By Eunice Disi Lole

Lilongwe, October 22, Mana: Chief Technical Adviser of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Project ACCEL Africa, Minoru Ogasawara has expressed satisfaction with the successful conclusion of the child labour elimination project.

Ogasawara made the remarks on Tuesday during the celebrations of the success of the Project in Malawi which was held at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC).

‘The project has extremely been successful by bringing together all technical expertise within ILO and working together with different stakeholders namely Ministry of Labour, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) and Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM),” he said.

He added that through these collaborations they had a comparative advantage and it is what made it possible for them to address child labour and the supply chain in a comprehensive manner.

Deputy Labour Commissioner, Wafwile Musukwa expressed gratitude to ILO for bringing together key partners in the tea and coffee sectors who are working in a very collaborative way and due to that, a lot of progress has been made in child labour elimination.

“Communities have received a lot of sensitization on child labour and the employers in the tea and coffee sectors have also been capacitated on how to identify and prevent child labour in the activities that they are doing and the approach is to tackle child labour in the supply chain,” said Musukwa.

Speaking during an interview, one of the beneficiaries from the project, Lucia Raphael Lastone from Thyolo commended ACCEL Africa for rescuing her from working at a tea estate and changing her life for the better. She was given a chance to go to a technical college where she did fabrication and welding.

With the skills that I have acquired I will be able to run my own business and support my family and all this has been made possible due to ACCEL Africa project,” She said.

The project’s overarching goal has been to accelerate the elimination of child labour in Africa through targeted actions in selected supply chains in Cote d’ivoire, Egypt, Malawi, Mali Nigeria and Uganda.

In Malawi, the focus has been on the tea and coffee industries, both of which are critical to the country’s economy and particularly vulnerable to child labour.