Poverty remains one of the most persistent drivers of child labour in agriculture. When rural families face financial hardship -poor harvests, illness, loss of income- children are often the first to feel the impact. Their education, health, and safety become precarious, and child labour shifts from a distant threat to an immediate coping mechanism.
Yet, when families, and particularly women, gain financial independence and control over resources, the cycle can be broken. Empowering women economically is one of the most effective ways to reduce child labour and build stronger, more resilient communities.
Experience across ECLT’s programmes shows that financial empowerment in rural communities works best when it starts from within. Through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), smallholder farmers and caregivers learn to save, access credit, and invest, not only in their farms, but in their children’s education, nutrition, and wellbeing.
These community-led mechanisms allow families to cushion themselves against financial shocks, such as crop failures or health emergencies, and to plan for the future. Importantly, VSLAs also strengthen social cohesion: members share experiences, build trust, and often mobilise to support vulnerable children in their communities.
When women are financially empowered, children are protected
Women make up the majority of VSLA members in ECLT-supported communities. For many, participation goes beyond savings, it is a gateway to confidence, literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Some women have started small businesses, built new homes, or taken on community leadership roles.
The impact of this empowerment extends to their children. Studies consistently show that when women control household income,investments in education, nutrition, and health increase significantly. This creates a direct link between gender equality and child protection: when women thrive, children are safer.
Scaling up good practice
Across Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda, more than 1,650 saving groups have been established through ECLT-supported initiatives. In Uganda alone, 341 VSLAs have brought together over 10,000 caregivers to strengthen their financial literacy and household economies.
A recent assessment found that 98% of VSLA participants reported higher incomes, and many groups created social funds to support vulnerable children with school materials and fees. Some have even registered as community-based organisations, gaining access to national programmes such as the Agriculture Cluster Development Project, which provides seeds, tools, and technical assistance, demonstrating how grassroots initiatives can align with public policy to sustain change.
ECLT’s independent Social Return on Investment study in Uganda found that for every USD 1 invested in VSLAs, around USD 12 in social value was generated. The model’s impact goes beyond economics, it empowers individuals and transforms communities.
Gender equality: the missing link to living incomes
New research from the Living Income Community of Practice and the Anker Research Institute underscores what ECLT has long observed: living incomes and gender equality are inseparable. Without recognising how income, work, and decision-making are distributed within households, efforts to close income gaps will remain incomplete.
Integrating a gender lens means moving beyond household-level averages to understand the realities of women, men, and young people, their workloads, their access to resources, and their control over income. Gender-transformative approaches that recognise unpaid work, promote women’s participation, and support equal decision-making make entire communities more resilient and reduce the structural pressures that push children into labour.
A foundation for lasting change
Ending child labour in agriculture requires more than removing children from the fields. It means building systems where families can live decently without depending on children’s work. Economic empowerment, when coupled with gender equality, provides that foundation.
Women are at the heart of this change, as earners, caregivers, leaders, and protectors. When they are given equal access to opportunities, resources, and financial tools, families gain security, communities grow stronger, and children gain futures.