Cambodians EXCEL: Eliminating eXploitative Child Labor through Education and Livelihoods

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Country
Project Duration
December 2012
-
December 2016
Funding and Year
FY
2012
: USD
10,000,000

Reduce exploitative child labor in areas with a high prevalence of child labor in agriculture, fishing, and domestic service.

The Problem

Child labor in Cambodia is the function of a complex set of factors including poverty, lack of access to quality education, cultural acceptance of child labor, debt, migration, and lack of regulation in the informal sector, particularly in subsistence farming and fishing. 

Our Strategy

Intermediate objectives:

  • Provide direct education, social protection, livelihood and youth employment services, as well as linkages to support services for targeted beneficiaries;
  • Strengthen policies and institutional capacity on child labor, education, sustainable livelihoods, and social protection;
  • Raise awareness on exploitative child labor, its root causes, and the importance of education, social protection, and decent work for children and youth of legal working age;
  • Support research, evaluation, and data collection and dissemination of reliable data on child labor, its root causes, and effective strategies;
  • Promote long-term sustainability, transparency, and accountability of efforts to combat exploitative child labor and improve livelihoods.

Summary of Activities:

The project is designed to reach these objectives through the following activities:

  • Expand and enhance formal schools and alternative learning opportunities, including vocational education for targeted children;
  • Strengthen educational services through teacher training, curriculum improvement, and infrastructure repairs;
  • Provide educational support services to help children succeed and stay in school, including tutoring and mentoring, provision of school supplies, and support to community libraries;
  • Offer livelihood support and social protection programs to working and at-risk children and targeted household members that will alleviate the root causes of child labor by increasing agricultural productivity and promoting new agricultural options, diversifying income through nonagricultural activities, and linking to financial services and social protection programs;
  • Provide technical support and capacity- building initiatives to national, provincial, district, and local governmental institutions to improve policies, legislation, and service delivery;
  • Raise awareness on child labor and the importance of education through interactive and interpersonal awareness-raising, mass mobilization, and private sector engagement; and
  • Conduct research on topics such as child domestic service, impact of adult migration on child well-being, and land rights and child labor

Targets:

The project targets 28,000 children engaged in and atrisk of entering exploitative child labor in agriculture, fishing, and domestic service. In addition, the project will target 14,000 households of targeted children to promote sustainable livelihoods. The project will operate in 5 provinces and one municipality including: Battambang, Siem Reap, Pursat, Kampong Cham, Banteay Meanchey, and Phnom Penh.

Results

As of September 30, 2016, the project has provided education services to 29,755 children engaged in or at-risk of entering child labor and 14,291 households received livelihood services.

Grantee:
World Vision
Implementing Partners:
and Cambodia Development Resource Institute, Farmer Livelihood Development, Vulnerable Children Association Organization, Wathnakpheap
Contact Information:
(202) 693-4843 / Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)
Tags:
Child Labor
Agriculture
Domestic Work
Evaluations
Fishing