Supporting Sustainable and Child Labor Free Vanilla-Growing Communities in SAVA (SAVABE)

The SAVABE project aims to reduce child labor in the vanilla producing areas of the Sava region of Madagascar through a holistic set of interventions. The project assists vanilla exporters to implement the 2015 code of conduct of vanilla exporters to eliminate child labor in the country’s vanilla supply chain. In support of this, the project works with vanilla exporters to develop anti-child labor policies, build systems to monitor child labor in the production of vanilla, and raise awareness of the harmful effects of child labor among employers, communities, and families.  To complement these efforts, the project trains law enforcement agents to enforce child labor laws and collaborates with local authorities to develop a child labor database that houses information about child labor victims to help improve understanding about the drivers of child labor and strategies for addressing the problem.

The project also works with local communities to monitor child labor through child protection committees. The project will provide educational services to 450 youth of 14 to 17 years of age who are engaged in or at risk of entering child labor. To address the poverty that contributes to child labor, the project targets 15,000 households of children engaged in, or at risk of, child labor for sustainable livelihoods promotion. In particular, the project provides vocational training programs to impoverished families to teach them skills for in-demand jobs in their villages and helps establish village savings and loan programs for families to access credit to finance business ideas and activities to earn additional income to support their children’s education.

The project operates in 32 communes in the four vanilla-growing districts that comprise the Sava region: Sambava, Antalaha, Vohemar, and Andapa.