‘Gold from children’s hands.’ Sounds nice, even poetic, but what kind of reaction does this statement elicit when you connect it with child labour? It is estimated that up to two million Ugandan children have been forced into child labour, mostly through conflicts often leading to internal displacement. On the 2017 World Day against Child Labour, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Janat Mukwaya, noted in her speech that 70 per cent of the children involved in child labour are in agriculture (source K-FM, Uganda).To counter these alarming statistics, Hivos has been on the frontline together with partners drawn from global and local organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America through an umbrella coalition known as Stop Child Labour.

By championing efforts under the tag line ‘Out of Work and into School’, the Stop Child Labour Coalition has forged collaborative efforts towards creating child labour free zones. This has been made possible by the active participation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, governments, international organisations and companies - all working towards one goal: ending all forms of child labour. In Uganda, the Coalition focused on the coffee and extractives (gold mining) sectors. Working in the West Nile in close collaboration with the Teachers Service Union (TSC) and a local NGO, a child labour free zone was established and extended to 13 villages. Similar efforts in Kasubi, Entebbe and Busia were able to take 3,705 children out of child labour.