Policy/practice recommendations to end child labour.
By Ayebare Prudence , Uganda National Farmers Federation
In most countries policy and practice on child labour do not speak the same language, policy indicates a particular issues to be handled while practice is not speaking/doing what policy indicates. I recommend us to take responsibility to search/study and follow up on our national policies to ensure that there are steps in ensuring end of child labour.
There is a need for policy dissemination since majority to the rural communities and lower local governments in particular to ensure increased awareness about the national policies and strategies aiming at prohibiting child labour. This is sometimes affected by most of these policies being in English and other official languages which the rural poor may not easily understand or even some potential enforcers not being literate about such policies.
There is need for governments to take audits and general follow up on the enforcements for the implementation of the policies by the lower local governments where most of the farming and other worst forms of child labour take place. That is to say that most governments emphasizes making policies on Child labour and they do not follow up on their implementation.
Launching comprehensive campaigns and general sensitization of the communities both children and parents would help address the information gap about the dangers of child labour. This would make the communities accountable together with local leaders and or also enable families involved in this child labour to weigh the options of getting involved.
Provision of alternative sources of income other than manual agriculture and alternative sources of wood fuel, would create a better link to addressing the available excuses of child labour in the lower rural communities. These mainly if well handled and alternatives extended would limit opportunities of them causing child labour.
Criminalizing the child labour related practices to make it expensive in getting involved in it would work for governments to sort most of the persisting practices of child labour. This will encourage the dependants on child labour to get alternatives other than depending on child labour itself.
Incentivizing agricultural producers that are considered child labour free zones to enable them get better prices and opportunities beyond the other producers that use child labour. Such will produce more to encourage other dependants on child labour to desist from it.
Multi stakeholder platforms established against child labour would put efforts inplace like education for all campaigns, food for all campaigns, health for all and other SDG related clubs for a better living and thus elimination of child labour.
Ms. Ayebare Prudence