High-level initiative set up to tackle child labour in Ghana

The project, 'Tackling Child Labour and Enhancing Youth Opportunities in Ghana’ will leverage expertise and resources to create sustainable solutions through a technical partnership between UNICEF Ghana and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) - and bringing together stakeholders from the government, the private sector, and local communities.

The Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa is also part of the project, which has been co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The project also has the support of the governments of Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UNICEF, the International Cocoa Initiative, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), The World Bank, and the International Labour Organization.

During the launch event, the following projects were announced:

• Child labour Multisectoral and Multistakeholder Public-Private Partnership (PPP), supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO), UNICEF and ICI (Implemented in Bibiani-Anwiaso-Bekwai, Asunafo North, Ayensuano and Assin South districts from 2024 to 2025, total US$ 4 million).

• Project for Mainstreaming Child Protection through Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZ), supported by JICA

• Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Supply Chains in Africa (ACCEL) Project, being financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and implemented by the ILO (Implemented in the Wassa Amenfi East, Bia East and Juaboso Districts of the Western and Western North Regions).

In his keynote address, Hon. Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister for Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), appealed to all partners within the project implementation areas to join this collaboration and leverage the respective resources and expertise to expand coverage of the interventions towards eliminating child labour.

“I am very confident that this will pave the way for other partners to emulate this approach in the implementation of their programmes and projects to support the child labour-free zone approach that harnesses the benefits of complementarity of efforts to achieve greater impact,“ he said.