Children Lead the Way (CLW)

Various communication approaches have been developed in each of the 5 countries; the summary below will cover them all, with a focus on strategies implemented in Nicaragua.

• In Bolivia, CLW works to: develop and promote flexible and relevant educational models for indigenous boys and girls who work in traditional agriculture; provide technical training for youth that meets local market demands; support the formation of networks of working children that will help them get their education, find jobs, and offer them a safe place to play; and conduct research that provides information on the specific needs on protecting the rights of children, especially girls.
• In Burkina Faso, CLW's communication components include: providing education alternatives to prevent harmful child labour (e.g., tutoring and vocational training opportunities); increasing child participation through children and youth organisations; building the capacity of partners to provide income-generating alternatives to the worst forms of work and supporting income-generating activities of mothers to enable them to support their children's education; and carrying out national and local advocacy to encourage the adoption of relevant laws and policies to better protect working children.
• In Kenya, CLW works to: provide access to education at the basic, secondary, and vocational levels of schooling for working children; ensure that working children have the space to voice their opinions and share their concerns with each other, their communities, and decision-makers; support local government councils and committees mandated to address issues of children and work; support working children's groups to enhance opportunities for participation in matters that directly affect them; and advocate with government to address gaps in local-, country-, and national-level policy gaps addressing children's rights, especially those of children who work.
• In Nicaragua, CLW's activities centre on: efforts to ensure that children and youth who work have access to either primary, vocational, or technical education and provide them with follow-up extra-curricular support; the introduction of new marketable skills in educational material to ensure improved opportunities for children who work; collaboration with partners and the Ministry of Education to support alternative education centres to improve learning and work opportunities for children who work; and teacher training on models of alternative education, as well as life skills, gender equality, the child rights approach, and leadership. Example of a CLW activity implemented in this country: "In la Dalia, the 'Harvest Plan' (Plan Cosecha) is implemented by the local NGO [non-governmental organisation] CESESMA and the participation of MINTRAB (Ministry of Labour), SILAIS (Ministry of Health) and MINED (Ministry of Education). The 'Harvest Plan' is a strategy agreed by the government to protect children against exploitation and to guarantee that they continue receiving education during the coffee harvest period. The partners Cuculmeca, MITRAB and SILAIS, articulate the 'Education Bridges' experience,...which is looking to guarantee children's rights to health, education and protection. As the parents move to the farms with their children, children are given an 'Education Passport' that specifies their level. While arriving to the farms, an educator is hired by the administrator to follow up with education activities in order to avoid school desertion. The passport will then be filled with the child's progress and will enable him or her to get back to school. The education passport is an excellent tool to guarantee that it's mandatory for the school to receive children after the coffee harvest period and, to follow up with their progress. This is critical to avoid school desertion, as children do not have to repeat grades, and thus prevent children from engaging in harmful work by keeping them in school."
• In Peru, CLW's efforts focus on: increasing access to basic education for out-of-school working children through community identification and registration campaigns; training teachers in child-friendly ways that meet the learning needs of working children, as well as the delivery of after-school tutoring; collaborating public Centres for Technical and Productive Education to improve vocational training opportunities for working children; building the capacity of working children's organisations so that children know and claim their rights; facilitates the active participation of working children's organisations in government-related decision-making forums; sensitising communities and local governments on the issues of child protection and the rights of children; developing and implementing life skills training modules for working children; incorporating a gender strategy to ensure that both girls and boys are equally benefiting from the education system; and introducing an environmental awareness component within certain schools and the surrounding communities on the importance of caring for the natural environment.

Children, Youth, Rights, Education, Gender

In Burkina Faso, 70% of children do some form of agricultural work either for pay or to help their families. Twenty-five percent of children work in the service sector, including working as domestic help. Most artisanal or skilled work remains the prerogative of boys, while girls generally find themselves in domestic services, retail vendors, or mobile fruit and vegetable sellers.

In Kenya, children as young as 5 years old can be found working in agriculture or in quarries, crushing rock. The commercial, subsistence agriculture, and fishing sectors employ the largest number of working children (57.6%). Children also work in construction, retail, and trading, as well as the manufacturing and mining sectors.

In Peru, children start farming and caring for smaller animals at a young age. Girls are also responsible for domestic tasks and taking care of their younger siblings. In the areas where the programme is being implemented, the families often have up to 5 children in the household, and access to education for all is a challenge. In the communities where CLW is working, there are elementary schools, but children must travel to larger cities to go to high school or vocational training. The programme addresses the needs of all children in the area, including those who are not in school.

In the regions where this project is being implemented in Nicaragua, the majority of children have paid or unpaid work, primarily in the coffee plantation industry. Boys are more likely to work outside the home since the domestic work, like caring for their brothers and sisters, is almost exclusively assigned to girls. Working in the home with no potential career back-up means girls are more vulnerable to extreme poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy. Agricultural work, including working in coffee plantations, exposes children of both genders to work-related dangers like pesticides, snakebites, accidents, and excessive workloads.

Over 800,000 children (approximately 10% of the country's total population) are working in Bolivia. Children and youth most frequently work in informal sectors, usually alongside their families as extra sources of cheap manual labour. The poverty they face and the lack of resources often force them to quit school. A significant number of children work in sectors considered to be high risk, such as commercial agriculture (sugarcane and cotton harvesting and Brazil nut collection) and mining.