, families, communities and the district they were working in.
She called on partners to develop innovative measures to address the menace, since the old ways of fighting the problem had not worked.
The districts benefiting from the project include Birim South, Suhum Kraboa Coaltar, Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira and Wassa Amenfi West.
The new project would introduce five main components to complement the government's National Plan of Action, endorsed by cabinet in October last year, to eliminate child labour in areas where it was noticed.
They include awareness raising and development of community action plan, access to relevant education, alternative livelihoods, child labour monitoring system, and capacity building.
Mrs. Miriam Gachago, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO, advised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that would be selected to implement the project, to be circumspect in their expenditure.
She appealed to civil society organisations in the sector to work as a team in their operations, since the project should have an impact on all the districts they work in.
'Child labour is not only getting children out of hazardous work, it also involves so many activities in the elimination process,' she noted.
Mr. Kwesi Osei Mensah, a representative of the four districts, said the districts had accepted ownership of the project, and would be incorporated in their medium-term development plan.
He said the various district assemblies would provide accommodation and office space for field coordinators in the implementation process. Source: GNA