A new curriculum on best ways to identify, address and prevent child labour has been introduced to stakeholders in the fight against child labour in Liberia.
Making the presentation at a training of trainer’s workshop for Labour Inspectors and other stakeholders who are working on child protection issues in Liberia, Madam Lisa Cox, Program Director, VERITE (Fair Labour Worldwide) a branch of WinRock International noted “we have come here to introduce a new curriculum on the best ways to identify child labour and to address it, once its identified how and it be prevented from happening in society. We created this new curriculum mainly for Liberia and we want to introduce it to Labour Inspectors and others who are involved with child labour and child protection issues in the country to enable them understand how its structure and how they can use it to train others.”
She said her institution is working with Country Level Engagement and Assistance to Reduce Child Labor (CLEAR II),-Liberia Project which is a government capacity building project that is being funded by the United States Department of Labour. “We are working in six different countries on this project around the world; Nepal, Bukina Faso, Belize, Panama, Jamaica and Liberia. The reason we are working in those countries is because their governments including the Government of Liberia requested assistance in area they recognized to do better in addressing such as child labour and committed to it. So, we are partnering with them to provide technical assistance.”
Madam Cox lamented that institutions and individuals that are committed to reducing the problem of child labour including the government, worker unions, the private sector, locals and civil society organizations, but cannot as a result of capacity gap. “We came to Liberia two years ago; we did an assessment and came up with a recommendation that more training is needed.”
She expressed happiness over the Government of Liberia commitment to working with all partners in the elimination and prevention of the worst forms of child labour in the country. She maintained that the new curriculum is going to be turnover to the government to be institutionalized for their own training processes.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Labour Inspector Mr. Napoleon Dukuly thanked WinRock International-VERITE of organizing such a workshop that is intended to build the capacity of Labour Inspectors and others in addressing child labour issues. He described the training as being meaningful and called on the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Labour to continue to engage partners to provide more training opportunities for members of the labour sector.
The objective of the workshop is to train individuals within the Ministry of Labour/Inspectors and other stakeholders, on how to use the curriculum to train others on preventing, identifying and eliminating child labour.
It is also intended to help relevant stakeholders to appreciate the importance of addressing child labour in their work; clearly see their role protecting children from exploitation as well as understanding the definitions, legal framework and best practices for addressing child labour issues.
The curriculum aimed at labour inspectors, but can be used to teach anyone tasked with addressing child labour issues including: police, child welfare officers, community development officers, prosecutors, civil society organizations, unions, etc.
Facilitator of the training which is to be held at Corina Hotel in Monrovia include: Madam Lisa Cox of VERITE, Madam Patience Heah, Coordinator, National Commission on Child Labour/Ministry of Labour and Mr. James Yeke, Country Director, CLEAR-II Liberia Project.
It is organized by Winrock International-CLEAR II-Liberia Project, VERITE in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour with support from the United States Department of Labour (USDOL) and it runs from Monday, December 3, to Friday, December 7, 2018.
Signed: J. Kortu Nyandibo/Dir/Comm./MOL
Comments are closed.