Our advocacy initiatives in Zimbabwe
Advocacy for the development of a list of hazardous tasks
In Zimbabwe, the ECLT Foundation collaborated with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) to engage the National Employment Council (NEC) for Agriculture, highlighting the ALP Code within the tobacco sector. The primary goal of this initiative was to exchange insights, disseminate the ALP Code, and inspire other agricultural commodities to formulate and implement their own ALP Codes.
Moreover, the Government of Zimbabwe took a sectoral and harmonised approach to coming up with the list of hazardous tasks, taking into consideration the different peculiarities within the various sector. By 2023, the list of hazardous work for children in secondary tobacco activities, such as on auction floors and factories, was gazetted. The lists of hazardous work for children in primary agriculture activities, such as production of tobacco, was under review by the Attorney General’s Office.
Beyond the tobacco industry, several other sectors were also at different stages of formulating their lists of hazardous tasks through tripartite processes.
Advocacy for the development of a National Action Plan on child labour in Zimbabwe
Before 2023, the Government of Zimbabwe had not yet formulated a specific National Action Plan (NAP) on child labour, despite the ILO's advocacy for the development of such plans over the past decade. Not anymore.
Thanks to the ECLT Foundation’s advocacy efforts under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Zimbabwe, a specific child labour component was included in the National Action Plan on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NAP-OVC) in 2023. In the past year, the ECLT Foundation has supported tripartite consultations in the development of the NAP-OVC, thus ensuring stakeholder ownership and alignment with international best practice.
Collaborating to pilot industry grievance mechanisms in tobacco growing in Zimbabwe
Following the adoption of the ALP Code for the tobacco sector of Zimbabwe in April 2023, the ECLT Foundation and the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) launched a pilot industry grievance mechanism initiative in tobacco growing in Zimbabwe. The pilot project is implemented by Childline Zimbabwe, a non-governmental organization operating the country’s sole nationwide helpline service dedicated to children.
The results of the pilot project will help the TIMB and the tobacco sector in Zimbabwe to better understand children’s activities in tobacco-growing areas and regions of high prevalence, and the type of responses needed to remediate cases.
Knowledge exchange visit to Brazil
In September 2023, a delegation from Zimbabwe, including representatives from the Government of Zimbabwe, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), the Tobacco Leaf Exporters Association of Zimbabwe (TLEAZ), Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), and the Tobacco Research Board (TRB), conducted an exchange visit to Brazil. The exchange visit was supported by the ECLT Foundation and TLEAZ and facilitated by SindiTabaco and AFUBRA.
The five-day visit took place at Santa Cruz do Sul, in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which produces 48% of national tobacco production.
The programme of visit included meetings with SindiTabaco, an association of 14 tobacco companies, some of which operate both in Zimbabwe and in Brazil: AFUBRA, the association of tobacco farmers, uniting around 80,000 farmers, FUPASC – the Foundation for Environmental Protection, as well as meetings with individual companies, including site visits for observation and interactive presentations and interviews.
The visit covered the complete value chain from seed to smoke, and waste reduction, and the discussions involved sustainability and ESG issues and exchange of best practice. Following the trip to Brazil, the delegation from Zimbabwe formulated an action for practical follow up and implementation by TIMB.
Enhancing capacity of TIMB to monitor implementation of industry-wide ALP Code
Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding with TIMB, the ECLT Foundation is funding Ethans Design to develop two digital systems for monitoring the implementation of the industry-wide ALP Code in Zimbabwe:
- A digital database of non-contracted growers – a system where TIMB will record, monitor, and follow up the independent growers on their adherence to the ALP Code.
- A digital platform for industry reporting – a system where individual contractors and stakeholders responsible for the ALP implementation, including TIMB, should report aggregate numbers. The objective of this digital platform is to track and monitor industry/ collective progress towards ALP targets.