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ECLT’s new ACCLAIM project expects to reach over 2,100 direct beneficiaries and more than 100,000 indirect beneficiaries in East Java, Central Java, and West Nusa Tenggara. Photo credit: ECLT Foundation
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A new US$1 million-project aiming to fight child labor in agriculture in Indonesia will start this July. Photo credit: ECLT Foundation
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The KESEMPATAN project has already directly supported over 3,000 children and 600 caregivers in East Java and 200 in West Nusa Tenggara. Photo credit: ECLT Foundation
by the ECLT Foundation, provided by the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA)
The International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) is a founding member of the Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation. ITGA is proud of this enormous contribution to the fight against child labor in the tobacco sector around the world.
In March 2023, the board of directors of ECLT Foundation approved a US$1 million project to fight child labor in agriculture in Indonesia. The Accelerating Child Labor Actions in Agriculture Project will be implemented from July 2023 and aims at:
- Enhancing government capacity to coordinate actions against child labor, close regulatory gaps, and ensure responsible business conduct.
- Enhancing sustainability of the Partnership for Action Against Child Labor in Agriculture (PAACLA) as a key coordinating platform on elimination of child labor by improving its service delivery, membership, and diversifying funding.
- Strengthening the government referral system by implementing Child Labor Free Zones and piloting an efficient model of child labor monitoring and remediation.
The ACCLAIM project will be implemented in the provinces of East Java, Central Java, and West Nusa Tenggara. The project aims to reach over 2,100 beneficiaries directly and more than 100,000 indirectly.
Child labor is an issue of concern in Indonesia. According to the child labor survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and ILO in 2009, around 4 million children aged 5 to 17 years were working, 43.3 % of them in child labor. The agricultural sector had the most child labor (57%). Children as child labor in agriculture were working for their families as unpaid workers and in paid work on plantations such as tobacco, palm oil, rubber, sugar cane, and other commodities.
ECLT has a long history of supporting research and projects involving farmers, farmers associations, government, and companies in Indonesia in their efforts to eliminate child labor in agriculture. For instance, ECLT Foundation commissioned research on child labor in agriculture in 2017 which showed that:
- The highest prevalence of child labor was in the age group of 15-17 years with the highest proportion coming from farm laborers’ households. Most of these children were involved at the post-harvest stages of production.
- Factors that encourage children to work in agriculture include the level of parental awareness, the need for children to fill in their spare time (due to limited afterschool facilities, sports, playgrounds), religious piety, and economic factors (such as family income contribution).
- Factors pull children to work on tobacco plantations are high demand for labor (particularly during the harvest season), regulations that have not explicitly specified hazardous works in the agricultural sector and the need for skills transfer and regeneration in the agricultural sector.
In response to this data, the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPE-NAS) and other concerned stakeholders, with the support from the ECLT Foundation, formed the Partnership for Action Against Child Labor in Agriculture (PAACLA) in 2018 as a comprehensive and long-term platform for tackling child labor in the agricultural sector.
Furthermore, the ECLT Foundation implemented the KESEMPATAN project with the aim to strengthen stakeholder cooperation and coordination of actions against child labor in agriculture in Indonesia. The strategic objective was to prevent children from 5 to 17 years old from all forms of child labor in agriculture, with specific objectives including:
- Strengthening PAACLA as a platform for scaling up action against child labor in the agriculture sector in Indonesia.
- Increasing understanding and awareness of farmers and farm workers about child labor and regulations related to child labor and elimination of the worst forms of child labor in agriculture.
- Enhancing national level stakeholders’ knowledge on child labor in the agriculture sector in Indonesia.
- Developing a child-friendly village model that is proven effective in reducing child labor in agriculture to be replicated to other villages.
This project has not only directly supported over 3,000 children and 600 caregivers across East Java and 200 in West Nusa Tenggara provinces, but also has helped PAACLA become a multi-stakeholder platform chaired by BAPENNAS, comprising 27 members including 5 government institutions, 8 companies, and 14 civil society organizations.
Moreover, the KESEMPATAN project strengthened PAACLA members’ capacities on child labor by delivering tailor-made trainings for its members, producing books on child labor issues within the agriculture sector, and facilitating meetings among members.
In 2021, a list of hazardous tasks for children in tobacco growing was finalized in consultation with PAACLA members and other stakeholders. This list provides information on whether a particular job or task in tobacco farming can be done by children and serves as a reference for the KESEMPATAN project partners in the field in carrying out awareness activities about tasks that are hazardous to children.
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About the ECLT Foundation
The ECLT Foundation is committed to collaborative solutions for children, farmers, and families, that combat the root causes of child labor in areas where tobacco is grown.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, ECLT advocates for strong policies, shares best practices to multiply our impact, and engages rural families so they can benefit from farming while ensuring that their children are healthy, educated and encouraged to reach their full potential.
The project in numbers:
- 188 local cadres from 30 KESEMPATAN project villages have been trained as trainers.
- 30 villages were targeted for developing “child-friendly villages”.
- 2,691 farmers and agricultural workers in target villages in East Java and West Nusa Tenggara had attended training on child labor in the agricultural sector and on regulations prohibiting child labor.