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Launch Event Held in Ordu for Elimination of Child Labour in Seasonal Agriculture Project

News | 13 August 2021
ORDU – The launch event was held in Ordu, one of the project provinces, for the project “Elimination of Child Labour in Seasonal Agriculture” being implemented in cooperation by the General Directorate of Labour (GDL) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Turkey, with funding from the European Union (EU).

In the context of the launch event, field visits were paid to METIP areas in Saraycık and Ulubey to observe on site the activities for seasonal harvest and assess actions taken for combating child labour, and a working meeting was held in the afternoon. The event was attended by officials from the project partners MoLSS and ILO as well as central and local representatives of public agencies. At the working meeting, the representatives of project partners and stakeholder organisations assessed the project and elicited views and recommendations.

About the Project

Funded by the European Union, the project stands out as the largest project in Turkey. With a budget of 29.7 million EUR and scheduled for 40 months, the project aims to undertake a series of activities for many children moving with families and working in or at risk of working in seasonal agriculture. Accordingly, working children, families, employers, school administrators and teachers, village masters (mukhtars) and agricultural intermediaries are reached out to refer children to education, while on the other hand, work is undertaken to strengthen national and local institutional capacities.

Implemented in the provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Izmir, Manisa, Ankara, Eskişehir, Konya, Malatya, Ordu, Bursa and Düzce which stand out top destinations and origins of migration for seasonal agricultural work, the project pursues a cluster of objectives including particularly providing 12,000 children with education, counselling and rehabilitation services on site; delivering educational and stationery materials, hygiene kits, clothing and food support; improving the living and accommodation conditions for seasonal agriculture workers and families; referring the family members of those children working in or at risk of working in seasonal agriculture to vocational training programmes to develop living and vocational skills; and providing training on adverse aspects of child labour in seasonal agriculture and relevant legislation to 200 agricultural intermediaries, 500 employers and 200 village mukhtars.

Other objectives of the project include the strengthening of central and local capacity of MoLSS in planning, management, coordination, implementation and monitoring in elimination of child labour seasonal travelling agricultural work, as well as building capacities for public agencies, social parties, professional organisations and non-governmental organisations engaged in combating child labour.

The project features the involvement of many public agencies, particularly MoLSS Department of European Union and Financial Assistance (DEUFA) as the Contracting Authority; MoLSS General Directorate of Labour (GDL) as the operation beneficiary; Ministries of National Education, Interior, Health, Agriculture and Forestry, ISKUR as relevant organisations; and universities, local governments, workers’ and employers’ organisations, professional organisations, non-governmental organisations as stakeholders for close cooperation centrally and locally.

The project is implemented under the ILO’s Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour in Turkey.