The way we understand social challenges is evolving. Across many areas of international development, there is growing recognition that lasting progress depends not only on addressing individual problems, but also on understanding the systems that shape them. Poverty, food insecurity, climate resilience, education and public health are increasingly approached through a broader lens, one that recognises the connections between people, institutions, markets and policies. The conversation around child labour is evolving in much the same way.
Over the past decade, governments, businesses, civil society organisations and international institutions have made important progress in strengthening awareness, improving policies and expanding interventions aimed at protecting children from child labour. These efforts have generated valuable experience and, perhaps more importantly, valuable lessons.
One of the most significant lessons is that child labour does not exist in isolation. The latest estimates from the ILO and UNICEF show that agriculture accounts for 61 per cent of all child labour worldwide. This figure highlights the scale of the challenge. It also reminds us that child labour is closely connected to the realities of agricultural communities and the systems that shape everyday life within them.
Rural livelihoods, access to education, labour conditions, social protection, agricultural practices, market dynamics and public policy all influence the opportunities available to children and their families. These factors interact with one another in ways that are often complex and context-specific. As a result, child labour in agriculture rarely stems from a single cause. It emerges within environments shaped by economic pressures, institutional capacity, social conditions and the broader realities of rural development. This understanding is increasingly influencing how action is designed and implemented.
Recent consultations organised by the Alliance 8.7 Action Group on Agriculture brought together Pathfinder Countries from across Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe to discuss the future of efforts to address child labour in agriculture. While national contexts differed, a common message emerged. Countries highlighted the need for integrated approaches that connect agriculture, education, social protection, livelihoods and labour systems. They also identified stronger coordination, better data, greater technical capacity and deeper engagement with agricultural stakeholders as essential priorities.
These reflections point towards an important shift in perspective. Efforts to address child labour remain essential. At the same time, there is growing recognition that sustainable progress depends on strengthening the conditions that help prevent child labour from occurring in the first place.
This includes supporting safer agricultural practices, expanding access to quality education, strengthening social protection systems, promoting decent work, improving rural livelihoods and fostering collaboration across institutions and sectors. None of these actions exist separately from efforts to eliminate child labour. They form part of the wider environment in which children, families and communities live and work. For organisations working to address child labour in agriculture, this evolution presents both an opportunity and a responsibility. It challenges us to continue learning, to embrace collaboration and to recognise that meaningful change often requires looking beyond individual interventions to understand the wider systems in which they operate.
For ECLT, a decade of action has reinforced an important insight: a wider perspective can help reveal new opportunities for progress, strengthen the effectiveness of existing efforts and support a broader and more sustainable impact. As the global community continues its work to eliminate child labour, understanding the systems behind the challenge may be one of the most important lessons of all.
