The UN International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour: Enterprises in Action to Eliminate Child Labour

To mark the occasion of the UN International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, a booth on “Enterprises in Action to eliminate child labour” was presented during the Global Technical Team Meeting of the Enterprises Department of the ILO on 24 February 2021.

News | 26 February 2021
The booth walked visitors through the collaboration between ENTERPRISES (MULTI, COOP and Social Finance) and GOVERNANCE (FUNDAMENTALS) Departments towards the elimination of child labour through enterprises. A range of resources and tools were made available, with a focus on the ILO project “Accelerating action for the elimination of child labour in supply chains in Africa” (ACCEL). The ACCEL project seeks to improve public policy and good governance; empowerment and representation; and partnership and knowledge sharing among actors in the cacao, coffee, cotton, gold and tea global supply chains. The project covers Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Mali, Malawi Nigeria and Uganda.

In the framework of the ACCEL project and other ILO initiatives toward the elimination of child labour, ILO’s Coperatives Unit in its Enterprises Department seeks to:
  • Advance economic empowerment of producers (adult members) through enhanced efficiency of their cooperatives;
  • Engage cooperatives in awareness-raising campaigns among their members and communities to ensure that cooperative business operations in supply chains are child labour free;
  • Support financial education and design/adapt financial services for coops;
  • Support cooperatives in engaging in social dialogue with government, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and other relevant stakeholders;
Incorporate child labour issues in curricula of cooperative colleges and training programmes of cooperative support institutions.