Globally, about 120 million children between the ages of five and 14 are involved with child labour, the highest number of which are living in the Asia-Pacific region. In Cambodia, one in five children is working, with almost a third of those children involved in hazardous labour.
According to the International Labour Organisation, the root cause of child labour is poverty combined with a lack of decent work for adults and weak protection systems which fail to ensure that all children are attending school until at least the legal minimum working age.
In Cambodia around 2.5 million young people migrate for work. Socheet from rural Svay Rieng province was just 15 when she dropped out of school to move to the capital, Phnom Penh to support her family.
The focus for this World Day Against Child Labour is highlighting the importance of quality education in tackling child labour. In Cambodia, ChildFund is improving access to education for thousands of children by constructing and refurbishing schools and libraries, training teachers, providing equipment and learning materials, strengthening local education systems and improving community awareness.
ChildFund’s youth program is also helping to ensure young people in rural Cambodia receive the skills they need to create businesses to earn a decent income so they aren’t forced into exploitative child labour. Socheet is one such youth who has participated in this program.
This is where Socheet is now.
There are more than one billion young people living in Asia today. In Cambodia alone, 56 percent of the entire population is made up of people under 25. ChildFund is helping to create opportunities for young Cambodians by establishing and supporting youth groups in rural communities. Through these groups young people have the chance to receive vocational training and skills in leadership.
Many have also been supported to start up their own small businesses using loans from the youth groups. It was this concept of finance that brought about an interesting learning experience for both ChildFund Cambodia and youth members in rural Kratie province.
In December 2012 a youth group was formed in a remote Muslim village in Kratie. It was the first time ChildFund had established a group in a Muslim community, so the challenges associated with introducing the concept of savings had not been anticipated.
Miss El Kori As, a leader of one of now eight Muslim youth groups in the district, explains, “It was very difficult for us at the beginning to explain to youth members and our Muslim community why we were doing it, because saving concepts and providing loans with interest is in contrast to our Islamic law. It is believed to be a sin for both the provider and the receiver of the loan.”
As a result, the group almost disbanded, with the youth leader abandoning the group and most of the members either not actively participating, or leaving without warning.
ChildFund staff listened to the concerns of the group and helped them to find a solution to their problem. After receiving training in problem solving, planning and reporting, and also having the chance to visit a successful savings group in another Muslim community, the youth negotiated with their village chief to come up with an innovative solution.
Together the group decided they would provide loans without interest. Instead, recipients of the loans would provide a donation which would be used to buy materials for the group and help poor families in the community.
