Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

This member contributed to:

    • It is widely understood that everywhere in the world agricultural work is hazardous. Hazards associated with sharp tools, pesticides, livestock, heavy loads, machinery, long hours and isolation can result in a range of physical, health and psychological harms of varying severity, the worst of which may be fatal.

      Safety science tells us that the path between hazard and harm is seldom simple or linear. Rather, in the case of agriculture, it is mediated by a plethora interacting factors, from the socio-economic and demographic characteristic of the workers; through the type of farming system, the specific tasks and working conditions, and the nature and governance of the value chain; to the effectiveness of the state (and others) in monitoring labour practices and enforcing regulations.

      My question is this: for Sub-Saharan Africa, do you know of evidence to suggest that children working in agriculture come to harm more frequently or experience different or more severe harms than adults? In other words, if child labour is ultimately about harm, should the discussion be framed as a crisis of ‘children’s harmful work’, or a more general crisis of ‘harmful work’?

    • Yesterday ACHA (Action on Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture) published the first of a series of mini-essays in which development professionals  reflect on their own experiences of working as children. It can be found here: https://acha.global/research_papers/childhood-experiences-of-work-reflection-1-ghana/.

      If you would like to share your childhood experiences of work please send a short narrative (under 1,000 words) to ACHA ([email protected]). Please keep these guidelines in mind: approach it however you like; write as little or as much as you like, in whatever form you like; try to put yourself back into your frame of mind as a child; use 18 years old as a rough cut-off age, and think about harm. All narratives that are published on the ACHA website will be anonymised.

      Thank you in advance!

    • In January the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and a group of partners launched a 7-year research programme called "Action on Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture" (ACHA) (https://acha.global/). Last week we published a working paper entitled "Understanding Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture: Points of Departure". It can be downloaded here: https://acha.global/research_papers/understanding-childrens-harmful-wor….

      Jim Sumberg (IDS)