Zegers, Mei, 2016, Independent Final Evaluation of Ethiopians fighting against Child Exploitive Labor (E-Face), Final Report

2.1 ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

2.1.9 Value Chains and adding value to value chain components

Recommendation: 8. Introduce certification of decent work produced items that are for example, “child labour free”, “forced labour free”, “produced in safe working conditions”, etc. Monitor certification program through public private partnerships. Such programs can go beyond fair trade certification as they can also be used within countries. Awareness raising around the certification program at national level can also be a means to raise general awareness of the need for decent work conditions.

Reference: Zegers, Mei, 2016, Independent Final Evaluation of Ethiopians fighting against Child Exploitive Labor (E-Face), Final Report, USDOL, O’Brien & Associates International, Washington DC.

Evidence sample: based on the evaluation of the Ethiopians Fighting Against Child Exploitative Labor (E-FACE) project an analysis was done of the Safe Threads program is an E-FACE collaboration with the government to create a Child-Safe label for products, in order to increase their connectivity with international textile markets. E-FACE found that simple weavers of textiles in Ethiopia would not be able to connect with designers supplying foreign buyers in Europe and America due to a reputation for dependence on exploitative child labour. Many textile companies and fashion designers did not want to source their materials from Ethiopia because buying from businesses employing child labour would hurt their reputation with consumers in the West.

In order to solve this conflict, E-FACE employed the program that we are identifying as a good practice: Safe Threads. In the program, domestic producers of textiles who are not using exploitative child labour can go to the government and, after proving that their means of production are Child-Safe, they can receive the Safe Threads certification. When these firms are certified as Child-Safe, international buyers should feel more comfortable buying from them, thus economically empowering the local weavers. Weavers continue to be monitored to ensure that they do not return to employing child labour. E-FACE had primarily created this initiative because part of the project’s goals is to get domestic producers of textiles to end their dependence on exploitative child labour. If they do so in order to get this certification, then these goals were accomplished.

This is a good practice because, instead of forcing the businesses to end their dependence on child labour, E-FACE is influencing them to choose to end the dependence themselves. Should these firms gain international market connections due to the Safe Threads program, it is safe to say that they will never return to using child labour again, as doing so would lose their certification, and thus their connections with foreign buyers. As far as the Informal Economy is concerned, this is also an effective formalization good practice because in receiving this certification from the government, businesses must become registered, and therefore formal.

This practice motivates businesses to formalize themselves, as it provides large benefits for doing so. As a result, similar practices can be recommended in other situations where improving decent work conditions and economic empowerment are prime goals.

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2.3 DIRECT ACTIONS IN COMMUNITIES

2.3.6. Vocational education/skills training

Recommendation: 29) In situations where projects or other entities provide support for self-employment by providing work spaces, ensure that such spaces are sufficiently well located to be suitable to attract clients. While this may seem evident, it is not always considered.

Reference: Zegers, Mei, 2016, Independent Final Evaluation of Ethiopians fighting against Child Exploitive Labor (E-Face), Final Report, USDOL, O’Brien & Associates International, Washington DC

Evidence sample: the evaluation found that allocation of workspaces does not automatically resolve production issues and guarantee income.  Project staff remarked that the location provided for the hairdressers is not suitable to attract clients. Local government officials who were interviewed likewise noted that the same problem applied to many of the other TVET graduates who had received government support. Interestingly, the youth weavers and hairdressers groups were planning to split into smaller groups and establish separate businesses instead of working as a larger association. These youth felt that it would be more beneficial because they could better focus on establishing concrete clientele for each of their groups and share their income with fewer members. The hairdressers indicated that they planned to rent a shop nearer to their potential clients so that they would be able to grow their businesses more efficiently and increase their incomes simultaneously.

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2.3 DIRECT ACTIONS IN COMMUNITIES

2.3.7. Labour market analysis to determine types of education/training provided 

Recommendation: 4) Enable sub-grantee partners (local NGOs, local authorities etc.) to participate in conducting these market analyses themselves. This can even encourage new contacts between partners and stakeholders that may potentially lead to economic opportunities.

Reference: Zeigers, Mei, 2016, Independent Final Evaluation of Ethiopians fighting against Child Exploitive Labor (E-Face), Final Report, USDOL, O’Brien & Associates International, Washington DC

Evidence sample: the evaluation noted that the income of children in trades who were interviewed during the evaluation was not as high as might be expected. This included children in hairdressing and in agriculture related training. The evaluator asked these children a set of standard questions on levels of sales and income, which indicated that income was quite low in both instances. As is common in the informal economy, they did not calculate their labour as a cost. Rather, they calculated their profit based on sales minus direct costs such as material inputs from the amount they receive from sales. The seven youth in the hairdressers’ group indicated that, all together, they have an average of three to four customers per day. Even if their labour is counted as “profit”, the income they earn as a group is very low when sub-divided by each child in the group. This information was confirmed from triangulating these findings with inputs from local government officials in the cooperatives, industrial development, and similar sections that were interviewed at Woreda level in Addis Ababa and elsewhere.