International Labour Organization (ILO)

Combatting Child Labour in the Carpet Industry of Pakistan (in collaboration with the Bunyad Literacy Community Council (BLCC), the Child Care Foundation of Pakistan (CCF) and SUDHAAR)

Proposed Duration: May 1999 - April 2002

Objectives:

• To reduce child labour in the carpet industry in Sheikhupura and Gujranwala through workplace monitoring and the provision of alternatives to children who are withdrawn from Labour;

• To establish a plan for the expansion of the programme to the rest of Punjab.

Activities:

• Provide approximately 8,000 carpet-weaving children (mostly girls) aged 14 years and below and 2,000 younger siblings of these children, with non-formal education, opportunities for recreation and access to counseling and basic health services;

• Mainstream these children eventually into the formal education system, with approximately 1,000-1,500 older ones given pre-vocational education;

• Provide opportunities for income-generation through skill-training and micro credit to 2,000-3,000 adult members of the families of these children, particularly women;

• Young and adult workers in the carpet industry, as well as village communities, will be targeted for child labour awareness raising and social mobilization;

• Assist organizations involved in the project, particularly NGOs and community groups, in providing a comprehensive set of services to those children withdrawn from, and vulnerable to, conditions of child labour.

Remarks:

This is a sector-specific project focused on prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of carpet-weaving children. Our methodology is to provide education as an alternative for the carpet weaving. So far we have been able to establish 202 non-formal education centers for the carpet-weaving children. Our present enrollment in these centers is 7,535 children, out of which around 85 percent are girls. For each center, there is a family education committee, which consists of mothers/sisters of the enrolled children.