Testing methodologies to support informal economy workers and small producers to combat hazardous child labour in their own sectors (India Component with IndustriALL Global)

Project description

This global, Irish Aid funded project is under implementation in the five countries of India, Benin, Ghana, Malawi and Zambia. The project is geared toward ensuring:

• Informal economy workers and small producers in the selected sectors are capacitated to address hazardous child labour;
• Capacity of the informal economy workers is built to organize themselves and bargain for decent work, including the elimination of child labour, in particular hazardous child labour.
• Knowledge gained in implementation of interventions, including lessons learned, under the Action Programme are disseminated through the IndustriALL network to its affiliates, the local and national actors, trade union centres and social partners to promote the elimination of hazardous child labour in mining/quarrying sector in India.

Background and rationale

In the quarry areas of Rajasthan, India, workers usually migrate together with their families. Since both parents tend to work, mothers often take children to work with them. These sites are hazardous places for children to be. Furthermore, workers have inadequate drinking water, shelter, provision of first aid and are at risk of accidents as well as beating and torture by owners. The state of occupational health and safety is a serious matter, with hundreds of workers in the sandstone mines being affected with deadly silicosis disease leaving their families to fend for themselves in misery. There are large numbers of widows of the mine workers in the sandstone quarrying belt.

The dispersion of mines over large areas makes it difficult to organize the workforce in support of better working conditions. The project aims to contribute to address the drivers of poverty and vulnerability through the primary avenue in the ILO’s mandate for promoting collective voice: through self-organization.

Program strategy

Using self-organization as a means, the project supports better working conditions for adults. It focuses on improved occupational safety and health, productivity and income security; and provides support to working families to ensure that all children are in school and adolescents of legal working age are in decent youth employment rather than child labour. This will contribute to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

In consultation with local stakeholders, a range of strategies are being used to achieve the stated objectives. Among these strategies are:

• Assessment of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and child labour in the target areas;
• Mobilisation of participants for tripartite and social dialogue including from the government and employers’ organizations, national trade union centres and mining affiliates present in Rajasthan and in and around the target area;
• Capacity development through training programmes and consultations, with focus on quarrying in Rajasthan;
• Campaigns and sensitisation activities;
• Mobilisation of workers and management in the target area for training and workshops on OSH and child labour, using existing materials;
• Development of the OSH material based on the Employers’ and Workers’ Handbook on Hazardous Child Labour; and
• Documenting good practices and lessons learnt and their dissemination locally and nationally.

Progress

• The communities for action have been identified;
• After assessment of the living conditions of the communities an Inception report has been prepared and disseminated;
• Key government institutions and the employers’ associations have been contacted for participation and cooperation in the ensuing activities;
• The local units of the trade unions have been assigned the task of mobilizing the mine workers in the area;
• Local action plan for conducting the training and sensitization programme and organizing rallies has been prepared and persons have been identified and entrusted with responsibilities for action.

Geographical coverage

The global project is covering the five countries of India, Benin, Ghana, Malawi and Zambia. For the India component of the project, the focus area is the stone industry falling within the Bundi-Kota belt in the state of Rajasthan.

Target population

The target population includes sandstone quarry and mine workers working in informal settings, and their families.
The direct recipients are local workers’ organizations, informal businesses in the area and local communities living/working in the project intervention areas.

Implementing agencies

The global trade union IndustriALL in collaboration with national trade unions INTUC and HMS.