The ILO in Action: Boosting family finances to tackle child labour

This year, the International Labour Organization (ILO), in collaboration with the Alliance 8.7  global partnership, launched the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021 to encourage legislative and practical actions to eradicate child labour worldwide.

The ILO in Myanmar has been spearheading efforts with partners to implement action to ensure children are protected from child labour within the current constraints and challenges brought about by the military takeover as well as COVID-19. The ILO is providing direct services in three pilot areas including formal and non-formal education support for children, vocational training and life skills to youth, and livelihoods training for adults. In addition, more than 150 households have received management and skills training.

The ILO’s SCORE Project also delivered Business Eye Opener training of trainers to be rolled out in remote villages to support youth and vulnerable families with starting small businesses using locally available resources. 

A key emergency response has also been supporting families in coping with the pressure of COVID-19 on their economic livelihoods, including awareness-raising and supporting seed funds to kickstart pilot initiatives during 2020 and 2021.

The International Year was unanimously adopted in a UN General Assembly resolution in 2019. A main aim of the year is to urge governments to do what is necessary to achieve Target 8.7  of the UN Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs), which includes ending child labour in all its forms by 2025."

ILO Myanmar delivers three child labour projects: The Myanmar Project on the Elimination of Child Labour (My-PEC), funded by the US Department of Labour, Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in Support of Education: Programme to reduce the worst forms of child labour in agriculture, funded by the Government of Japan, and Asian Regional Child Labour Programme (ARC), funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK Government.

For more information, please contact Anne Boyd boyda@ilo.org