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About IREWOC The Amsterdam-based Foundation for International Research on Working Children (IREWOC) looks at the issue of child labour from a child rights perspective and with a focus on the socio-cultural and economic environment. In order to understand child labour situations, it is necessary to look at the wider context of the living conditions of children and their families. Our focus is therefore not only on studying the specific situation of child labourers, but also the general situation of children living in adverse conditions. IREWOC research collects data on child labourers specifically, and on the conditions of disadvantaged children in general. This is done by means of anthropological research, publications, workshops, consultancy and conferences. IREWOC takes a child-centred approach to research, which puts the opinions and experiences of children centre stage. IREWOC’s aims are to enhance in-depth knowledge on child-centred development through local level fieldwork, to broaden and exchange knowledge through the establishment of global partnerships and develop joint projects accordingly, and to promote policy interventions. Website: www.irewoc.nl; Contact: info@irewoc.nl, +31 (0)20 4651763
Recently Completed Research
Deprived Children and Education January 2006 - November 2007; Afke de Groot, Albertine de Lange, Heike Roschanski, Ruth van Wieren The drive for universal (primary) education (UPE) has gained momentum during the last decade. The Millennium Development Goals, which were agreed upon in 2000, set 2015 as the year in which universal education and gender equality in this respect are to be achieved. Progress is undeniable but, as was stressed in the Global Monitoring Report 2005, targets are not going to be achieved in many countries. Non-enrolment and drop-out particularly affect poor children; special efforts should be directed at the geographically isolated and ethnically marginalised children. Currently, education is at the centre of international aid policy attention, but the trend has clearly shifted to a focus on providing quality education rather than on UPE. The massive expansion of education, it is argued, has led to a dilution of school effectiveness and an erosion of standards with derisory learning outcomes. In January 2006 IREWOC initiated a child-based research project on deprived children and education in which the focus was on the realities of the children and their parents. This study aimed to deepen the understanding as to why many children do not go to school by collecting insights from the source. Are the reasons economic, cultural or are they related to the relevance and quality of education? Detailed anthropological fieldwork was carried out in areas with alarming figures regarding non-schooling and illiteracy in Africa (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya), South Asia (Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh). The Summary Report and individual Country Reports of this project are available for download from our ‘Publications’ page on our website. Hardcopies of the Summary Report can be ordered from info@irewoc.nl
Current Research
Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin-America September 2006 – June 2008 (projected completion date); Marten van den Berge, Anna Ensing, Laura Baas, Luisa Quiroz This research project carried out in-depth studies in three Latin American countries on specific sectors which are labelled as a worst form according to ILO Convention 182. This Convention explicitly calls for immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of those forms of child labour that pose a direct threat to the physical and moral health of children. The IREWOC Worst Forms of Child labour research project began by documenting the specific worst forms sectors in three Latin American countries (Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru) and also identified which GOs and NGOs are working in the field of child labour in these countries and what their specific projects are. This was done from October 2006 to January 2007. Secondly in-depth anthropological fieldwork was carried out in specific worst form sectors in the research countries. In Guatemala research was carried out in the coffee sector and in the stone quarries. In Peru the mining sector, garbage dumps and markets were studied; and in Bolivia child labour was explored in the mining sector and on sugar cane plantations. The specific aim of the anthropological fieldwork was to document the reality of child labourers in the worst forms of child labour, to discover the reasons why children are (still) working under these conditions and to identify best practices of governmental and non-governmental organisations to eradicate these worst forms. Currently the different country reports are being written, and feedback workshops are being organised in the three research countries at both local and national levels. In these workshops the research results will be discussed with local governmental and non-governmental actors working on child labour as well as with the children and their parents. These workshops will be held in April. In the Netherlands a final presentation of the findings will be conducted towards the end of May. This project is a collaboration between the IREWOC Foundation, Kerk in Actie, ICCO, Edukans, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Plan Netherlands, Stichting Kinderpostzegels and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. In addition, the project has been endorsed by the international ILO/IPEC office in Geneva.
Worst Forms of Child Labour in Asia January 2008 – November 2009 (projected completion date); Afke de Groot, Anna Ensing The IREWOC project on Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America has been extended into Asia. Research is already underway in Nepal, and in June research will commence in Bangladesh. Indonesia will follow in August. The focus in Bangladesh is on domestic servants, the leather industry and the fishing sector. In Nepal, the brick kiln industry and porters in the fruit and vegetable market will be targeted. Later, other sectors may be added. In an attempt to involve researchers from the countries concerned, Research Capacity Training Workshops will be organised, in which young researchers will be trained in doing research on child labour problems. This research is being funded by Plan Netherlands.
Upcoming Research
Rural Child Labour in Andean Countries June 2008 – December 2009 (projected date); Marten van den Berge, Laura Baas According to its global report The End of Child Labour: Within Reach, the ILO estimates that 218 million children in the world work, of which 126 million in hazardous working conditions. SIMPOC/ILO estimates that 69% percent of all working children work in agriculture. In Latin-America 5.7 million children are involved in child labour, and again, the majority work in rural areas (70%). Although rural child labour in many Latin-American countries has been the subject of research and policy measures, the Andean region, which is one of the poorest regions of Latin-America, has been mostly overlooked. Currently ILO/IPEC Latin America, together with the National Institute for Statistics of Peru (INEI), is undertaking a Peruvian national census on child labour; in previous meetings with ILO/IPEC Latin-America it was suggested that IREWOC’s research would supplement the statistical national census with specific qualitative information on child labour in rural areas in the Andes region. IREWOC is therefore initiating a research project in two Andean counties, Bolivia and Peru, in June 2008. In each country, child labour on small family farms will be compared with child labour on commercial plantations. The main research population includes the children engaged in rural forms of child labour, their parents and (N)GO staff working with this target group. The research will produce knowledge on rural child labour informed by ground reality that looks beyond quantitative numbers, and which identifies the (context) specific needs of the children and their caretakers. The research will explore the different forms of rural child labour and document the opinions of the children, caretakers and development workers on the possible solutions to the problems. Part of the fieldwork for this project will be carried out by local research institutes. They will be chosen based on their experience with doing research on child labour and on their capacity to conduct anthropological research. At present, we are discussing options with several local institutes. This project has been partially financed by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, but negotiations are ongoing with other possible donors, specifically for the inclusion of local research institutes. Interested parties can contact IREWOC director Kristoffel Lieten, or project coordinator Marten van den Berge, for more information.
New Publications
The Summary Report and individual Country Reports of the ‘Deprived Children and Education’ project are available for download from our ‘Publications’ page on our website. Hardcopies of the Summary Report can be ordered from info@irewoc.nl
-------------------- From 2003 to 2005, IREWOC conducted research on child agency in 6 countries (Nicaragua, Bolivia, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Vietnam and India). Based on the results of that research, a new book has been published by Routledge: G.K. Lieten (2008) Children, Structure and Agency. Realities Across the Developing World. New York: Routledge
The book includes chapters on how children live their daily lives, on their worldviews and on their involvement in work and in school. In the introduction, Kristoffel Lieten writes: The agency approach, like the interactionist approach, tends to take the child as a unified category. While stressing participation, agency, and autonomy, one should not lose sight of the position of the family within the economic system, the social support system and the cultural norms that affect the environment and the very competencies of the children. To the extent that children are social actors, they find themselves, like adults, in an environment shaped by their circumstances. The social and economic structure, and the location of the child’s family within that structure, determines the parameters of childhood and the parameters of agency. There is no such thing as a free-floating ‘agent’. The focus on the exemplary child, the child which fits the role model of the participative and knowledgeable child, tends to neglect the socioeconomic aspects in which the child is embedded and which may prevent many children from imbibing that role model. An understanding of how children deal with their circumstances therefore requires studies, which include specific groups of children, who did not have a voice, neither in the old protective approach nor in the new participative approach. Close reading is needed with a focus on the daily lives of children, their cognitive understanding and emotional reactions, their interactions with each other and with adults of various kinds, and their strategies of action. That is the intent of this book. The main aim of the study was to investigate the daily lives of children in poverty-stricken societies and to examine in what sense children are actively exerting agency and participating in the development of their communities.
Conferences
IREWOC staff participated in the UCW Seminar on Child Labour, Education and Youth Employment, held in Paris on 13-14 December 2007. Kristoffel Lieten presented a joint article with Albertine de Lange & Heike Roschanski on: In School, Out-of-school and Child Labour in Africa. Local views in four countries. After providing empirical evidence explaining why children go, or do not go, to school, the article concludes: In this context of poor quality education and poor formal job prospects, sending a child to school means taking certain risks and bearing both direct- and opportunity costs. The prospect of costs at the secondary level can also decrease primary enrolment, because little value is attributed to only primary school. Opportunity costs, in the context of (girl) child education, do not only refer to the loss of income or food production, but also to the potential return to the old ways of life if the attempt at a school-driven career fails. In many cases, these obstacles can be overcome by changing certain traditions, but people need to have good reasons for this. As long as people see the attainment of a white-collar job as the only significant outcome of a formal education, and as long as these jobs remain scarce, a change in perspective and action is unlikely to happen on a larger scale. As long as education continues to bring with it additional costs, and as long as the other obstacles persist, ambivalence in decision making will prevail.
The full article, and others from the conference, can be found on the UCW website.
More information on any of our projects or events can be found on our website www.irewoc.nl; alternatively you can contact IREWOC staff and researchers on info@irewoc.nl, or +31 (0)20 4651763 |
