A Programme to Reduce WFCL in Tobacco-Growing Communities in Malawi Programme Overview The proposed project is designed to support the implementation of JTI’s strategy to reduce child labour in tobacco growing in Malawi and Brazil and the JTI ARISE (Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in supporting of Education) program, implemented in collaboration with Winrock International. In promoting access to quality education, awareness raising and social mobilization, and economic empowerment in tobacco-growing communities, as well as improved regulatory frameworks, the project will draw on ILO-IPEC’s long experience in both countries in promoting community and country-led, sustainable social progress to eliminate child labour. The community level interventions will be designed according to the results of baseline surveys that will provide a deeper understanding of the nature and consequences of child labour, as well as identify the target group (child labourers on tobacco farms, children at risk of falling into child labour and parents) and establish the basis for the project Monitoring and Evaluation system. Child labourers face considerable barriers to education and the project will address these by providing a flexible array of interventions such as accelerated education, literacy and numeracy training and after school tutoring that will serve as bridges to formal schools. The project will facilitate access to technical and vocational education and training for older children. They will also have the option of receiving agronomy training via Junior Farmer Field Schools, to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to achieve food security, a decent livelihood in agriculture and a viable alternative to leaving the land to migrate to urban areas. Community-based Child Labour Monitoring Systems, linked with agriculture extension officers and labour inspectorates, will contribute to sustainability of the interventions. The project will implement an evidence-based strategy for promoting improved livelihoods for target households. Market research will identify opportunities for target household members to increase their productivity and earnings, as well as labour market opportunities that will guide vocational education and skills training. The project will provide support for the strengthening or creation of small businesses. The success of such economic empowerment initiatives is often founded on basic literacy and numeracy skills, and the project will provide access to this to target households. ILO-IPEC will provide technical assistance and advocacy to ensure that the coordinated JTI ARISE programme is anchored in and supportive of tripartite national child labour elimination efforts. This will enable the project to link with and contribute to national education, social protection and rural development programmes that can ensure sustainable changes at the community level, beyond the duration of this three year project. The project will engage with ILO constituents in the pursuit of systemic changes in the target areas that will promote decent work in tobacco growing communities: better employment options, social dialogue, social protection, and rights at work. The project will engage with employers’ and workers’ organizations in Brazil and Malawi to support their capacity to contribute to the elimination of child labour, both in target communities as well as at the national level through capacity support for a strengthened role in child labour policy development and implementation, within the framework of the countries’ Decent Work Country Plans. The community level interventions will serve as models that the project will promote for replication at the national level, through the tripartite structures that Malawi and Brazil have created to steer efforts national strategies to eliminate child labour. The country strategies were developed in coordination with IPEC field staff in Malawi and Brazil and initial consultation with stakeholders in both countries. The country level