Pilares: Building the Capacity of Civil Society to Combat Child Labor and Improve Working Conditions in Colombia

Results

• The Pilares project formed three solidarity networks made up of miners, women, afro-descendants, indigenous people, and youth. More than 970 civil society actors and 250 government officials in the networks were trained by the project to identify, document, raise awareness about and address child labor and other unacceptable working conditions in artisanal and small-scale mining.  Based on the Final Evaluation, 100% of CSOs in the SN improved their capacity.
  • “Implementing a systematic process to teach CSOs how to conduct research on issues that impact their communities instead of hiring an outside consultant to conduct research and share their findings with community members was a successful approach. The working committees were trained to identify and document CL and OUWC accurately, to develop data collection tools, to conduct community research, and to create and implement reporting mechanisms." - Final Evaluation
• The project created two online reporting mechanisms for the Sur de Bolivar and Bajo Cauca regions. These tools helped identify and document of child labor and occupational safety and health (OSH) risks in Colombia's artisanal small-scale gold mining sector. Based on the data, the project supported CSOs in producing thirteen reports that describe the child labor context and OSH conditions in all four targeted municipalities and included recommendations on how to address the issues.  Reports were shared with government institutions overseeing mining or family child services, which led to several joint efforts between CSOs and municipal-level governments including the formal identification and referral of 83 child labor cases to local government coordinating bodies that address such issues.
• In 2023, the CSO network from Sur de Bolivar became an official organization now known as CORPILARES BOL and is registered with the Government of Colombia at the national level. CORPILARES serves as a resource hub for CSOs wanting to address child labor and OSH issues in their mining communities. As of September 2023, CORPILARES developed a training strategy and mentored 17 new organizations that recently joined the network.
• Since Phase I, the project has issued over 30+ micro awards to local CSOs trained by the project. Through the project, these CSOs have the knowledge and expertise to apply for, manage, and close out small grants. Micro awards provided by the project have focused on the monitoring and evaluation of child labor and OSH risks, community-level awareness raising, advocacy with government and the private sector, local initiatives to directly combat child labor or OSH issues and capacity building to strengthen CORPILARES.  As of September 2023, CORPILARES has been able to leverage these micro awards to obtain additional grants from the University of Cartagena, municipal governments, and our donor institutions.
• In 2024, CORPILARES administered twelve new subawards to local organizations and five more were completed successfully. The subawards implement initiatives in the community that help combat child labor and other unacceptable working conditions.
• CORPILARES was invited to participate in the National CIETE in Bogota as well as in the development plans for the local municipalities of Altos del Rosario, San Martín de Loba, Barranco de Loba, and Hatillo de Loba, underscoring the corporation's reputation and importance in addressing CL and occupational underage work issues at the local level.
• In February 2024, CORPILARES became a member of the Colombia Network Against Child Labor.