All partners of Stop Child Labour met up in Uganda on 20 March 2017 to evaluate the results of the project ‘Out of Work and into School’. The Dutch coalition discussed the progress of the project with local partners from seven countries. And they talked about how the recent successes can be both extended and made more sustainable over the next few years. In addition, all those who were present travelled to the child labour free zones in Uganda: a truly inspiring visit!
Stop Child Labour is active on three continents, in a wide range of very different countries. This makes it all the more special that the same approach seems to work well in all these different places. Obviously, every region has its own difficulties to overcome and also its specific success stories, but the similarities are much more striking than the differences. At the meeting in Uganda it became clear that the power of involving the entire community is the most important condition for success. Only when all the various stakeholders firmly believe in a child labour free zone and make a joint effort to achieve this do they have a real chance of success. Unfortunately, another similarity between all these different countries is the fact that more girls are dropping out of school than boys. This issue requires more attention in the near future.
The visit to Uganda illustrated the most important conclusions perfectly. One of the child labour free zones is in Erussi, a region in the rural north-western part of the country where mainly coffee is grown. Teachers, parents, farmers and children are working closely together with the education union UNATU, NGO CEFORD, a coffee producer, fair trade quality seal UTZ and the local government to help children back to school and to keep them in school. Everybody takes their own responsibility because everyone agrees: children should be in school. And this is a successful approach.
Read the End Term Meeting 2017 Final Report (English version)
