Donor

Agência Brasileira de Cooperação (The Cooperation Agency of Brazil- as part of the Brazil/ ILO Partnership Program for the Promotion of South-South Cooperation)

Objectives

To build the capacity of participating Caribbean Countries (The Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago) to enhance the school-to-work transition of youth.

Context

Over the past two decades, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a Region, had made the most progress globally in the fight to reduce child labour. However, since 2012, there has been noticeable stagnation in the rate of decline of child labour in the Region and global statistics also point to a worrisome increase in children involved in hazardous work.

This was the context which spurred the conceptualization and establishment of the “Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour (RI)", an intergovernmental platform for cooperation with active participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations. From its germination within the framework of the Third World Conference on Child Labour (Brasilia, October 2013), the RI was formalized in October 2014 with the signing of a Declaration by 25 Ministers of Labour in the LAC region. Of the 25 signatories, five Caribbean Countries signaled their commitment to the RI: The Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. In 2016, Grenada and Saint Lucia also joined their ranks.

In July 2015, Caribbean Members of the RI participated in a South-South Cooperation meeting in Brazil, organized within the framework of the Regional Initiative. At this meeting some common areas of need within the Caribbean countries were identified. The most common requests for assistance focused on the link between child labour and youth employment, and the school-to-work transition.

Given the existence of Best Practices and the long-standing experience of the Government of Brazil in the areas of both child labour and school-to-work transition for youth, participants welcomed the opportunity for Brazil to share its technical resources and experiences with its Caribbean counterparts with the aim of assisting them to develop capacity in these areas. On those grounds, this Project was envisaged as a first response to the Caribbean member Countries of the RI.

Intended beneficiaries

Ministries responsible for Labour; Employers' and Workers' Organizations in participating Caribbean States.

Outputs

• Reports with updated information on the situation regarding child labour and youth employment in the Caribbean.
• Brazilian experiences with enhancement of school-to-work transitions shared with national committees in Caribbean countries.
• Adaptation of Brazilian best-practices and lessons-learnt to local needs of the participating countries.
• Strengthened capacities at Ministries of Labour, Employers' and Workers' Organizations in selected issues relating to child labour and youth employment.
• Reports on Caribbean experiences and progress disseminated.

Impact to date

Implementation of this Project commenced in July 2016 with the launch of Rapid Assessments of Child Labour and youth employment in the Bahamas, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. The Final Reports of the Assessments are to be ready by end of October 2016