ILO supports NGOs to fight child labour

Accra, June 6, GNA - The International Labour Organisation and International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC) on Tuesday gave four nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) a cheque for about 130,000 dollars to implement the pilot phase of the traditional apprenticeship project aimed at reducing the incidence of child labour in the urban informal sector.

An agreement to that effect was signed between ILO, the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment and the beneficiary NGOs - Fit Ghana; Mission for Hope; Partners for Development and Centre for Community Studies Action and Development.

The agreement was signed by representatives of the NGOs, Mr Emmanuel Otoo, Country Programme Coordinator; Vocational Skills Project of ILO, and the Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare.

The NGOs, which are complementing the efforts of the Ministry, would focus primarily on assisting in strengthening the capacity of over 50 artisans; increase awareness of child labour issues; identify, withdraw and train more than 100 children in various skills and assist in their placement and setting up after training.

Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Sector Minister in an address read on his behalf, said the programme was a three-year sub-regional project targeted at combating the worst forms of child labour in the urban informal sector with emphasis on non-formal cost effective methods of training.

"Though the project focus will be on skill training and youth employment as a strategy to fight child labour, education, which is the key element in the prevention of child labour, will equally receive the desired attention," he said.

Alhaji Saddique noted that the project would utilize the expertise of small-scale employers; craftsmen and artisans, whose capacity would be developed and supported in other areas relevant to the objectives of the project.

He said the intervention of the ILO complemented the Government's agenda of the National Youth Employment Programme that sought to provide skills training and employment for the youth in the urban and rural areas.

Alhaji Saddique observed that the project would help to prevent rural-urban drift and streetism, as it would offer the youth an opportunity to have decent employment that would invariably improve upon their livelihood.

"Government takes this project seriously and would like to urge the implementing partners that have been selected to recognize the confidence reposed in them and carry out their work effectively", he said.

Mr Otoo said there was no specific survey available on children working in the urban informal sector.

He said data ought to be combined from the urban part of the household survey and the street children survey with some from IPEC and other projects.

Mr Otoo noted that one of the first contributions of the project to a proposed future IPEC skill training would be the collaboration in the identification of children working in the urban informal sector to ensure maximum result.

He reminded the NGOs that the fund was for a definite purpose and must be effectively utilized to ensure the realization of its objectives.

Mr Otoo said children were the target and every effort must be made to get them out of the doldrums.