ILO supports government to eliminate child labour in Cocoa growing areas

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is currently supporting the Ghana Government in its efforts to eliminate child labour through a new project dubbed “The Cocoa Community Project” (CCP).

The Project titled “Towards Child Labour-Free Cocoa Growing Communities in Cote D’lvoire and Ghana through an integrated area based approach”, was expected to benefit about 3,500 children and improve access to both formal and non-formal education as well as vocational training.

 district of the Eastern Region, Mrs Stella Ofori, Principal Labour Officer in the Labour Department of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, said the district was selected due to the high child labour cases in the area which is also known for high cocoa production.

She said government had established the National Plan of Action (NPA) aimed at promoting a more coordinated effort towards the elimination of Worst Forms of Child labour (WFCL) by 2015.

she added, “The NPA will provide an integrated framework for harmonizing all relevant actions by different partners in order to tackle the problem in a well coordinated and sustained manner.”

She said the NPA strategies to achieve the 2015 goal included enforcement of the law, broad-based sensitization and social mobilisation, protection of children‘s rights, promotion of their welfare, the pursuit of universal basic education and the improvement of post–basic education.

Other strategic areas are the withdrawal of children below 18 years from the WFCL and protection of working children aged above 15 years from exploitation and hazardous work, and the development of institutional capacity at all levels to ensure the effective application of established procedure and protocols, among other issues.

She noted that the new ILO project would establish an inventory of available social interventions and other complimentary services to which interventions may be linked.

Mrs Lalaina Razafindrakoto, Resource Person from ILO, said the project would benefit 3,050 children below the legal minimum age for employment and 450 children above the legal minimum age for employment while 1,000 households would benefits from employment opportunities, income generation and social protection services.

The ILO has embarked on similar workshops in Akyem Swedru in the Birim South District of the Eastern Region and is to replicate it in Twifo Hermang Lower Denkyira in the Central Region and Wassa Amenfi West in the Western Region.