Best practices in preventing and eliminating child labor through education

Creating awareness of the importance of education and the difference between acceptable work for children and exploitative child labour can help break the cycle of child labour and poverty. This manual aims to provide best practice advice derived from evaluations of 100 projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as part of Winrock international's Community-based Innovations to Reduce Child Labour through Education (CIRCLE) project.

Split into two sections, the manual attempts to provide a holistic overview of child labour, lessons learnt and best practices. Section one provides background information on the interrelated issues of child labour and education including the causes and consequences of child labour, and the existing legislative framework. It also takes a look at project design guidelines aimed at combating child labour through education interventions.

Section two outlines the practical learning from a range of projects under the CIRCLE umbrella including the principal design elements and components critical to ensuring the effective and sustainable outcomes. Pre-empting or overcoming challenges have been organised under the following topics:  

• Awareness Raising
• Advocacy
• Education
• Vocational education and skills training
• Peer education
• Child labour monitoring
• Data collection