• 1994
  • 1997
  • 2000
  • 2003
  • 2004
  • 2006
  • 2009
  • 2010
  • 2011
  • 2013
  • 2014
  • 2017
  • 2018
1994

First sparks

A sense of urgency to act together against child labour emerges during various encounters between Dutch development organisations, trade unions and their Southern partners.

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1997

Dutch lobby takes off

FNV, AOB and Arisa work with the Ministry of Social Affairs to organise the Global Child Labour Conference in Amsterdam. They present 60,000 signatures to demand the government to link the promotion of primary education with child labour prevention.

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2000

Alliance2015

A European development NGO network is launched with Hivos as a member organization: Alliance2015. Hivos encourages the Alliance-members to start a Europe-wide campaign to raise awareness on child labour and education. Hivos takes the lead. Alliance members Concern Worldwide (Ireland), Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (Germany) and Ibis (Denmark) join Stop Child Labour.

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2003

First EU grant

Stop Child Labour – now represented by Arisa, AOb, FNV Mondiaal, Hivos and the European Alliance2015 members – submits a grant to the EU and receives funding for the first time. The Europe-wide campaign is officially launched. The priority is to influence the public and political opinion in the countries where the member organisations are rooted.

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2004

Spirit of Hyderabad

MV Foundation and Stop Child Labour organise the ‘Out of Work and into School’ conference in Hyderabad. NGOs and trade unions from all over India, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America get together to learn from the experiences of MV Foundation and each other. The conference inspires organizations to try out the area-based approach in their own countries. MV provides technical guidance and on-the-job support.

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2006

Regional hotspots

The Hyderabad conference is followed by exchange visits to Africa and Central America with child rights activists from Asia (led by MV Foundation) and teachers’ union leaders from Albania and Morocco. Stop Child Labour organizes regional conferences in Honduras and Kenya. These events are eye-opening for both hosts and visitors. They see that the Indian example could also work in other contexts. Initial scepticism is replaced by excitement.

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2006

EU campaign to the next level

The Stop Child Labour EU campaign is granted a follow-up. This time, Cesvi (Italy) and People in Need (Czech Republic) join the campaign as well. The Dutch coalition feels energized by the regional conferences and the enthusiasm of local organisations and starts supporting small pilot projects.

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2009

Coalition grows

Stichting Kinderpostzegels and ICCO/Kerk in Actie, which had already participated in the exchange visits, join the Stop Child Labour coalition. They bring in new Southern partners (from Ethiopia, Mali and Kenya) and expertise on childhood development.

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2010

Need to scale up

African and Latin American organisations that wish to scale up their area-based pilots to stop child labour in their intervention areas are invited for an exchange visit to India. They use this experience to develop concrete proposals.

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2011

Omar’s Dream

New grants open up space for new activities worldwide: a third EU project enables renewed lobby and advocacy with more focus on corporate social responsibility. The Postcode Lottery-funded programme, Omar’s Dream, makes it possible to expand and deepen the child labour free zones throughout Africa.

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2013

International visibility

Three international meetings take place that help boost the profile of Stop Child Labour:

1) The Stop Child Labour international conference in Kampala
2) The Stop Child Labour regional conference in Managua
3) The ILO Global Child Labour Conference in Brazil

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2014

Linking Child Labour Free Zones to private sector

A new government-funded programme is designed: ‘Out of Work and into School’ to link Child Labour Free Zones to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and work together with companies to ensure child labour free production chains. Focus was on the hazelnut, textile, gold, natural stone, coffee and tea sectors. Projects are started up in Europe, Africa and Central America.

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2017

Getting down to business

‘Getting down to Business’ is developed to consolidate the work with CSR initiatives and companies, specifically in the textile, leather/shoes, coffee, seeds, natural stone and gold sectors.

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2017

Presence in Buenos Aires

Stop Child Labour takes part in the ILO Global Child Labour Conference in Buenos Aires. The coalition makes a pledge to policymakers to support community-led, area-based initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America to tackle child labour. 

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2018

15th Anniversary

After 15 years of Stop Child Labour we are proud to collaborate with more than 25 partner organizations around the world, all working with passion and commitment towards the creation of child labour free zones. 63.000 thousands of children have been withdrawn from child labour and are now able to
go to school school.

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