International Initiative On Exploitative Child Labor

Causes: Children & Youth, Children & Youth Services, International, International Relief

Mission: IIECL''s mission is to end the worst forms of child labor in the United States and around the world.

Programs: 1. Pathways Advancing Viable Education (PATH) - A child-centered approach to educational and employability development planning used by field staff with former children and youth engaged in child labor, child soldiers and trafficking victims. PAVE methods currently in use in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.2. Emily Sandall Memorial Youth Mini-grant Awards for Ending Child Labor - Small $500 awards to youth and NGOs for mini-grant project activities to address child labor. To date, awards have been provided for NGOs and individuals working in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the USA.3. Children in the Fields Campaign - National US campaign to improve labor standard protections for children working in US agriculture.4. Education Works! - Development of functional vocational literacy curricula that targets education for older, out-of-school youth by combining literacy and job skills training. To date, five curriculums have been developed on cocoa production, beekeeping, crop and oilseed farming, goat farming and vegetable farming. These curriculums are currently in use in Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda.5. Social Accountability - Working with target industries to verify that child labor does not exist within their supply chain (current activities include participation on the International Cocoa Verification Board)6. Disaster Relief and Recovery for Children at Risk of Child Labor and in Need of Education During Times of Emergency7. Child Labor Research - Conduct rapid and baseline assessments to determine level, extent and changing nature of child labor in targeted countries and design effective intervention strategies using relevant data and factors. To date, rapid and baseline studies have been conducted in Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda.8. Environmental and Worker Safety Education - Conduct of job risk/ergonomics analysis of work activities of children. This study is used to define safe and unsafe work-related activities in targeted occupations. This analysis determines details of each primary segment of the work activity to accomplish the jobs performed by children/youth (task mapping), key work-related tasks that demonstrate risk (risk factors), assessment of work environment (environmental risks), factors for mitigating risks (general worker safety), awareness of risk on the job (risk perception), and availability/use or non-use of protective gear (protective equipment). Study completed on child labor in cocoa production in Ghana with report published in Journal of Public Health, November/December 2005.