Support to National Efforts Towards a Child Labour-free State, Bahia-Brazil

Executive Summary Brazil has an impressive record in preventing and eliminating child labour. Since 1990, the Government, social partners and civil society have taken a variety of decisive measures to tackle the problem. Most significantly, these measures included innovative large scale conditional cash transfer programmes which have had a significant impact on school enrolment, poverty and child labour. Brazil’s well-established successes have received international recognition and inspired other countries to implement similar policies. However, whilst major progress has been made in reducing the numbers, the downward trend has recently stalled. The latest figures suggest that there are still 5.1 million child labourers in the country from 5 to 17 years-old. In a federal republic with decentralised institutions, one of the major strategic priorities now is to bring national-level commitment to bear on action to tackle child labour at the state and municipal levels. The State of Bahia, with the support of the federal Government, is aiming to set a pioneering example by creating a model of a “Child labour-free State” that can be replicated throughout the country. The State of Bahia is the largest state in the Northeast macro region of Brazil with a population of 14 million. Nearly 80 % of its population is of African descent, compared to a national average of 50%. Bahia suffers from high levels of poverty, inequality, illiteracy and social exclusion, related to historic legacies of gender and racial discrimination. The incidence of child labour and exclusion from education is significantly higher than elsewhere in the country and approximately 10% of all child labourers in Brazil can be found in the state (PNAD, 2006). The Government of the State of Bahia has also underlined its commitment to the elimination of child labour by including this objective in Bahia’s Decent Work Agenda. This State Decent Work Agenda is unique in Brazil. It includes development of programmes on interlinked themes including child labour, youth employment, gender and race equality and non-discrimination and domestic work. Alongside its goal of a child labour-free state, this integrated package of government-led programmes puts Bahia in the frontline of innovative new social policies combating child labour in Brazil. The proposed project, whilst providing specific support for Bahia’s efforts to move towards a child labour-free state, would also seek to galvanise broader state and federal support for continuing action against child labour in Brazil. The aim would be to use and replicate the model of Bahia elsewhere in the country. The project will build on the extensive good practices and lessons learned from previous successful IPEC project work in Brazil since 1992. The project strategy is based on the outcomes of a strategic planning workshop held in Salvador, 5- 6 May of 2008. The workshop was attended by more than 80 representatives of governments at the federal, state and municipal levels, as well as organizations of employers and workers, civil society organisations, youth representatives and the Forum for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour (FNPETI). The project will focus on five strategic areas, in line with immediate objectives of the project: • Developing an improved knowledge base on child labour in Bahia • Changing attitudes to child labour in target areas, based on a planned communications strategy • Development of strengthened legal frameworks at federal and state levels • Strengthening capacity of national, state and municipal public and private institutions, employers’ and workers’ organizations and civil society to contribute to the achievement of a “child labour-free state” in Bahia. • Withdrawal and prevention of children in target areas within Bahia and supporting replication of models in other areas A total of 14,000 girls and boys will be targeted for withdrawal and prevention from exploitative and/or hazardous w

Project symbol

BRA/08/50/USA

Admin unit

CO-Brasilia

Start date

30/09/2008

End date

31/01/2013

Total allocation

4899999

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

4886710

Development Partners

USA, United States Department of Labor, Bureau for International Labor Affairs, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking

Country/Countries

Brazil

Outcomes

Child Labour