Prevent and protect children from worst forms of labor

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Battambang – The Declaration of the Provincial Committee for Child Labor (PCCL) was launched on October 12, 2016. The event was presided over by Her Excellency Nheuk Sakun, deputy governor of Battambang province. The declaration released seven articles that make sure all members of the PCCL play their role to address the issues and stop child labor.

Fifty participants at the event were from the relevant departments in the province: Labor and Vocational Training department, Education, Youth, and Sport department, Women Affairs department, police department, district governors, and World Vision staff.

The Eliminating Exploitative Child Labor Through Education and Livelihood (EXCEL) project is funded by the US Department of Labor.

The four-year project implementation directly benefitted 29,566 children and 14,000 households. The project was implemented in 71 communes across seven provinces and it indirectly benefitted over 100,000 children through basic infrastructure support to schools, and through improvements to national and sub-national levels child protection mechanisms.

This included the enacting of the National Plan of Action on Worst Forms of Child Labor by working with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. As well as instituting the National Guidelines on Eliminating Child Labor in Fishing through working with the Fisheries in Administration.

“I would like to express deep thanks for World Vision’s EXCEL project which contributed to the establishment of the PCCL and for working hard to help children from being exploited through child labor,” says Nheuk Sakun, chair of the PCCL in Battambang. 

EXCEL project worked closely with schools and communes to to help them address child labor. The project also works with the district and village level enabling them to mobilize people in their community to connect children suffering from child labor with schools or vocational opportunities.

To prevent children from being pulled back into labor, the project mobilised and initiated saving groups and provided training on agriculture skills to help parents increase their household income. People were empowered to share their experiences and good practices with each other to ensure that their families have better income and could afford to send their children to school.

Story and photos by Dara Chhim