The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN upscales its commitment towards SDG 8.7 with an institutional Framework on Ending Child Labour in Agriculture to support agricultural stakeholders take action and reduce hunger and rural poverty worldwide.
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
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United Nations / Multilateral body
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#SDGAction33563
Description
Worldwide, more than seventy percent of child labour is found in agriculture, that is 108 million boys and girls. Children work to ensure food security of their families and contribute to food and agricultural production because of labour market and economic failures. And without education and adequate health development, these children are likely to remain poor, hampering efforts to reduce hunger, malnutrition, and rural poverty. In view of the 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, the FAO has launched a corporate Framework to Eliminate Child Labour in Agriculture to support and upscale action of agricultural stakeholders.
The Framework is based on consultations across the Organizations and is informed by the findings of FAO publications and guidance documents on child labour in agriculture. Staff across various technical units in FAO headquarters and decentralized offices have invested time to develop this Framework, which has been financed by the regular budget of FAO, earmarked for SDG 8. The implementation of the Framework comprises: • Building capacities of the organization and of agricultural stakeholders based on the good experiences and lessons learned; • implementing systematically and at large-scale these good experiences and lessons learned. The Framework is already being piloted in Vietnam, Uganda, and Cote d’Ivoire, where FAO country offices will work with governments to integrate child labour prevention in agricultural, climate change, and food security programmes; • mobilizing partners, equipping them with the necessary tools, to adapt and replicate good experiences and lessons learned. For instance, Development Banks are expressing interest in strengthening migration and risk management operations through child labour prevention. The impact is assessed through FAO’s annual internal evaluation of results, which includes one objective to end child labour in agriculture to reduce rural poverty. In addition, FAO’s Evaluation team has integrated the Framework throughout its relevant activities across the organization, kickstarting new activities, such as a global case study on the relations between climate change and child labour in agriculture. The full impact of the Framework is difficult to quantify, as action taken by agricultural stakeholders with the support of the Framework can be only partially monitored.
The Framework is relevant because over three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture to make a living. Agricultural stakeholders are not primarily mandated to address child labour, yet the Framework illustrates significant change and impact driven by them. A few examples are a mobile app in Lebanon that addresses risks and hazards in different agricultural settings, the promotion of the Work in Fishing Convention (No.188), jointly by FAO and ILO, to improve working and living conditions at sea and prevent child labour, or the granting of observer status to youth organizations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), advocated by FAO, UNICEF, and UNFCCC, to raise awareness on children’s rights and needs. The Framework is an institutional tool that can serve agricultural stakeholders and organizations worldwide.
The enabling factor is the Framework’s global applicability and relevance as it draws on good practices from across the globe that can be used by a diverse range of stakeholders. It is highly practical and available in English, French, Russian, and Spanish, and soon in Chinese. The main constraint is the limited ownership and capacity of agricultural stakeholders to address child labour, which is perceived as a social and labour problem. The SDG agenda enables the FAO to overcome this constraint as it goes beyond conventional silos and practices to address global social, economic, and environmental issues that are interconnected.
The Framework was developed with the implicit objective of being sustainable and replicable. The Framework is based on FAO’s experience in addressing child labour in agriculture worldwide, from Guatemala, Niger, Tanzania, Pakistan, to Cambodia. It drives action at global, regional, and country levels. The Framework can be used by agricultural stakeholders, as well as other actors working for the elimination of child labour in agriculture, and can be adapted to diverse contexts. The Framework is sustainable because it contributes to the development of sustainable food and agricultural systems by eliminating child labour, for instance, with labour-saving technologies and practices, reduction of hazardous activities, and promotion of green jobs. Moreover, the Framework can be integrated in programmes without requiring (significant) additional resources.
FAO Framework on Ending Child Labour in Agriculture: http://www.fao.org/3/ca9502en/ca9502en.pdf FAO-ILO Online courses on ending child labour in agriculture: https://elearning.fao.org/course/view.php?id=511 FAO's animation video on Child Labour in Agriculture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NcFndTOis&list=PLzp5NgJ2-dK7sql3ojj9z… FAO news. World Day Against Child Labour 2020: preventing child labour in agriculture during COVID-19 and beyond:http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1287771/icode/ FAO stories. Protecting the right to a childhood. Ending child labour across the globe: http://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1138971/ FAO web. Child Labour in Agriculture. http://www.fao.org/rural-employment/work-areas/child-labour/en/
The relevance and urgency of the Framework is higher than ever due to COVID-19 and its socio-economic consequences: child poverty has increased, with more children out of education, and a worsened state of child nutrition without access to school meals. The global pandemic is also undermining efforts to achieve zero hunger. Agricultural and food systems have been disrupted, and children are being used to compensate income loss, as well as labour gaps in food and agricultural production. The Framework can be used to help rural families restore their livelihoods disrupted by COVID-19, by enhancing food and agricultural labour and economic markets that rely on child labour in agriculture and by promoting social protection mechanisms to prevent child labour and support rural families.
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The beneficiaries are the 108 million child labourers in agriculture worldwide, and families and communities reliant on child labour due to rural poverty and unsustainable food and agricultural systems. The Framework seeks to build partnerships among labour and agricultural stakeholders (ministries, producer and employer organizations, private sector), and expand collaboration with international organizations and partners to reach target SDG 8.7.
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Ariane, Programme Officer - Child Labour in Agriculture