Measurement, Awareness-Raising, and Policy Engagement (MAP 16) Project on Child Labor and Forced Labor

Results

As a result of efforts by MAP16,

• Governments in six countries (Brazil, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria and Serbia) carried out eight national child labor and forced labor surveys, which provide critical information for policymaking and advocacy. These surveys also inform the development of global estimates on child labor and forced labor by the ILO and its partners.
• A total of 14 studies on child labor and forced labor, including a mapping of risks for child labor in Villa Victoria, Mexico, and research on forced labor in prisons in Mongolia, were produced. Such studies are being used to target government social protection programs and policy efforts to address child labor and forced labor. In Guatemala, for example, the National Coffee Association (ANACAFE) used information generated by the project to target communities at high risk of child labor to receive a variety of educational programs ANACAFE supports to prevent child labor.
• The ILO published a handbook on detecting forced labor in commercial fishing, which is being used by maritime enforcement agencies around the world, including the U.S. Coast Guard, to identify forced labor.
• Capacity-building efforts under MAP16 have also paid dividends. In Argentina, the Jujuy and La Pampa Provincial Ministries of Labor adopted national inspection administration forms after receiving training from the project. These forms include more detail on child labor and forced labor, enabling better detection of these labor abuses.
• In Kosovo, the Forestry Agency within the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development began including an explicit prohibition on the use of hazardous child labor in contracts the Agency issues. Within the first year of the adoption of the prohibition, the Agency had issued more than 650 contracts prohibiting hazardous child labor. Also in Kosovo, the Ministry of Education upgraded their education management database to enable teachers and school administrator to report cases of school children involved in child labor. The Ministry of Education database is interoperable with the child labor database operated by the country’s social service agencies, improving referrals of such cases for services and support.
• In Mauritania, the Government adopted into law a list of hazardous work prohibited to children, creating stronger protections for children’s health and safety.
• Although MAP16 focused on research, capacity building and policy change, in a subset of project countries, children and families received direct support from the project. In Mauritania, families with children at risk for child labor in begging received food and hygiene kits as the project pivoted to respond to the shocks caused by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The same year in Morocco, girls at risk of child labor in domestic work were provided with support to complete schooling and vocational training. In 2022, in the India state of Bihar, families involved in child labor were referred to government social services and supported to enroll their children in age-appropriate classes or skills training.