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In Malawi, about 37% of children aged 5 to 17 are working. Most of them are in agriculture, such as crop farming, fishing and animal husbandry. Much of this work is dangerous and poses risks to children’s health and safety, often working long hours for little or no pay. Beyond health, labour affects children’s future as it impedes their right to an education. Many child labourers do not go to school, and even if they do, the heavy work wears them out and prevents them from learning the skills they need to improve their lives. While Malawi does have policies on child labour, they focus more on industrial labour and commercial agriculture, and do not adequately address child labour in subsistence farming and the informal economy. An FAO programme promoting “decent rural employment” in Malawi and its northern neighbour, the United Republic of Tanzania, has helped raise awareness of the impact of child labour on rural development. Building on this and related work by FAO and its partners, Malawi has developed and adopted a comprehensive framework for action to prevent and reduce child labour in agriculture.
Promoting “decent rural employment”, as the name suggests, is not just about creating jobs, but also about improving the quality of existing jobs or creating new jobs to empower the rural population and enable them to earn a decent income level and a safe and healthy working environment.
FAO, in partnership with the International Labour Organization, is implementing a three-year programme, launched in 2011 in Malawi and the United Republic of Tanzania, to raise awareness among governments at the policy level that providing decent rural employment brings important returns. As people improve their livelihoods and have a more secure future, they will also contribute to improved food security and poverty reduction, and will be more able and willing to manage natural resources in a more sustainable way. These ideas are resonating with policymakers.
In its first two years, FAO provided technical support to policies, strategies and programmes in 36 countries, covering issues such as child labour in Malawi, a national youth employment creation programme, a national agricultural policy and a fisheries sector development programme in the United Republic of Tanzania.
Most of the world’s poor live and work in rural areas
Statistics from rural areas of developing countries underscore the critical importance of focusing on decent rural employment in any effort to reduce poverty and improve food security. Rural areas of developing countries are home to 75% of the world’s poor, more than half of whom are aged 25 and below, 86% of the rural population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, less than 20% of whom have access to social security and, in most cases, work in the informal economy.
Governments often fail to realise that 60 percent of child labourers are in agriculture, much of it unpaid family labour, which is not adequately protected by child labour laws. Regulations to protect workers tend to focus on industrial and factory workers, leaving agricultural workers inadequately protected. FAO’s focus on decent rural employment raises awareness among policymakers about the impact of child labour on their countries’ futures, and the importance of providing solutions for small-scale producers trapped in a cycle of poverty and child labour. The cycle begins when poor families send their children to work instead of going to school. These children have no skills and are unable to find jobs, run productive farms or start businesses. Since they cannot provide for their families as adults, they send their children to work to meet family needs, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
FAO adopts an integrated country approach
FAO promotes decent rural employment using an Integrated Country Approach (ICA), which means it brings together government ministries such as agriculture and labour, but also farmers’ federations and trade unions. The goal is to make all these stakeholders aware of the importance of decent rural employment and work together to create an enabling environment that provides it. In this way, FAO promotes investment in children as the future pillars of a country’s workforce.
Recognizing the multifaceted nature of decent rural employment, FAO convened a wide range of experts from across the Organization to meet the specific needs of stakeholders and partners. Experts from the FAO Decent Rural Employment Team (DRET), now known as the FAO Decent Rural Employment Team, provided technical advice to Malawi and the United Republic of Tanzania in areas such as gender, labour rights, child labour and youth employment for inclusion in their policy frameworks.
With DRET’s support, Malawi worked with FAO’s Fisheries Department to develop a new National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy (2013-2018), which recognizes that social development and decent work are essential to ensure sustainable livelihoods in the fisheries sector. The policy also calls for reducing the number of children working in hazardous work. The team provided technical support to the government in developing a corresponding implementation plan. In Malawi, the team’s work with the International Partnership on Child Labour in Agriculture led to the adoption of a comprehensive Framework for Action, marking a major breakthrough in gaining political support at the highest level for a wide-ranging approach to prevent and reduce child labour in agriculture.
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