ECLT Foundation supports children to stay out of child labour
By providing education opportunities and infrastructure for schools, the ECLT Foundation supports children to stay out of child labour and learn skills that will help them find decent work in the future. Education is a basic right for children, but the most recent statistics from the ILO show that there are over 152 million children in child labour and nearly one third of them are completely outside of the school system.
REALISE project in Uganda
Through our REALISE project in Uganda, the ECLT Foundation worked to ensure that families could send their children to school and not to work in the fields. From 2013 to 2017, ECLT worked with our implementing partners, UWESO, to reach children from over 18,000 households in the Hoima district with:
School supplies for 5,700 children – Children need the right supplies, like pencils, paper and books, to study and do their homework. ECLT provided materials and school uniforms so that children can focus on learning.
36 classrooms built or renovated – The REALISE project gave communities the means to build or renovate their classrooms so that children and teachers can work in a safe and proper environment.
11 borehole wells and 7 toilet facilities for clean water – Sanitation is crucial to make sure that children, teachers and community members stay healthy. Clean water and proper toilet facilities benefit children attending the school as well as the entire community.
Over 26,000 households trained on sustainable ways to generate income – When parents can provide for basic family needs and pay school fees, they are able to send their children to school instead of to help in the fields. The REALISE project trained parents on skills like bee keeping, animal rearing, poultry, and energy saving technologies, which help them meet their families’ needs.
A one-of-a-kind roadmap to address root causes of child labour– The ECLT Foundation was proud to support the Government of Uganda, Employers, Workers, District Leaders and Community Members to launch the District Action Plan on Child Labour – the first of its kind throughout the sub-Saharan region – to effectively address the root causes of child labour under the Ugandan National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
Ensuring that children have the opportunity to learn and develop is at the heart of ECLT's work. The ECLT Foundation remains committed to working with all stakeholders, including governments, workers, employers, communities farmers and children themselves, towards sustainable change in rural communities where tobacco is grown in Uganda