Protecting African rural livelihoods means protecting children’s future.
Preventing child labour is not only a matter of awareness but also active local participation and connection to communities.These communities play a crucial role in identifying risks and building inclusive and connected ways to strengthen child labour prevention in supply chains. In this context, addressing the root causes of child labour means looking beyond the workplace itself and considering the economic and social conditions that affect rural families.
One of the initiatives working towards this goal is Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Supply Chains in Africa (ACCEL Africa). The project launched in June 2023 with funding from The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, aims to tackle child labour in African cocoa, cotton, coffee, tea and gold supply chain. It works to strengthen existing regulatory systems and improve policy, legal and institutional frameworks through innovative evidence-based solutions.
One of the main causes of child labour is the financial pressure that many families have to face and it shows especially in cocoa farming, domestic work and artisanal mining.When households struggle to meet their basic needs, children are often exposed to the risk of entering the workforce instead of attending school. This situation becomes even more challenging when families face food insecurity and climate-related shocks that threaten their livelihoods and agricultural productivity.
To address these challenges is essential addressing families' economic independence. Financial literacy training, for example, can help caregivers manage money and invest in small businesses and support their children’s education. One of the initiatives that support this view is the Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), a successful model implemented across CARE International programs. It enables community members to increase access and control over their financial resources. This model promotes women’s economic empowerment and gender equality as well, by 2030 CARE aims to support 50 million women and girls, providing training in vital financial skills. In Uganda, for example, the project already helped women challenge social norms that were limiting their economic rights, including managing their own household income. By the end of the project almost three quarters met their financial goal and 81% had seen change in their husband’s behaviour.
However, financial inclusion alone cannot address all the challenges affecting rural communities. Child labour prevention in agricultural supply chains is closely connected to food security and climate resilience. Droughts, unpredictable rainfall and other climate-related shocks can reduce agricultural production, threaten household incomes and make access to food increasingly difficult. When families are unable to secure their livelihoods, children may become more exposed to the risk of child labour as households struggle to cope with economic pressure.
The perpetuated circle of poverty is caused by a lot of factors, the most important one being the effects of children’s labour on their education and health. To break this trend its important to implement new methods to track incidence of child labour and explore ways to support rural families. In doing that digital innovations play a role in improving living standards conditions and strengthening prevention strategies. One example is the monitoring of the Child Labour Free Zone (CLFZ). Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used to map agricultural and crop growing communities particularly exposed to risk. Data collection takes place through surveys and direct observation but has limits like cost, coverage, timing and digital exclusion, especially in remote cocoa growing areas.
While DIGICHILD, the new tool implemented by FAO, overcomes these limitations providing cost-effective, frequently updated, granular (1km²) data with forecasting potential. By identifying vulnerable areas and combining information on different risk factors, such as poverty, food insecurity and climate vulnerability, this tool can support more targeted interventions and help policymakers and local communities respond more effectively.
Ultimately, eliminating child labour requires more than monitoring supply chains or addressing individual cases. It means tackling the structural vulnerabilities that push families towards difficult choices in the first place. Strengthening financial inclusion, supporting women's economic empowerment, improving food security and building climate resilience are all interconnected elements of this process. By investing in rural communities and their capacity to withstand economic and environmental challenges, it becomes possible to break the cycle of poverty and create conditions in which children can grow, learn and build a future free from child labour.
written by Noemi De Palma
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