Combating Child Labour through Skills Training for Older Children Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people rely on agriculture to feed themselves and their families. Many small-scale farmers in the developing world cannot grow enough food to sell or even eat, and depend on their entire families, including their children, to participate in economic activities simply to meet daily subsistence needs. The participation of children in certain agricultural tasks may compromise their development by exposing them to occupational safety and health hazards and by denying them educational opportunities. The ILO report “Marking progress Against Child Labour” (2013) highlighted the fact that while some progress is being made in reducing child labour there is a need to reinforce action in many sectors. The estimates suggest some 168 million children remain in child labour and almost 60% of those work in agriculture. The prevalence of child labour in agriculture is paralleled by a major education deficit in rural areas. Provision of education is much weaker than in urban areas, often ending at primary level and with many quality deficits. In a recent report on out of school children UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute of Statistics concluded that the most important disparities in access to education are related to location - urban or rural, and to household wealth. Opportunities for skills training and livelihoods development are also often weak or do not exist. This project will enable more attention to be given to this issue. The project will work closely with a number of stakeholders concerned with both child labour and education. This will include relevant Ministries, (Labour and Education), social partners (including education unions with which IPEC works closely), civil society organisations, UN agencies, and research institutions. These partners will be involved in early planning discussions and some will be involved in direct delivery of training. In all the countries efforts will be made to ensure that training programmes respond to the needs of both girls and boys, and that girls have equal access to training opportunities. The “Skills and Livelihood Training” resource material which will be used in the capacity building training has a strong focus on the need for attention to gender issues in the design and delivery of training. The linkages with a broad range of stakeholders will support the strategic aim of using project experience to raise issues of the skills needs of older children in broader policy and programme discussions. The ILO, FAO, IFAD, IFPRI/CGIAR, IFAP and IUF have created a partnership to scale-up action to eliminate and prevent child labour in agriculture, the “International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture.” The Partnership brings together diverse areas of expertise and the multidisciplinary perspectives of its partners in addressing child labour in agriculture and in promoting decent work for youth and adults as part of sustainable rural development. Through action in a number of countries the Partnership has developed an integrated approach to address the root causes of child labour in agriculture. The approach combines community ownership and agricultural solutions with efforts to tackle child labour by promoting decent work for those who have reached the legal minimum age of work. The project will seek to build cooperation with members of the Partnership both at the country level where members have national programmes, and at the international level. The ILO presently provides the Secretariat for this partnership. Through its engagement with other partners the ILO will seek to raise the issue of skills training needs of older children on the agenda of partner organisations. The project will follow three strategic dimensions of work: 1) Country level interventions will be implemented to support programmes that provide skills training to adolescents (14-17 years) in or vulnerable to child labour. 2) Capacity building