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Malawi project overview
In Malawi, ECLT is funding a project to reduce child labour in two hundred villages. The project is called the ‘Integrated Child Labour Elimination Project’. ECLT began working in 2002 and the current phase of the project will end in 2010.
By the end of the project 13,500 vulnerable children in 200 villages will have been protected or withdrawn from child labour. This means that 48% of the overall child population in the project area (28,000) will directly benefit from project activities.
About this project
Progress so far
An evaluation in 2009 suggests there have been dramatic reductions in child labour since the current phase of the project started. Child labour has been reduced in the project areas from 57% of 6 to 11 year olds in 2006 to 19% in 2009. Amongst 12 to 14 year olds child labour has reduced from 71% in 2006 to 19% in 2009.
Work exchanged for school
Over one and a half thousand children have been directly withdrawn from child labour and placed in schools. To improve the provision of education, 26 schools and 17 classroom and other school blocks have been built or rehabilitated. The communities have contributed to this work. The ECLT funded project has seen that 119 teachers have been trained, their quarters improved, bursaries given to children, classrooms furnished and books and materials provided.
Influencing from within
To create local capacity to address child labour 230 Child Labour Committees and 127 Parents’/Teachers’ Associations have been established or strengthened. 330 Community Leaders and 120 farm-owners, those most influential in the community, have been trained on child labour. As leaders and employers they can have a direct influence on attitudes and instances of child labour.
Villagers empowered
Over 800 villages have been supported with training, equipment and seedlings to improve food securityand conserve the surrounding areas. Almost 10,000 villagers participated and benefited from these activities. People in 263 villages have been supported to provide and maintain their own clean water supplies. Most project targets have achieved more than anticipated, as mobilised communities have made significant additional contributions to local initiatives.
Who’s running the project?
National coordinating partner
Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (CRECCOM) is responsible for coordinating the project.
Implementing partners
- Creative Centre for CommunityMobilisation (CRECCOM): education, child participation and awareness raising projects;
- Total LandCare (TLC): food security
- Nkhoma Synod: clean water projects
- Lifeline Malawi: health
Steering Committee
Ministry of Labour, Limbe Leaf, Universal Leaf, Alliance One, British American Tobacco, Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA), Malawi Congress for Trade Unions (MCTU), Tobacco Tenants’ Allied Workers’ Union of Malawi (TOTAWUM), CRECCOM, ILO/IPEC.
Area covered by the project
Kusungu and Dowa districts.
During the first phase of the project the operation covered sixty villages in two tobacco growing communities of Dwanga and Ngala, in the Kasungu and Dowa districts. The project now provides support to over 800 villages in Katalima and Suza, a population of one hundred thousand, in the same two districts.
Duration of the project
First ECLT project: July 2002 – June 2005.
Second project: July 2006 – June 2010. Extension of project: July 2010 – June 2011.
Budget
The entire budget including the final phase is US$6.6 million.
Project documentation
You can find out more about the Malawi project by viewing the following project documention: