Uniting for Change in South and South East Asia to End Child Labor through Area-Based Approaches

A K M Ashraf Uddin, Executive Director of Bangladesh Labour Foundation – BLF participated in the event as a panelist. The panel discussions highlighted the importance of community involvement, government engagement, and consensus-building on child labor strategies. Furthermore, the focused discussion on area-based approach shed light on the invisible aspects of the supply-chain mechanism, sector-specific examples of hazardous child labor, and prevention strategies with specific emphasis on the proactive role of the private sector and trade unions in tackling child labor. The overall discussion steered toward creating a strong position among CSOs on promoting ABA in the region with an appeal for multifaceted efforts from governments, businesses, CSOs, youth groups, and communities to effectively combat child labor.

 

These key advocacy asks towards different stakeholders emerged from the symposium to strengthen the area-based approach to address child labor:

– Promoting decent work and making workplaces more child and family-friendly, particularly in the informal sector

– Improving the living income of marginalized communities, providing them with better and alternative means of livelihood

– Awareness on social protection schemes amongst the beneficiaries at the local level

– Strengthening child and youth participation and action, including their voices in decision-making