Madagascar
Children in Madagascar
Madagascar is the 4th biggest island in the world where around 29 million people live. The country also has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. The country also has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world (around 60%) and since 2011, there has been an increase in child exploitation such as Child Labour and Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism. The main push factors are poverty, lack of access to social services, and lack of economic opportunities.
One in two children aged 5 to 17 is already engaged in some form of work. Recent reports indicate that an estimated 10,000 children work in the mica sector in the southern region of Madagascar, including in constructing mines, extracting and sorting mica, and hoisting loads of mica out of mines.
“There is little coverage of the fight against child labour in Madagascar. You and I have a duty to protect children. They have the right to go to school and play.”
Our work in Madagascar
It is a challenge to make a decent living in the impoverished south of Madagascar. Mica mining is one of the very few options for people to earn a low but relatively steady source of income. Mica is mined by families - parents and children together - who suffer in harsh, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions and may earn just enough to afford one meal a day.
Our work focuses on ending child labour in the mica sector in the south of Madagascar, specifically in the Anosy Region. We ensure that children are taken out of the mines and have access to quality education or life skills training. We ensure that families in mica communities receive a fair income through alternative and additional income-generating activities and financial literacy training. We ensure supply chain actors are transparent and responsible by mapping the relevant stakeholders, building a database for mica activities and training upstream private sector.
We advocate to national institutions to expand the social and child protection systems to mica mining areas, which will make families less dependent on child labour for survival.
Our approach: children at the centre
Children’s Rights
Everything we do revolves around children. We do awareness raising to convince parents to take their children out of mica mines and support them to get their right to identity and their right to education.
Child Participation
In our development projects, we always support children in the establishment of child clubs. These clubs are safe places for children to learn of their rights, to grow, and to be empowered to speak out and up and raise awareness on the matters that are important to them. As part of our global approach, we also co-create with children, and consult them in matters that involve them.
Child Protection
One of children’s rights is to be protected, and to do so, we support community members through additional income-generating activities, strengthen their knowledge and awareness in regard to children’s rights, and set up child protection committees to prevent, detect, and report child exploitation.
Our partners in Madagascar
Together with experienced partners we are working towards a world without child exploitation. Terre des Hommes Netherlands is part of Joining Forces for Children, an alliance of the six largest child-focused international NGO. Terre des Hommes Netherlands also is in partnership with:
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