Human Development                                      194
,~XONAL                                                                 i P:Vovember 2001
Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World
Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published periodically by the
VOR , D BA N K             S     Knowledge and Leaming Center on behalf of the Region. The views expressed in Findings are
those of the author/s and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group.
Child Labor in Africa: Issues
N AND tand Challenges  23091
ow serious is the issue of child  by shrinking theirfuture exter-
labor in Sub-Saharan Africa?     nal choice sets or through reduc-
U )                     Many African experts consider    ing their own future individual
it to be no problem, while others     productive capabilities.
believe it to be more serious than
anywhere else in the world.       Existing research
A cursory glance at the statistics
supports either view. ILO data in-  Empirical informationAn the na-
-    =             dicate that more than 40 percent  ture of child labor in Africa-the
of African children work-almost  work environment, the length and
twice as many as in Asia. On the  timing of work, the allocation of
other hand, household surveys  workloads between children of dif-
suggest that over 95 percent of  ferent age and gender-is scarce.
child labor takes place in and  And the definitions used in the few
S  around private households. African  existing data sets are inconsistent.
society places ahighv alue on chil-  * There is no agreement on how
;   a  dren working at home or the fam-    many hours of work denote child
ily farm. This is not seen as "harm-    "labor";
ful" or as a welfare issue-a view   * The inclusion/exclusion of non-
r       _                     opposed by many Western coun-    market activities and/or domes-
tries.                              tic chores seriously affects the
This article explores the norma-    extent of girls' labor force partici-
tive and factual basis for the dif-    pation vis-a-vis boys; and
ferent perceptions of child labor in  * Some studies identify all school-
Africa, and to provide grounds for    aged children who are not in
effective social protection policies.   school as working, ignoring child
Both welfare economic research    underemployment or idleness;
and findings of sociological and    others count only those who are
anthropological studies have been    not in school, ignoring children
_            x                 reviewed.                           who both go to school and work.
Child labor is defined as
... labor performed by chil-   Two preliminary observations
dren who are too young in the  based on national-level data can be
sense that by doing it they un-  made:
duly reduce their present eco-  * Child labor rates in various Afri-
nomic welfare or theirfuture in-    can countries show no system-
come earning capabilities, either    atic correlation with the level of
poverty (see Figure 1).



Figurec I
C17ild luthor partiicipation rates and GDP U'SS (PPP)
A sanmple of Sbh-.Saharan Afirican countries (1993)
2.300
* Zimihawe
1.800() -                * Carnei4n
* GhLna  * Guinca
* Cote d I\oire  * Senegal
1.3()() -               I        * CAF
1<X                               * Kensa 
800~~~~ [    * Ni                ger         $ ~ Brkn Iak
* Lthm(pia
1300
10(   1 5    20    25    30    35    40    45    50)   55    60
Child Labor
* Child labor rates positively cor-  The most important divide is
relate with the proportion of    between child labor performed    a seriousconcernfor7theirwelfare.
people who live and work in    within the context of one's own      The findings of various studies
rural areas,                    close family and child labor per-   examined challenge the claim that
formed away from home.            poverty and chill'I labor are linked.
A classification system            Child labor at home: Given a    A study from Kenya indicates that
broad definition of child labor,   child labor increases with t.he size
Child labor arrangements in Af    most African children work-ru-    of the family land holding. Also, in
rica vary greatly. In the study on    ral children more than their ur-    Ghana. the correlation between
wvhich this article is based (see    ban peers. According to studies    poverty and child labsor is weak.
end of article) twenty categories    carried out in certain countries  While most rural chlildren are in-
of child labor have been identi-   in West Africa. children perform    volved in work ac tivities, quite a few
fied-differentiated according to    considerable amounts of work    perform haza.rclous or strenuous
production sectors and control-    even when they attend formal   labor. Approximately 9 million girls
ling/managing units. The most    school. Domestic labor demand is   and 2 million boys in Africa are
common are:                       also a major reason for school    engaged in this hind of labor inanld
* Domestic child labor performed  dropout. as illustrated in Ethio-    around their ox\1 households.
in one's own household, the    pia. Girls are needed for house-     Child labor .away from  own
household of relatives or of    work while boys are needed on    household: Whlile the share of
other families;                the family farm. Thus, the deci-   wvorking children in the more for-
* Farm work on the family farm    sion to send a child to school is    mal labor market is low, the work-
or at commercial plantations:    not only a matter of expense. but   ing conditions a-e often extremely
and                             also of substantial indirect costs    harmful. The reason these children
* Begging, petty sales and ser-    in terms of unused child labor.    leave home may be household pov-
vices performed by urban chil-    Studies from Zimbabwe, Kenya    erty or simply a search for better
dren, managed by their owvn    and Benin indicate that girls work    opportunities. While the former are
household.                      more than boys-which triggers    often "ipushed" out, the latter often
depart voluntarily.



Around 5 million children engage  tized group, harmful both to them-  aimed at reducing the costs asso-
in paid work in commercial agri-  selves and to others.          ciated with schooling, this can re-
culture. The situation is particu-                               duce the loss incurred by the
larly severe during harvest seasons.  Policy issues              household when a child is at school
In Kenya, 30 percent of coffee pick-                             rather than at work.
ers are children, while 25,000  Child labor in Africa is far from
school children work under hazard-  being a homogenous phenomenon.  Operational implications for the
ous conditions in Tanzanian plan-  Children's work activities and their  World Bank
tations and mines. Large numbers  social and economic context vary
of boys from Mali, Burkina Faso,  greatly between ethnic groups and  Lending figures for 2000 indicate
Niger, Ghana, Togo and Benin mi-  not all forms of child labor are  that on average more than %00
grate to work on plantations in Cote  harmful. Thus, the concern of  million US dollars are committed
d'Ivoire and Nigeria, together with  policy makers should be children's  to projects in education, social pro-
refugee children from Liberia and  welfare, rather than children's work  tection, water, and reconstruction
Sierra Leone.                   in itself.                      in SSA -all of which can effectively
The sale of or contracting out of   Perhaps due to the strong in-  address child labor issues. Other
children is common in several  volvement of the ILO in the fight  interventions could be imple-
countries, with the latter group  against international child labor,  mented by the Bank through its ex-
being relatively large. Children con-  labor and not the child has often  isting lending programs:
tracted out or sold mainly work in  been the focus of advocates and    Poverty reduction: Poverty-re-
agriculture or as domestic ser-  practitioners. Consequently, most  ducing strategies should not only
vants. as also in mining and orga-  strategies target the most harmful  explicitly discuss child labor issues
nized begging activities.       types of work. However, better out-  but also incorporate appropriate
Domestic service is probably the  comes could result from also tar-  measures in supporting credits
largest child labor market outside  geting the most vulnerable groups  (Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit).
the agricultural sector. While an  of children. Differentiating between  In addition, social funds and other
estimated 85 percent of child do-  children who work in and around  community programs which sup-
mestic servants in Africa are girls,  family households and children  port income-generating activities
b  who work away from home would  can indirectly result in lowering the
many countries. Child servants are  be useful. While both groups tend  incidence of child labor.
poorly paid, work long hours and  to work in the same workplaces,   Education:  Bank-assisted
are discriminated against. Mal-  those separated from their family  projects and programs that im-
treatment and abuse is common-  are likely to work longer, be more  prove access to schools, delivery of
place and only a few go to school.  exploited and abused, are much  education, and accommodate flex-
Perhaps the most serious cases  less likely to go to school, and have  ible school hours, as well as school
of child labor include children who  lesser access to social and legal vouchers, special assistance, and
work (and sometimes live) on the  protection,                    school feeding programs result in
street. While there are few in the    The link between household pov-  increased school enrollment and
latter category, many urban chil-  erty and child labor is not clear in  reduced child labor. Literacy
dren work in streets and public  Africa. While poverty reduction re-  classes, non-formal education, and
places. Child prostitution is less  mains a general long-term objec-  vocational skills training are an ef-
common in Africa than in Asia and  tive, it may not be an effective way  fective means of imparting literacy
Latin America. However, children  to reduce child labor in the short  and skills to those who have missed
working in the streets and as do-  and medium term. Ways to improve  out on school. Also, other human
mestic servants are practically de-  the organization and mechaniza-  development interventions, e.g.,
fenseless to sexual harassment and  tion of the labor- intensive domes-  childeare facilities, mother's edu-
abuse. Also. children exploited as  tic chores and farm work, in par-  cation/awareness programs and
soldiers roam the streets of Africa's  ticular the low-status jobs, may  early child development programs,
conflict and post conflict countries,  contribute towards reducing the  have proved effective in addressing
representing a seriously trauma-  most common source of child la-  child labor.
bor demand. Alongside policies



Infrastructure: Evidence under-  isting laws and ratified conventions  tic short-term measures should
scores the important linkages be-  need to be strengthened to eradi-  only be applied in the most extreme
tween infrastructure and child la-  cate the worst forms of child labor  cases. Frequently-proposed mea-
bor. Thus, improving rural roads  such as child slavery, trafficking,  sures such as labor market regu-
provides easy access to schools and  and prostitution. The Bank can  lations are largely ineffective, since
reduces the reliance of parents on  provide the appropriate technical  child labor mainly takes place in
children to take goods to the mar-  assistance.                    and around familv households.
ket. Simiilarly, inmprovements in                                  Children should be raised in a way
water supply can reduce the time  Conclusion                       that maximizes their innate poten-
taken by girls to fetch water, free-                              tial and their uiture options. Any
ing tip time for school.         Child labor in Africa is a complex  sort of exploita-ion or discrimina-
l'ost-conflict reconstruction: The  issue intertwined with a society's  tion is morally unacceptable. With
Bank's portfolio in post-conflict  culture and economy. The exact na-  the exception of Somalia, all Afri-
countries can plav an effective role  ture of these linkages differs sig-  can countries have ratified the UN
in addressing the needs of children.  nificantly between countries. A  Convention for the Rights of the
For example. many children who  clearer understanding of child la-  Child (CRC). The normative stan-
have rtin away or. are displaced  bor is essential for designing ap-  dards of the CRC should be com-
from home are forced to work and  propriate interventions. Although  municated to clhildren, parents and
live on the streets (e.g. child sol-  donor interest and involvement has  communities all over Africa to
diers, HIV/AIDS orphans, prosti-  increased in recent years, more is  change their attitudes towards
ttutes, etc). The provision of reha-  needed: if child labor continues at  child labor.
bilitation centers is important both  the current rate in SSA future eco-    More importantly, African child
as places of refuge and learning.   nomic development and human  labor is an Afrit an problem. Effec-
Technical assistance and capac-  survival prospects are at risk.  tive and sustainable strategies to
ity building: In manv parts of SSA,    In thinking about how to address  eradicate its harmful aspects
capacitv constraints are a signifi-  child labor in SSA, it is worth high-  should be develDped wvithin the Af-
cant impediment to the successful  lighting three features that have  rican context. The World Bank,
implementation of policies and  been critical to successfully end  other development organizations
projects. Across the region. state  trans-Atlantic slave trafficking.  and bi-laterals should support the
authorities overseeing child welfare  First, the development of a human-  local forces that strive to improve
programs often lack the requisite  istic movement that rejected sla-  the welfare of African children.
technical knowledge and capacity  very from a moral perspective. See-
to do so. The Bank has an array of  ond, the legal prohibition of slave
programs which support client  trafficking Third. the enforcementprepare b Jens
countries in terms of technical as-  of the prohibition. Support for the  Ahis  Sudnearshan Canagarajb h
sistance and capacity building.  African child rights movement  andAnne Kielluand based on apa-
Certain forms of highlv harmful  should be combined with enforced  per the authors,reparedfor the Af-
legi~slation protecting children fom peteatorpeaedfrheA
or exploitative child labor break  gegicexplotatin,chidrecuro   rica Social Protection Network. "Is-
international law and steps are   ng their right to education.     sues on Child Labor in Africa". Af-
needed to prohibit these practices  ing their right to educatiOnrica Region Human Development
and punish transgressors. This    A pragmatic process is needed to  Working Paper Series. September
also refers to the abuse and the  address the issue of child labor in  2001. Further information on child
nmaltreatment of child workers by  Africa Obviously the situation  labor work caGr be accessed at
employers. The enforcement of ex-  cannot change overnight, and dras-  www.worldban.orglchildlabor