IPEC 1 Eliminating Child Labour: The Promise of Conditional Cash Transfers Hamid Tabatabai ILO/IPEC 20 November 2007 International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour IPEC

2 Outline of the Presentation Background Relevance of the conditional cash transfer approach for child labour Issues in mainstreaming CL concerns into CCTs Concluding remarks CL: Child labour CCT: Conditional cash transfer CCTs: Conditional cash transfer programmes

IPEC 3 Background Millennium Development Goals …. and child labour Second Global Report on Child Labour / Global Action Plan – No worst forms of child labour by 2016 (2015) – Time-bound measures to put in place by 2008 What measures? – Direct interventions (to remove, rehabilitate and reintegrate child labourers) have their place but cannot be the main option: Too small to make enough difference to the larger CL picture Often too costly, because coming too late (prevention is better than cure) – Scaling up impact requires mainstreaming CL concerns into relevant policies and programmes (examples: poverty reduction strategies, education policies, agricultural policies, … and social protection policies such as CCTs)

IPEC 4 Relevance of the CCT Approach for CL (1) Main strengths: Addresses some major causes of CL – Chronic poverty – Economic shocks – Child labour market conditions (counter demand for CL by raising its opportunity cost through cash incentives, schooling conditionality) – Cultural factors (empower women, favour girl’s education) Promotes schooling as alternative to child labour Seems effective in reaching its objectives Is proliferating beyond Latin America and the Caribbean

IPEC 5 Relevance of the CCT Approach for CL (2) But …. Few CCTs address CL explicitly – Exceptions: Brazil’s PETI; Ghana’s LEAP May not be effective against some forms of CL (especially “unconditional” worst forms: slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child soldiers, etc.) From CL perspective, acid test is effectiveness in Africa and Asia (where CL is high, but public services and resources are more limited)

IPEC 6 Mainstreaming CL concerns into CCTs Targeting Conditionality Complementary programmes Transfer amount Monitoring and evaluation Institutional arrangements …

IPEC 7 Targeting Relatively straightforward if reducing CL is the main CCT objective (Brazil’s PETI): Go where CL is, using CL indicators or proxies More complex when CL is only one of several objectives – Typical CCT targeting criteria go some way already to capture CL (because of their association with it) – For more accurate targeting of CL, include it in eligibility criteria (issues of data availability, weighting, composite indices, etc.) Mixed targeting methods seem best (geographic, means tests, community) and CL can be used at various stages

IPEC 8 CL Conditionality? Eligibility criteria versus Conditionalities YES: – Emphasises CL elimination as explicit CCT objective – Promotes respect for law (CL is illegal) – Reinforces schooling conditionality (by freeing children from work) –…–… NO: – Enforcement is difficult and costly – Might lead to greater effort to conceal CL activities (perverse effect) – May not be necessary (examples from Ecuador and Ghana TBP) –…–… Way out? – Yes, but avoiding harsh enforcement (Ghana’s LEAP)

IPEC 9 CL-Related Complementary Programmes Cash and conditionality are not always enough to stop CL. May also need: Transition education After-school activities to keep children occupied and improve various skills (Brazil’s PETI) Skills / vocational training for older children (youth employment) Counselling, especially in cases of worst forms of CL Awareness raising / social mobilization

IPEC 10 Transfer Amount Transfer has two functions: – Create economic incentives to meet conditionalities – Provide resources to enable meeting conditionalities Cost item for meeting CL conditionality: CL income foregone, which is a function of: – Age – Sex – Number of actual / potential children working – Labour market conditions – Seasonality – … How should this be reflected in transfer amount?

IPEC 11 Monitoring and Evaluation Impact evaluation as one of the more remarkable aspects of CCT experience (hundreds, and that’s only in English!) CL impact assessment is relatively rare and rather tentative, naturally Issues related to monitoring and evaluation of CL – Operational definition of CL – Type and frequency of CL data collection – Difficulties of collecting data on some types of CL – Analytical capacity constraints – … IPEC experience with child labour monitoring systems, less with CL impact evaluation

IPEC 12 Institutional Arrangements Consultative processes – Involving National Steering Committee on CL in CCT programme development and implementation – Involving employers’ and workers’ organizations Including CL dimensions in: – Awareness raising activities – Advocacy – Training

IPEC 13 Concluding Remarks “Child labour anywhere constitutes a danger to CCTs everywhere!”* CL is a problem of development, intimately linked to poverty, education, youth employment, etc. It is a reason for the perpetuation of poverty from one generation to the next CCTs can not only help reduce CL, their own success depends in part on the elimination of CL All the more reason to join hands! * “Poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere.” ILO Constitution

IPEC 14 Muchas Gracias