DOL PROJECT TO FIGHT THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD

UNCLAS LOME 000276 DOL FOR CHANDA LECKIE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB KTIP TO SUBJECT: DOL PROJECT TO FIGHT THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR ¶1. Summary. Ambassador Hawkins met with Mr. Moulero Adeye, Technical Advisor of the International Labor Organization's (ILO) DOL funded project, and his colleague Essodina Abalo, on July 29. The men outlined the progress made in the implementation of the project and described upcoming activities planned in the context of fighting the worst forms of child labor. The Embassy is pleased with the planned activities and feels they will have a real impact in the fight against child labor in Togo. End Summary. ¶2. ILO is working with many local NGOs to implement the projects. From conversations with the project implementers, it appears that the NGOs were chosen because of their strength in each particular sector, which should improve the quality of the results predicted. The Embassy has had positive experiences working with the same organizations. While the Embassy understands that these projects are awaiting final approval from Geneva before implementation can begin, we are still pleased with the level of planning and the clear thought given to what will work well in Togo. -------------- Planned Activities -------------- ¶3. The first activity, and only activity to be completed, was a basic survey on the extent of child labor in Togo. The results are being finalized now and, when completed, will provide the most comprehensive picture of child labor in Togo to date. For individual children, information collected included socio-demographics, education, type of work and frequency, risks and accidents, relationships between child workers and adult supervisors, future aspirations, migration variables, and household chores. For households, the questions focused on socio-demographic factors of the household, education and training, economic activities, household activities, and the household's perception of child labor. The data from this survey will provide the first ever reliable report on child labor in Togo. ¶4. The second project focuses on children working as porters in the informal sector of the economy. These children generally work in the markets in Lome. The project hopes to remove 625 porters from the markets and reintegrate them into their communities. ¶5. The third project targets child vendors. These children can be found not only in markets, but also at most major intersections, at the border with Ghana and on the beach. The goal is to protect 500 children who are at risk working in this sector and reintegrate 225 children under age 15, of which 75% are girls. ¶6. The fourth project addresses the agriculture sector, which is where most children in Togo are employed. These activities will try to reinforce community structures to protect 1800 vulnerable children from dangerous agricultural work (usually involving pesticides or dangerous farm tools such as machetes). ¶7. Children are often sent to bigger cities to work as domestics in households- families often believe that this will provide them with a better life than they can have in their villages. The fifth project aims to protect 200 children already working as domestics in Lome and put them back in school. It will also try to prevent an additional 300 at risk children in the Sotouboua-Blitta region (roughly 4 hours north of Lome) and Agou (2 hours north of Lome) from entering the trade. ¶8. The sixth project aspires to protect 100 at-risk girls from commercial sexual exploitation and extract an additional 60 girls who are already involved in the trade. ¶9. The final project will enable children currently involved in agriculture to attend school. While most Togolese children assist with subsistence farming, for some it takes on greater proportions. The last project hopes to involve communities to place a greater value on education and build 5 schools to help reach this goal. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. While the project took a while to get off the ground, the Embassy is very pleased with both the progress and nature of the planned activities and with the cooperation with the ILO representatives. We look forward to continuing to support the project in the future. Hawkins