Outreach-Community Service

Wednesday, 10 April 2013

The International Labor Organization (ILO), Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) estimates that over 218 million children in the world today are involved in child labour, doing work that is damaging to their mental, physical and emotional development. A number of studies have been conducted indicating that child labour is evident in Namibia with devastating effects on the learners’ population. Namibia as a country has made the effort to address underlying factors to child labour. These include the National strategy for poverty alleviation and the revision of education policy.

In collaboration with ILO, P.A.Y. has become a key agent working toward raising awareness on child labour. As ILO implementing agency, P.A.Y. Namibia seeks to mobilize the youth, sensitize learners, parents and integrate child labour into the community based life skills initiatives. The mainstay of our approach is SCREAM: Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media, education and social mobilization initiative developed by ILO to help educators worldwide in cultivating young people’s understanding of the causes and consequences of child labour. The programme places heavy emphasis on the use of the visual, literary and performing arts. As part of a mini-pilot project in April and May 2012, we conducted a series of  life skills days focusing on a core group of grade 7- 12 learners from different schools training them on children’s rights and basic facts on child labour. The learners were then encouraged to spearhead child labour awareness at schools, on radio and television. The campaign culminated in a 5-day camp (hyperlink) that took place in Waterberg National Park and has produced a wealth of child-labor awareness raising material. 

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