Overview of Strategy. PwoKonTraM’s interventions under IO 1 aimed to increase school attendance among beneficiary children, so that children spend more time in school rather than being exposed to conditions that can lead to child labor. According to the project’s problem analysis, the most important barriers to school attendance are insufficient household financial resources and poor school infrastructure.12 The project planned to address these issues by providing (1) subsidies to cover school fees and scholastic materials and transitional education courses for vulnerable children, and in parallel, (2) offer livelihood assistance aimed to increase household income, while (3) raising household awareness of the importance of education and the dangers of child labor. In addition, the project planned to support targeted schools to improve the learning environment by offering teacher training, creating or reactivating school councils, and supporting school infrastructure improvements.
Overview of Strategy. PwoKonTraM’s interventions under IO 2 and 3 aimed to improve livelihoods opportunities for targeted households in an effort to provide safe income generation alternatives to child labor. According to the project document, CRS and its implementing partners planned four types of livelihoods interventions: agricultural interventions (support to diversify crops, improve farming techniques, improve market access, increase access to credit, and increase alternative income generating activities); the creation of savings and internal lending communities (known as Mutuelles de Solidarité, or MUSO, in Haiti); vocational training for youth; and employment services for youth and adults.
Overview of Strategy. PwoKonTraM identified perceptions about the role of children and lack of information about child labor, labor rights and social protection as key constraints preventing vulnerable families from protecting their children and improving their situation. It planned mass community sensitization, school-based campaigns, targeted workshops with key stakeholders (local authorities, businesses, community leaders, and local organizations), and advocacy to build understanding and promote behavioral change. The project component on social protection and legal services planned to open Worker Rights Centers (WRC) and through these, refer beneficiary households for legal assistance to defend their rights as workers or to other available social services related to child protection. The WRC were also to provide legal support to workers and their households on issues related to legal documentation. The overall purpose of these planned services was to address human and labor rights issues affecting household economic vulnerability and, as a result, diminish their reliance on child labor.
Overview of Strategy. The project identified weak capacity among key government institutions, notably the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) which is in charge of both labor inspection and the agency that specialized in child protection (the Institut du Bien-Etre Social et de la Recherche, or IBESR). It 19The civil registrar in Anse à Xxxxx estimated that 400 individuals had paid for birth registration themselves following project information campaigns. planned to identify gaps in institutional capacity and address priority areas through training and material support. PwoKonTraM also planned to develop and implement a social compliance model to address violations of fundamental labor rights with at least one private enterprise within the sugarcane value chain. CRS planned to use the experience to expand the model into other agricultural and commercial supply chains. Finally the project planned an advocacy campaign in collaboration with civil society organizations to promote improved social compliance by Haitian businesses.
