Combating Exploitive Child Labor Through Education in Bolivia, Cambodia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines, Togo, and Uganda, 32869-32914 [E7-11526]

Agencies

• Office of the Secretary
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 114 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32869-32914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-11526]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Combating Exploitive Child Labor Through Education in Bolivia, 
Cambodia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican 
Republic, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines, Togo, and Uganda

June 14, 2007.
AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor.
    Announcement Type: New. Notice of Availability of Funds and 
Solicitation for Cooperative Agreement Applications.
    Funding Opportunity Number: SGA 07-10.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: Not 
applicable.
    Key Dates: Deadline for Submission of Application is July 25, 2007.
    Executive Summary: The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of 
International Labor Affairs, will award up to USD 46.494 million 
through 10 or more Cooperative Agreements to one or more qualifying 
organizations and/or Associations to combat exploitive child labor in 
the following 10 countries: Bolivia (up to $3.344 million), Cambodia 
(up to $4 million), Colombia (up to $5.1 million), Democratic Republic 
of the Congo (up to $5.5 million), the Dominican Republic (up to $4 
million), Indonesia (up to $5.55 million), Morocco (up to $3 million), 
the Philippines (up to $5.5 million), Togo (up to $5 million), and 
Uganda (up to $5.5 million). Projects funded under this solicitation 
will seek to sustainably withdraw and prevent children from entering 
exploitive labor through the provision of direct educational services 
and other project interventions, and ensure direct beneficiaries' 
enrollment, retention, and completion of the education and/or training 
program(s) in which they are enrolled. Projects will also seek to build 
capacity in target countries to eliminate exploitive child labor and 
promote educational alternatives for children. Projects funded aim to 
complement and expand upon existing projects and programs aimed at 
eliminating exploitive child labor, particularly the worst forms of 
child labor, and improving basic education in the target countries. 
Applicants must respond to the entire Scope of Work outlined in this 
solicitation for each country for which an application is submitted.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of International Labor 
Affairs (ILAB), announces the availability of funds to be awarded by 
Cooperative Agreement to one or more qualifying organizations and/or 
Associations (hereinafter referred to as ``Applicant(s)'') for the 
purpose of promoting the elimination of exploitive child labor, 
particularly the worst forms of child labor (for additional information 
on these key terms, see Appendix A), in target countries. Projects 
funded under this solicitation will seek to achieve this goal by 
withdrawing children from, and preventing children from entering, 
exploitive child labor through the provision of direct educational 
services, including education and/or training programs, and improving 
the capacity of target countries to address exploitive child labor.
    ILAB is authorized to award and administer Cooperative Agreements 
for this purpose by Section 20607 of the Revised Continuing 
Appropriations Resolution, 2007, Pub. L. 110-05, 121 Stat. 8 (2007). 
Cooperative Agreements awarded under this solicitation will be managed 
by ILAB's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking 
(OCFT). The duration of the projects funded by this solicitation is 
three to four years. The start date of program activities will be 
negotiated upon award of the Cooperative Agreement, but will be no 
later than September 30, 2007.
    Please note that Appendix A provides USDOL's definitions for all 
key terms denoted in italics throughout the text of this solicitation. 
For ease of reference, the term ``child(ren)'' and ``child labor'' have 
not been denoted in italics, though definitions of each are included in 
Appendix A. Child(ren) are defined by USDOL as individuals under the 
age of 18 years. For section I.3.B., Applicants should note that there 
may be some differences between USDOL definitions of certain key terms 
and the definitions used by foreign governments. For example, 
definitions used by USDOL in this solicitation do not necessarily 
correspond to a foreign government's own definition of terms such as 
``youth'' or ``hazardous work.

1. Background: USDOL Support for the Global Elimination of Exploitive 
Child Labor

    The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 218 
million children ages 5 to 17 were engaged in child labor around the 
world in 2004. Children engaged in exploitive child labor on a full-
time basis are generally unable to attend school, and children engaged 
in exploitive child labor on a part-time basis balance economic

[[Page 32870]]

survival with schooling from an early age, often to the detriment of 
their education.
    Since 1995, the U.S. Congress has appropriated $595 million to 
USDOL for efforts to combat exploitive child labor internationally. 
This funding has been used to support technical cooperation projects to 
combat exploitive child labor in more than 75 countries around the 
world. Technical cooperation projects funded by USDOL range from 
targeted action programs in specific sectors of work to more 
comprehensive programs that support national efforts to eliminate the 
worst forms of child labor as defined by ILO Convention 182. USDOL-
funded projects seek to achieve five major goals:
    1. Withdrawing or preventing children from involvement in 
exploitive child labor through the provision of direct educational 
services;
    2. Strengthening policies on child labor and education, the 
capacity of national institutions to combat child labor, and formal and 
transitional education systems that encourage children engaged in or 
at-risk of engaging in exploitive labor to attend school;
    3. Raising awareness of the importance of education for all 
children and mobilizing a wide array of actors to improve and expand 
education infrastructures.
    4. Supporting research and the collection of reliable data on child 
labor; and
    5. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of these efforts.
    By increasing access to basic education, USDOL-funded projects help 
nurture the development, health, safety, and enhanced future 
employability of children engaged in or at-risk of entering exploitive 
labor in geographic areas or economic sectors with a high incidence of 
exploitive child labor.
    Projects funded by USDOL-OCFT are subject to the provisions of the 
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which was passed by 
Congress in 1993 to establish strategic planning and performance 
measurement in the federal government to ensure that taxpayers' dollars 
were being used efficiently and effectively for the public good. GPRA 
requires federal agencies to develop and submit strategic and annual 
performance plans that include performance goals and indicators. Each 
year federal government agencies receiving appropriated funds are 
required to submit to Congress a performance and accountability report. 
Congress uses these reports to make informed assessments of program 
effectiveness for future funding decisions.
    For GPRA purposes, ILAB falls under USDOL's Strategic Goal 2: A 
Competitive Workforce: Meet the competitive labor demands of the 
worldwide economy by enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the 
workforce development and regulatory systems that assist workers and 
employers in meeting the challenges of global competition. 
Specifically, OCFT is required to measure Indicator 2K: Contribute to 
the elimination of the worst forms of child labor internationally. The 
GPRA indicators that OCFT measures across all of its child labor 
elimination projects, are: (1) The number of children withdrawn or 
prevented from exploitive child labor and provided education and/or 
training opportunities as a result of a USDOL-funded child labor 
elimination project; and (2) The number of countries with improved 
capacity to address child labor as a result of USDOL-funded child labor 
elimination projects. For more comprehensive definitions of USDOL-
OCFT's GPRA Indicators, see Appendix A. For additional information on 
GPRA, please visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/mgmt-gpra/
gplaw2m.html.
    In addition to its GPRA indicators, OCFT also collects information 
on two other non-GPRA, common indicators related to direct 
beneficiaries' retention in, and completion, of education and/or 
training programs (hereinafter referred to as ``direct educational 
services;'' for additional information on this key term, see Appendix 
A).

2. Factors Contributing to Exploitive Child Labor and Barriers to 
Education

    There are complex factors contributing to children's involvement in 
exploitive labor, as well as barriers to education for children who are 
engaged in, or at-risk of entering, exploitive child labor. These 
include poverty; education system barriers; infrastructure barriers; 
legal and policy barriers; resource gaps; institutional barriers; 
informational gaps; demographic characteristics of children and/or 
families; cultural and traditional practices; tenuous labor markets; 
and weak child labor law enforcement. While these factors and barriers 
tend to exist throughout the world in areas with a high incidence of 
exploitive child labor, they manifest themselves in specific ways in 
the countries of interest in this solicitation.
    Some factors unrelated to education that contribute to children 
entering exploitive labor include their families' need for extra 
income, children's need to provide a livelihood for themselves and/or 
their siblings, lack of parent(s) or caregiver(s), cultural practices, 
and lack of awareness of the hazards associated with exploitive child 
labor, including the worst forms of child labor. In addition, children 
have a variety of educational needs and encounter different barriers 
depending on their work status (e.g., children withdrawn from 
exploitive labor, underage children at risk of dropping out of school 
and joining the labor force, children engaged in exploitive labor in a 
particular sector).

3. Scope of Work

A. General Requirements
    Each project must promote the five goals for USDOL-funded projects 
outlined in section I.1. Applicants should propose an innovative 
project strategy that will build on existing efforts to withdraw 
children from, or prevent children from entering, exploitive child 
labor. Applicants should identify and address the specific needs of 
proposed direct beneficiaries' to ensure (1) their long-term withdrawal 
from, or prevention from entering, exploitive child labor; (2) their 
involvement in acceptable work--for direct beneficiaries of legal 
working age, this may be accomplished through a reduction in the number 
of hours worked and/or improvement(s) in their working conditions in 
accordance with national labor laws and international standards, such 
as ILO Conventions 138 (Minimum Age Convention, 1973) and 182 (Worst 
Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999); and (3) their enrollment in, 
retention in, and completion of, a direct educational service.

    Note: For a child to be counted as a direct beneficiary for the 
purposes of USDOL's GPRA reporting requirements (see section I.1 
above for more information on the GPRA), the Cooperative Agreement 
awardee (hereafter referred to as ``Grantee'') must have completed 
the following three (3) steps:
    (1) Assess the specific needs of each child targeted by the 
project in order for the child to (a) be withdrawn from, or 
prevented from entering, exploitive labor and (b) be enrolled in an 
educational activity;
    (2) Develop and implement an appropriate strategy for the child 
that provides a direct educational service; and
    (3) Monitor and report to USDOL on the child's work status 
(e.g., is the child working in an exploitive labor situation?) and 
educational status (e.g., is the child still attending an 
educational or training program?).

    USDOL considers strengthening legal frameworks and law enforcement 
practices that prohibit exploitive child labor and promoting adherence 
to national educational requirements that support universal access to 
basic education as critical strategies for achieving long-term impact 
in

[[Page 32871]]

combating exploitive child labor. Applicants are encouraged to propose 
creative ideas that address the nexus between better enforcement of 
child labor and education laws and the improvement of educational 
opportunities for children. Applicants are expected to consider the 
economic, social, and cultural contexts of the target country (ies) 
when formulating project strategies and to recognize that approaches 
applicable in one country may not be relevant to others. Applicants 
must take into account country-specific issues that could affect 
project results, including those outlined in section I.3.B. for each 
target country, and meaningfully incorporate them into the proposed 
strategy, either to increase opportunities for, or reduce obstacles to, 
successful implementation. Applicants should demonstrate a thorough 
knowledge of previously piloted interventions and good practices to 
eliminate child labor in each target county and seek to build upon 
progress achieved by such past projects.
i. Focus on Action Research and Data Collection
    In order to identify gaps, unmet needs and opportunities that could 
be addressed through a USDOL child labor elimination project, 
Applicants must conduct a needs assessment in preparing their 
application(s) to make a preliminary identification of the current 
working and educational status of the children that the Applicant 
proposes as direct beneficiaries of the project. It is expected that 
the information gathered during this assessment will be refined after 
award, although the application should present a clear indication of 
the criteria that will likely be used to select proposed direct 
beneficiaries. These criteria should be based on the target country's 
legislation related to child labor, including the worst forms of child 
labor; the minimum age for work; acceptable hours and conditions for 
children's work; and national policies related to child labor, such as 
a country-specific list of hazardous work for children that has been 
submitted to the ILO. The assessment, with data sources, must include 
information on the incidence and nature of exploitive child labor, 
particularly the worst forms of child labor, among proposed direct 
beneficiaries, hours and conditions of work, age and sex distribution 
of the proposed direct beneficiaries, educational performance relative 
to other children, if available, and any research or other data that 
might indicate correlations between educational performance and child 
labor. In the proposed strategy, Applicants must consult and make 
reference to relevant literature and documents relating to child labor 
and the education of proposed direct beneficiaries. Applicants are 
encouraged to propose strategies for collecting further data on 
exploitive child labor and children's participation in schooling in the 
early stages of the project's baseline data collection. In addition, 
Applicants are encouraged to conduct small-scale research projects in 
support of the project's overall objectives, in particular on the 
unconditional worst forms of child labor where there is often a lack of 
systematic and reliable data. Applicants are encouraged to disseminate 
findings from such research and to use this information in formulating 
more targeted and coordinated responses to exploitive child labor, 
including the unconditional worst forms of child labor.
ii. Withdrawal or Prevention From Exploitive Child Labor Through Direct 
Educational Services and Other Project Interventions
    Projects funded under this Cooperative Agreement solicitation must 
provide for the long-term withdrawal of children from, and prevention 
of children from entering, exploitive child labor through the provision 
of direct educational services. USDOL recognizes that the provision of 
direct educational services alone may in some cases be insufficient to 
ensure the complete or sustained withdrawal of children from exploitive 
child labor. For this reason, Applicants are also encouraged to propose 
other project interventions as part of a package of services for direct 
beneficiaries. Applicants are encouraged to be creative in proposing 
comprehensive cost-effective interventions that will have a 
demonstrable impact in eliminating exploitive child labor and promoting 
direct beneficiaries' enrollment, retention in, and completion of 
direct educational services in the geographic areas and/or sectors in 
which children are engaged in, or at-risk of engaging in, exploitive 
child labor. Applicants should address low rates of school enrollment; 
availability of and access to direct educational services, particularly 
in rural areas; and the quality of such educational services. 
Applicants should develop strategies to increase the perceived 
relevance of education and training for children engaged in, or at-risk 
of engaging in, exploitive labor, their families and their communities 
with an aim toward increasing school enrollment. Applicants should also 
address the unique barriers to education for girls, particularly in 
rural areas, and incorporate these into the proposed interventions. 
Applicants may propose solutions for education delivery, such as non-
formal schools, including multi-grade programs in rural areas where 
formal schools may be unavailable, especially at the secondary level. 
Projects may also support professional training for teachers and 
provide incentives to children, such as books and uniforms, in-school 
feeding programs, school supplies, and transportation assistance to 
remove educational barriers.
    For individual target countries, Applicants must demonstrate 
knowledge of the school calendar and the requirements of basic, non-
formal, and vocational education systems; develop an approach that 
successfully enrolls children in educational programs with minimal 
delay and without missing an academic year or program cycle; and 
address the non-education factors contributing to children's 
involvement in or risk of entering exploitive labor. If cultural 
traditions and norms impact decisions about schooling, Applicants must 
show how education programs would be sensitive and responsive to these 
traditions, particularly as they relate to girls' education.

    Please Note: For the purposes of GPRA, enrollment in a direct 
educational service is not the sole criterion that defines a child 
as withdrawn from exploitive child labor. For example, a child who 
attends a USDOL-supported non-formal education program in the 
morning and works under hazardous conditions in mining during the 
afternoon and evening should not be counted as withdrawn or 
prevented from exploitive child labor. That is, if before program 
intervention, a child is not going to school and is working in a 
worst form of child labor, and, after program intervention, the 
child is now enrolled in school but continues to work in a worst 
form of child labor, then that child is not, by definition, 
withdrawn from exploitive child labor and should not be counted in 
the withdrawn/prevented indicator. The process of withdrawing a 
child from exploitive child labor may take some time. Children 
should only be counted as withdrawn at the point at which the child 
is no longer working in exploitive child labor (this includes no 
longer working at all or working under improved working conditions 
such as shorter hours and/or safer conditions) and is benefiting 
from the education and/or training program(s) provided by the USDOL-
funded project. For more information on GPRA, see section I.1 
Background: USDOL Support for the Global Elimination of Exploitive 
Child Labor.

iii. Clear and Specific Outcomes
    Within the countries identified in this solicitation, the Applicant 
must identify

[[Page 32872]]

the geographic areas and/or sectors of greatest need, and establish (1) 
the number of children that the project is targeting for withdrawal 
from exploitive child labor, and (2) the number of children the project 
is targeting for prevention from exploitive child labor through the 
provision of direct educational services and other project 
interventions. Applicants must use the definitions provided in Appendix 
A when establishing these targets. Applicants' strategies should 
address the specific and contextual factors that contribute to children 
engaging in exploitive labor and the barriers to education that they 
face in target countries. Brief background information on these issues 
for the target countries is provided in section I.3.B. Country-Specific 
Requirements. Applicants must be able to identify the specific needs of 
proposed direct beneficiaries in order to ensure (1) their long-term 
withdrawal or prevention from exploitive child labor; (2) their 
involvement in acceptable work--which for direct beneficiaries of legal 
working age, may be accomplished through a reduction in the number of 
hours worked and/or improvement(s) in their working conditions in 
accordance with national labor laws and international standards, such 
as ILO Conventions 138 and 182; and (3) their enrollment, retention in, 
and completion of a relevant direct educational service.
    Expected outcomes/results of the project include: (1) Reducing the 
number of children engaged in, or at-risk of entering, exploitive child 
labor; (2) increasing and/or improving educational opportunities for 
children who are engaged in, or at-risk of entering, exploitive child 
labor, particularly the worst forms of child labor; (3) ensuring direct 
beneficiaries' enrollment, retention in, and completion of direct 
educational services; (4) facilitating the successful transition of 
direct beneficiaries from non-formal education programs into formal 
schools, vocational programs, or acceptable work; and (5) ensuring the 
sustainable, long-term withdrawal and prevention of direct 
beneficiaries from exploitive child labor.
iv. Collaboration and Leveraging Resources
    Due to the limited resources available under this award, Applicants 
are expected to implement programs that complement existing efforts 
and, where appropriate, replicate or enhance successful models to serve 
a greater number of children and communities. In order to avoid 
duplication, enhance collaboration, expand impact, and develop 
synergies, the Grantee must work cooperatively with national 
stakeholders in developing project interventions, including the 
Ministries of Labor, Education, and other relevant ministries or 
government bodies. Applicants are encouraged to work with other key 
stakeholders, including international organizations; nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs); national steering/advisory committees on child 
labor and education; faith and community-based organizations; trade 
unions, employers' and teachers' organizations; and children engaged in 
exploitive child labor and their families. Furthermore, Applicants are 
strongly encouraged to collaborate with existing projects, particularly 
those funded by USDOL, including other EI projects, Timebound Projects 
of Support (TBP) and other projects implemented by ILO-IPEC. For 
additional information on collaboration, see section VIII.1.
    Applicants are encouraged to leverage project resources by 
collaborating with entities engaged in efforts that could contribute to 
the elimination of exploitive child labor, including efforts that 
promote children's access to educational and training opportunities and 
that address poverty--a major factor that increases the likelihood that 
children will engage in exploitive child labor. Applicants are also 
encouraged to secure concrete commitments from business entities and 
individual business leaders to engage in partnerships to reduce child 
labor and increase educational opportunities for direct beneficiaries. 
Ideas for business involvement could include, but are not limited to 
the following: scholarships, donations of goods, mentoring and 
volunteering by employees, assistance in awareness raising, provision 
of internships for children/youth and/or teachers during vacation 
periods that would help them improve leadership and other skills for 
implementing programs to address exploitive child labor. Please note 
that applications that propose non-U.S. Federal Government resources 
that significantly expand the dollar amount, size, and scope of the 
project, in the form of matching funds or other cost sharing 
arrangements, are eligible for up to five (5) extra points, as 
discussed in section V.1.F. However, Applicants must not duplicate the 
activities of existing efforts and/or projects and are expected to work 
within host government child labor and education frameworks and 
priorities. Applicants are advised that there are specific requirements 
associated with proposing matching funds and cost sharing arrangements, 
outlined in section III.3, which do not apply to leveraged resources.

    Note to Applicants: USDOL has notified host government ministry 
officials of the proposed project. During the preparation of an 
application for this Cooperative Agreement solicitation, Applicants 
are encouraged to discuss proposed interventions, strategies, and 
activities with host government officials and other key stakeholders 
noted above.

v. Sustainability
    USDOL considers the issue of sustainability to be of paramount 
importance and recognizes that questions of sustainability must be 
addressed at all stages, including project design, implementation, and 
evaluation. From their inception, project strategies should foster 
sustainability. To USDOL, sustainability is linked to project impact 
and the ability of individuals, communities, and a nation to ensure 
that the activities or changes implemented by a project endure. A 
project's impact is manifested at the level of individuals, 
organizations, and systems. For individual children and their families, 
this would mean a positive and enduring change in their life conditions 
as a result of project interventions. At the level of organizations and 
systems, sustained impact would involve continued commitment and 
ability (including financial commitment and policy change) by project 
partners to continue the actions generated by the project, including 
enforcement of existing policies that target child labor and schooling. 
Applicants are encouraged to develop approaches that support child and 
youth participation in project efforts to eliminate the worst forms of 
child labor. Applicants are encouraged to identify local organizations 
in the target country, including type of local organizations (e.g., 
NGO, community-based, rural, indigenous), which could potentially 
implement or contribute to a future project. In addition, as child 
labor elimination projects tend to be implemented in resource-poor 
environments where government education and labor inspection systems 
may be limited, Applicants are encouraged to work with local 
stakeholders to develop sustainable child labor and education 
monitoring systems, including community-based systems, that can 
complement government efforts to monitor children's work and 
educational status beyond the life of the project and enforce the 
country's child labor and education laws.

[[Page 32873]]

B. Country-Specific Requirements
Combating Exploitive Child Labor Through Education in Bolivia
i. Background
    Bolivia is a country with numerous socio-economic disparities and 
challenges, particularly for members of indigenous groups who, 
according to the 2001 Census, constitute approximately 62 percent of 
the population. Bolivia has one of the highest rates of poverty and 
child labor in the Americas, with over 23 percent of children ages 7 to 
14 years working in 2002. Bolivia's socio-economic challenges are made 
more acute by natural disasters such as the recent severe flooding and 
resulting humanitarian crisis in the Departments of Santa Cruz, Beni 
and Cochabamba.
    Bolivian children work in agriculture, including in the production 
of sugar cane and Brazil nuts in Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando. In cities 
such as Oruro, Potosi, and La Paz, children are engaged in activities 
such as begging, street vending, shining shoes, and assisting transport 
operators. Children work in industry, construction, small businesses, 
hotels and restaurants, and traditional small-scale mining. In the 
valleys, children smuggle goods and traffic drugs. The commercial 
sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a problem in Bolivia, 
particularly in the Chapare region and in urban areas. A study 
sponsored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the 
Organization for American States (OAS) of urban centers in Bolivia 
found commercial sexual exploitation of girls from Argentina, Paraguay, 
Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. In some cases, indigenous girls are 
brought or sent by their parents from rural to urban areas to work as 
domestic servants for higher-income families in exchange for education, 
clothing, room, and board. These girls often end up in situations that 
amount to indentured servitude and/or forced labor. Bolivian children 
are trafficked internally for the purpose of CSEC, agriculture and 
mining. In the south of Bolivia, child labor has been observed among 
debt-bonded, landless families living on haciendas (large farms).
    In January and February 2007, unprecedented rainfall totals nearing 
3 times the annual average resulted in severe flooding of the highlands 
and the Amazon River, affecting, in particular, the Departments of 
Santa Cruz, Beni, and Cochabamba. Rural families working in subsistence 
farming were particularly hard hit, and it is likely that the number of 
children at-risk of involvement in exploitive child labor has risen in 
these areas as a result of the flooding. This natural disaster caused 
extreme damage to houses, crops, roads, and other basic infrastructure 
including schools, many of which closed down or are being used as 
shelters for the displaced. The disaster has also affected the national 
debate on land reform and autonomy at the regional, departmental and 
municipal levels.
    Bolivian law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years, 
except in the case of apprenticeships. Children ages 14 to 18 years 
must have the permission of their parents or of government authorities 
to work. The law requires employers to grant ``adolescent'' workers 
time off to attend school during normal school hours. The 1999 Child 
and Adolescent Code defines ``adolescents'' as persons ages 12 to 18 
years. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor 
provisions in the formal sector, but only employs 15 labor inspectors 
to work throughout the country to enforce child labor regulations and 
other labor issues.
ii. Relevant Policies, Programs, and Projects
    The Government of Bolivia's policy framework to address child labor 
is the National Plan for the Progressive Eradication of Child Labor 
(2000-2010). A three-year sub-plan (2006-2008) to combat child labor 
prioritizes the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, the 
development of national policy against child labor, and inter-
institutional and inter-ministerial coordination. Although resources 
for implementation have been limited, the plan focuses on children 
working in the mining, sugar cane, and urban sectors of the country. A 
2003 Domestic Worker's Law addresses some of the abuses committed 
towards child domestic workers. In 2005, the UN Committee on the Rights 
of the Child identified hazardous domestic work, the sugar cane and 
mining industries, CSEC, and the trafficking of children for CSEC and 
other purposes, as the child labor sectors in Bolivia that are in 
greatest need of special attention. The Bolivian Congress has approved 
reforms to address CSEC, and has criminalized and set penalties for all 
types of trafficking in persons.
    Bolivia also faces challenges in providing education to its 
children and youth under 18, who constitute 45 percent of the country's 
population. The Constitution of Bolivia establishes free and compulsory 
primary education for children, yet because of the high rate of child 
labor and other education and non-education system barriers, many 
Bolivian children fall behind in their education. In 2002, despite a 
high rate of enrollment in primary schools, only 81 percent of students 
were likely to reach grade 5. Although UNESCO estimates a primary to 
secondary transition rate of 91 percent in Bolivia, UNICEF estimates 
that only 39 percent of working children continue with their schooling.
    In order to facilitate children's access to social services such as 
health and education, the Government of Bolivia is working with UNICEF 
to provide free birth and identity documents to the estimated 12 
percent of children ages 0-9 years who lack birth certificates. In the 
past, the government instituted programs to benefit both working 
children and indigenous children, including the development of a 
flexible curriculum designed to keep working children and adolescents 
in school by offering night classes through the Ministry of Education's 
Vice-Ministry of Alternative Education.
    Bolivia's 1994 education reform program led to the creation of 
special programs to train teachers in bilingual instruction and 
publication of texts and other teaching materials in indigenous 
languages. There have been programs, such as those implemented by 
UNICEF, to improve educational infrastructure and to increase the 
relevance and learning of indigenous children through intercultural 
bilingual education. Currently, the Government of Bolivia focuses on 
universal literacy, improving access to basic education in rural areas, 
and incorporating indigenous languages and cultures into the school 
curricula. In the past, the government also supported previous USDOL-
funded programs to combat child labor in small-scale traditional mining 
in the Andean region, and to improve access to and quality of basic 
education. Given the high rates of poverty and low levels of 
involvement in schooling, children in Bolivia, particularly indigenous 
children, have historically been highly vulnerable to exploitive forms 
of child labor. The Government of Bolivia has identified the importance 
of addressing the issues of labor exploitation and education reform. 
The government has recently proposed an education reform law that 
entails a curriculum change to address historic exclusion and 
discrimination of indigenous children, embracing the linguistic 
diversity of Bolivia's Quechua, Aymara, and Spanish-speaking 
populations.
    The enforcement of these plans and laws is challenging because of 
limited resources, citizens' lack of faith in the justice system, 
corruption, a slow judiciary system, and political divisions

[[Page 32874]]

and turmoil. The OAS Justice Center of the Americas notes that those 
who suffer most from this legal situation are the poor indigenous 
population and workers in the informal economy.
iii. Scope of Work
    Taking into account the challenging implementing environment in 
Bolivia and the current government's attention and priority to the 
unmet needs of the most disadvantaged sectors of the population, 
Applicants must propose a creative and innovative approach to address 
the challenges of reintegrating and educating children who have been 
engaged in the worst forms of child labor. Applicants must also take 
into account any cross-cutting themes (discussed below) that could 
affect project results in Bolivia and meaningfully incorporate them 
into the proposed strategy, either to increase opportunities for, or 
reduce obstacles to, successful implementation.

1. Specific Target Groups, Sectors, and/or Geographic Focus

    In support of the National Plan for the Progressive Eradication of 
Child Labor (2000-2010), Applicants are encouraged to target children 
working under hazardous and/or exploitive conditions in urban domestic 
service, agriculture, mining, and CSEC. Applicants should pay special 
attention to children who may have been trafficked for exploitive labor 
and/or engaged in forced labor. Applicants may identify other target 
sectors where children are at-risk or involved in other worst forms of 
child labor, but should provide a convincing justification for 
inclusion of such target sectors. Since indigenous children are the 
largest population involved in the worst forms of child labor, the 
project should pay special attention to their needs and provide a large 
share of benefits to these children. Given the recent humanitarian 
assistance needs in the Departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, and 
Cochabamba, Applicants may choose to focus on child labor issues that 
existed prior to, and/or may have been exacerbated by, the severe 
flooding in these areas.

2. Collaboration With Specific Programs and/or Links to Specific 
National Policies

    Applicants should support the Government of Bolivia's policy 
framework to address child labor, the National Plan for the Progressive 
Eradication of Child Labor 2000-2010, and consider the three-year sub-
plan (2006-2008) that focuses on children working in the mining, sugar 
cane, and urban sectors of the country. If focusing on domestic 
service, or CSEC and trafficking, Applicants should work to strengthen 
the implementation and enforcement of recent legal reforms in these 
areas of domestic workers and the commercial sexual exploitation of 
minors. If working in areas of the recent floods, Applicants should 
coordinate with other donors providing assistance, and complement 
rather than duplicate existing efforts.

3. Implementing Environment/Cross-Cutting Themes

    Bolivia has experienced recurrent political and economic unrest and 
instability, which has an impact on the implementation of development 
projects. The government has committed itself to deep political, 
economic and social transformations, and the country is engaged in 
intense debate on themes including cultural identity, education reform, 
judicial reform, land reform, and decentralization and political 
autonomy. Furthermore, the severe flooding in January and February 2007 
has had a major impact in the highlands and the Amazon River, 
affecting, in particular, the Departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, and 
Cochabamba, and rural families working in subsistence farming in these 
areas. Applicants should consider how these factors might affect the 
project in the geographic areas where the project would be implemented 
and propose a design that would contribute to mitigating the effects of 
these factors.

4. Project-Specific Strategies

    Applicants must propose a strategy for strengthening the capacity 
of Bolivian government and civil society organizations to identify and 
assist children engaged in or at-risk of exploitive labor, particularly 
the worst forms of child labor. The complexity of the issue of child 
labor requires inter-institutional coordination among many public and 
private agencies and institutions. Applicants should identify how the 
project will productively engage existing public and private service 
programs in the intervention area(s) to ensure that project goals will 
be met, and project efforts will become sustainable. Evaluations of 
USDOL projects in the Andean region have noted incidents of weak local 
organizational capacity and recurring social unrest (e.g., strikes, 
demonstrations, work-stoppages, road closures). Applicants should 
indicate to what extent these challenges might be significant in the 
areas where the project would be implemented, how they would be 
addressed, and how relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous 
organizations working for the benefit of children, leaders, and groups 
could be promoted to address the problem of exploitive child labor. 
Given the current debates in Bolivia on decentralization and autonomy 
at the regional, departmental and municipal levels, Applicants should 
also consider how this could lead to changes that might affect 
implementation of the project, and focus on building capacity to 
promote sustainability.
    Since indigenous children represent the largest population involved 
in exploitive child labor, it is likely that they will constitute a 
significant proportion of the direct beneficiaries served by this 
project. Given the current priorities of the government to provide 
programs to the benefit of these groups, Applicants should demonstrate 
considerable knowledge of Bolivian indigenous culture and movements and 
indigenous values regarding education and child labor. This knowledge 
should be incorporated into the project design to ensure ownership and 
involvement of indigenous groups. Applicants must develop a strategy 
that will increase the relevance of education for indigenous children, 
their parents, and the urban, rural, and/or peri-urban communities 
where they live. Applicants should develop a program that can operate 
in the context of the government's emphasis on the use of indigenous 
languages and culture as part of the larger education and curricula 
reform efforts. Applicants should also identify and address additional 
social, cultural, or other factors that should be taken into account in 
designing the project. In no way, however, should project strategies 
exclude or marginalize non-indigenous children who could also qualify 
as direct beneficiaries of this project.
Combating the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Cambodia
i. Background
    After decades of violence and armed conflict, the Government of 
Cambodia has experienced positive economic growth since 1999 due in 
large part to its resilient garment export sector and growing tourism 
industry. The long-term development challenges for Cambodia will be to 
encourage rural development and build basic infrastructure; bridge the 
income gap among citizens; improve access to and quality of education; 
and increase economic growth that spurs job creation, in light of the 
country's demographic transition. At least 50 percent of the population 
is under 21 years old, with many children and

[[Page 32875]]

youth lacking appropriate education and productive skills.
    Key to accomplishing Cambodia's development goals will be to remove 
and prevent children from the worst forms of child labor, especially 
hazardous work in agriculture. Children begin working at a very young 
age, some as early as age six, with many dropping out of school to work 
exclusively. According to the Understanding Children's Work (UCW) 
Project, approximately 45 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were 
found working in 2001. The majority of working children were found in 
the rural agricultural sector (76.5 percent), followed by services 
(17.7 percent), manufacturing (4.9 percent) and other sectors (0.9 
percent). Economically active children in Cambodia work an average of 
22 hours per week, which increases to 31 hours when household chores 
are taken into account. Non-Khmer children, such as Vietnamese migrant 
children, are more likely to be working than Khmer children.
    Child labor is most prevalent and severe in three provinces: 
Banteay Meanchey, Prey Veng and Siem Reap. However, other provinces 
such as Otdar Meanchey Cham, Phnom Penh, Kandal, and Takeo also show 
high prevalence rates. Working children facing the most obstacles to 
schooling and greatest risk of dropping out are in Kaoh Long, Mondol 
Kiri, and Preah Vihear. Children most at-risk of being trafficked to 
urban areas in Cambodia or outside the country live in the rural 
districts of Kompong Cham, Battambang, Svey Rieng, Prey Veng, Kandal, 
and Takeo.
    Hazardous work by children occurs in both rural and urban areas, 
and includes work on commercial rubber plantations, in salt production, 
fish processing, portering, brick-making, and garbage-picking. Children 
also work in restaurants and in handicrafts and related industries. 
Street children engage in scavenging, begging, and shoe polishing. 
Children, primarily girls, also work in domestic service. Most girls 
working as child domestic workers are 14 to 17 years of age, though it 
is not uncommon to find girls as young as 8 or 9 years of age. Many 
child domestic workers typically work 12 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a 
week, preventing them from going to school and learning productive 
skills.
    Children are also involved in other worst forms of child labor. 
Certain provinces of the country have higher incidence of the worst 
forms of child labor, based on their geographic characteristics, 
proximity to borders, levels of poverty, etc. Areas designated as 
Special Economic Zones may attract workers, including child workers, 
and increase migrant flows and vulnerability. There have been 
documented patterns of children migrating to large cities for work, 
only to find themselves in various forms of exploitive or abusive 
labor. The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a 
problem in Cambodia. Cambodia is reported to be a country of origin, 
transit, and destination for trafficking in children for the purposes 
of CSEC as well as various forms of work, including forced labor and 
begging. Internationally, Vietnamese children are trafficked into 
Cambodia for CSEC and forced labor and Cambodian children are 
trafficked to Thailand and Vietnam.
    Although Cambodia abolished school fees in 2001, the prohibitive 
costs of schooling (i.e., school supplies, uniforms); poor quality and 
relevance of education (i.e., limited availability of instructional 
materials, shortage of trained and motivated teachers); and inadequate 
access to schools (i.e., distance/transportation, primary schools 
lacking full range of grades, no secondary schools in many communities) 
contribute to children entering into exploitive labor, particularly in 
rural areas. School enrollment in the rural areas continues to lag 
behind urban areas. Only about 20 percent of rural children receive 
education in grades 7-9, and rural girls are 47 percent less likely to 
receive an education than boys. As of 2003, 60 percent of children who 
started primary school were likely to reach grade 5. The situation is 
compounded by a shortage of non-formal schools and literacy programs in 
rural areas.
ii. Relevant Policies, Programs, and Projects
    A number of efforts are currently being undertaken by the 
Government of Cambodia, international organizations, and 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to directly address exploitive 
child labor in Cambodia, as well as the underlying causes of child 
labor such as poverty and lack of resources. In 2006, the Government of 
Cambodia ratified both ILO Convention 182 on the Elimination of the 
Worst Forms of Child Labor and the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, 
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and 
Children. The government has drafted a National Plan of Action for the 
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and has set time-bound 
targets for reducing the proportion of children engaging in the worst 
forms of child labor by 2015. The National Steering Committee on Child 
Labor was reconstituted in September 2006 to guide the country's 
efforts toward eliminating child labor under the National Plan of 
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Child 
labor was included as a priority issue in the first two-year Strategic 
Plan of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training for 2007-08. In 
addition, child labor concerns have been incorporated into the 
government's major development frameworks, including the National 
Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006-2010 and the Education Strategic 
Plan (ESP) 2006-2010.
    In addition to the unconditional worst forms of child labor 
identified under ILO Convention 182, the government has drafted a 
ministerial order, known as a Prakas, identifying 16 other categories 
of worst forms of child labor to be targeted for elimination. They are: 
Portering; domestic service; waste scavenging/rubbish picking; work in 
rubber and tobacco plantations; fishing; work in agricultural 
plantations; brick making; salt production; handicrafts; processing sea 
products; stone and granite breaking; quarrying; coal mining; 
restaurant work; and begging. The Ministry of Labour and Vocational 
Training has the primary responsibility for enforcement of child labor 
laws and regulations. Cambodia's Labor Law defines 15 as the minimum 
age for work (18 for hazardous work), although children between 12 and 
15 may do light, non-hazardous work that does not prevent regular 
attendance at school or other training programs. Employers who violate 
the law may be fined 31 to 60 days of the base daily wage. The Labor 
Law prohibits work that is hazardous to the mental and physical 
development of children under age 18 and prohibits all forced or 
compulsory labor, including in agriculture and domestic work. However, 
the Labor Law currently applies only to the formal sector, while child 
labor exists mostly in the informal sector.
    Addressing trafficking in persons is a priority for the Government 
of Cambodia, which drafted a National Plan of Action Against 
Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Exploitation 2005-2009. The National 
Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Exploitation 
expands the scope of a previous plan to include trafficking for both 
sexual and labor exploitation purposes. Along with Burma, Laos, the 
People's Republic of China, Thailand, and Vietnam, Cambodia is 
signatory to the ``Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against 
Trafficking (COMMIT).''

[[Page 32876]]

    Cambodia is currently participating in several USDOL-funded 
projects designed to combat exploitive child labor and provide 
educational opportunities for children. The ``Support to the Cambodian 
National Plan of Action on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor: A Timebound Approach,'' implemented by ILO-IPEC, aims to 
withdraw 4,260 and prevent 5,650 children from working in exploitive 
conditions in several sectors: Brick-making (Shanoukville, Siem Riep, 
Kampong Cham); portering (Banteay Meancheay); rubber-making (Kampong 
Cham); domestic service (Phnom Penh); salt production (Kampot and Kep); 
fish processing (Shanoukville, Kampot, Kep); services such as hotel 
work, restaurant work, and beer promotion (Siem Riep and Phnom Penh); 
and trafficking (Shanoukville, Banteay Meancheay, Prey Veng). In 
addition, the project is building a robust enabling environment for the 
development and implementation of policies and programs on child labor 
and increasing the knowledge and capacity of the government and 
stakeholders on child labor.
    USDOL is currently funding three child labor and education projects 
in Cambodia, implemented by Hagar International, World Education, and 
Winrock International. The Hagar International project assists 
trafficked women and children by providing temporary shelter, 
rehabilitative and counseling services, literacy and vocational 
training classes, and assistance with reintegration into their 
communities of origin or new communities. The World Education project 
works in Prey Veng, Kompong Cham, Banteay Meanchay, and Phnom Penh to 
reduce the number of children trafficked and/or involved in CSEC and 
domestic labor. As of September 2006, the project had prevented 15,749 
children from being trafficked through provision of educational and 
other services. Cambodia is also part of CIRCLE, a global project 
implemented by Winrock International and funded by USDOL that aims to 
reduce the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labor by 
funding small-scale projects carried out by community-based 
organizations. CIRCLE project strategies in Cambodia have included 
awareness-raising among children at high risk of dropping out of 
school, and strengthening education systems to better serve children 
who have been trafficked and/or involved in CSEC, out-of-school youth, 
and child migrants. In addition, external funding to target poverty 
reduction, increase access to basic services, and strengthen 
institutions from partners such as the World Bank, the Asian 
Development Bank, and several other UN agencies continues to support 
programs in Cambodia.
iii. Scope of Work
    Applicants should design a creative project strategy to build 
partnerships to combat exploitive child labor and improve education for 
children engaged in, or at-risk of entering, exploitive labor, taking 
into account the socio-economic conditions in Cambodia. Applicants must 
also take any cross-cutting themes (discussed below) into account that 
could affect project results in Cambodia and meaningfully incorporate 
them into the proposed strategy, either to increase opportunities for, 
or to reduce obstacles to, successful implementation.

1. Specific Target Groups, Sectors, and/or Geographic Focus

    The Government of Cambodia has identified priority sectors for 
attention under its draft National Plan of Action for the Elimination 
of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. In line with the draft National Plan 
of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, USDOL 
has identified hazardous child labor in agriculture as the primary 
sector of focus for this project. Specifically, Applicants should 
prioritize children engaged in hazardous work on commercial farms and 
subsistence agriculture, where children's work prevents them from going 
to school, exposes them to harmful chemicals, and places them at risk 
of injury from heavy loads, agricultural tools, or machinery. Specific 
sub-sectors within agriculture should be clearly identified by 
Applicants. Applicants should also propose additional sectors of focus 
that are in accordance with the draft National Plan of Action for the 
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and can include but are 
not limited to, mining, CSEC, scavenging/garbage picking, brick making, 
portering, stone quarrying/breaking, fishing, begging, work in 
restaurants, hotels, and karaoke bars, and domestic service. A 
convincing justification must be included for selection of target 
sectors, and justifications should clearly demonstrate knowledge of 
existing interventions in those sectors and how the proposed project 
will build off of or complement existing or past interventions.
    In determining provincial targets, Applicants should take into 
consideration priority areas outlined in the draft National Plan of 
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, as well 
as the location of current USDOL-funded activities and ensure that 
efforts are not duplicated and that efforts/resources are leveraged 
where possible. At a minimum, Applicants should propose four provinces 
for project interventions and provide a clear justification for 
choices. Applicants are encouraged to target populations that are 
particularly disadvantaged, such as girls.

2. Collaboration With Specific Programs and/or Links to Specific 
National Policies

    Applicants should demonstrate a thorough knowledge of ongoing and 
previously piloted interventions and good practices to eliminate child 
labor in Cambodia and the Mekong region, at the local, national and 
regional levels. Proposals should support and/or build upon the efforts 
of past and existing projects to withdraw children from, and prevent 
children from entering, the worst forms of child labor in agricultural 
and other sectors in rural areas; children's involvement in 
prostitution and begging in urban areas; as well as the trafficking of 
children for exploitive labor, without duplicating ongoing or previous 
efforts. Interventions and activities should support the government's 
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor. At minimum, collaborations should take place with the MOLVT; the 
Ministry of Social Affairs; Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY); 
the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MOEYS); the National 
Steering Committee; provincial and local-level government officials; 
ILO-IPEC; World Education; United Nations agencies and other 
International Organizations working in Cambodia; the Civil Society 
Network Against Child Labor; and other NGO's and local groups working 
on child welfare and social service provision.

3. Implementing Environment/Cross-Cutting Themes

    Over the past decade, Cambodia's economic growth has improved, but 
its history of conflict and resulting negative socio-economic effects 
have left the country with significant development challenges that must 
be considered when designing project interventions. Applicants should 
consider the specific challenges of a lack of basic rural 
infrastructure; low capacity of civil society and governmental 
institutions; lack of access to quality and relevant

[[Page 32877]]

education, especially in rural areas; and the lack of a skilled 
workforce. In addition, Cambodia is a country of origin, transit, and 
destination for trafficking in persons. Given children's vulnerability 
to being trafficked due to lack of economic resources, lack of 
education, and migration patterns in the region, internal and cross-
border trafficking of children should be addressed in the application. 
However, the primary focus of the project should not be on trafficking; 
rather, trafficking should be addressed within the overall context or 
as a project component.

4. Project-Specific Strategies

    Applicants must propose a strategy that supports the government's 
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor and contributes toward Cambodia's targets for reducing the 
incidence of the worst forms of child labor by 2015. In order to 
address the inadequacies of the current education system, the proposed 
strategy should assist in increasing the capacity of the Ministry of 
Education offices nationally and in target provinces to ensure improved 
service delivery, increased budgetary commitments and management, and 
awareness of child labor. Service delivery and management should be 
further enhanced in both the formal and non-formal system through 
teacher and administrator trainings and other approaches as proposed by 
the Applicant. Given the lack of alternatives to formal schooling in 
rural areas, the Applicant must also design a strategy to assist 
children who are not able or are unwilling to attend formal school, by 
providing access to non-formal education and vocational training. If 
cultural traditions and norms impact decisions about schooling, 
Applicants must show how education programs would be sensitive and 
responsive to these traditions, particularly as they relate to girls' 
education.
    Enforcement of existing labor laws is inadequate in Cambodia. To 
address this issue, Applicants should propose a strategy for increasing 
the capacity of labor inspectors on enforcement of legal provisions 
relating to child labor in the formal workplace, and contribute to 
ongoing efforts to expand legislation to cover children working in the 
informal sector. This strategy should demonstrate how efforts would be 
coordinated with, and complementary of, existing efforts of the ILO-
IPEC-supported Timebound Program and the government's National Plan of 
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. In 
addition, Applicants should design activities to support the government 
in its review of its current list of hazardous child labor and 
finalization of the new list, efforts to raise awareness of the list, 
and improve compliance and enforcement of regulations surrounding the 
list.
    There is a lack of systematic and reliable data on the 
unconditional worst forms of child labor in Cambodia. These forms of 
child labor are often culturally sensitive and/or illicit, making 
information difficult to gather. Applicants are encouraged to conduct 
small-scale research projects and disseminate findings on the 
unconditional worst forms of child labor in Cambodia, especially on 
products made from exploitive child labor or forced labor. This 
information should also be used in formulating more targeted and 
coordinated responses.
Project of Support to the Colombia Timebound Program on the Elimination 
of the Worst Forms of Child Labor
i. Background
    In Colombia, 10.4 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were found 
working in 2001. The majority of working children were found in the 
services sector (49.9 percent), followed by agriculture (35.6 percent), 
and manufacturing (12.6 percent). Approximately 14.1 percent of all 
boys 5 to 14 were working compared to 6.6 percent of girls in the same 
age group. Children mine and process emeralds, gold, clay, and coal 
under dangerous conditions. Some work in aspects of the illegal drug 
trade, such as harvesting coca. Child labor is also a problem in the 
informal sector, where children work in agriculture, commerce, 
industry, and services. Many girls work in domestic service.
    Child pornography and commercial sexual exploitation of children 
(CSEC), including prostitution and sexual tourism, are reported in 
Cartagena and at resorts on the Caribbean Coast. Colombia is a major 
source of girls trafficked for the purpose of CSEC. Children are 
trafficked internally from rural to urban areas for sexual 
exploitation, and are also trafficked abroad. Children in Colombia are 
also recruited, sometimes forcibly, by insurgent and paramilitary 
groups to serve as combatants in the country's ongoing conflict.
ii. Relevant Policies, Programs, and Projects
    There are a number of efforts by the Government of Colombia, 
international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) 
to address exploitive child labor. The Government of Colombia's policy 
framework to address child labor has been the National Plan for the 
Elimination of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Youth (2003-
2006). The government and other relevant actors are drafting a new 
national plan, which has not yet been officially approved.
    In November of 2006, a new legal framework was put into effect, the 
Childhood and Adolescence Code, which replaces most all provisions of 
the 1989 Minor's Code, and includes provisions related to child labor. 
The 2006 Code establishes the government's obligation to eliminate the 
worst forms of child labor. The Ministry of Social Protection (MSP) is 
responsible for enforcing child labor laws in the formal sector and 
protecting adolescent workers authorized by the government to work. 
Labor can only be performed by those under the legal working age of 14 
under special circumstances. Various legal provisions regulate the 
conditions under which minors may work to ensure that their education 
is not compromised. Employers must enroll 12 to 17 year olds who have 
not completed basic education in school and allow them sufficient time 
to pursue their studies. Schools must report cases to authorities in 
which children are involved in the worst forms of child labor. The 
National Police is also responsible for detecting and investigating 
these cases.
    Other important policy frameworks and legal instruments that 
address exploitive child labor in Colombia include the National Plan of 
Action for the Prevention and Eradication of Commercial Sexual 
Exploitation of Boys, Girls, and Adolescents Below 18 Years of Age 
(2006-2011), and Colombia's Ten-Year Plan for Children (2004-2015). A 
Ministry of Social Protection Resolution prohibiting children under 18 
from certain forms of dangerous work was published in December 2005. In 
compliance with Colombia's ratification in 2005 of ILO Convention 182 
on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, the law prohibits those under age 18 
from the worst forms of child labor.
    The Government of Colombia participates in several programs to 
eliminate exploitive child labor that are funded by international 
organizations and foreign governments including the United States. 
These programs include a USDOL-funded project implemented by World 
Vision to withdraw and prevent children from exploitive labor in the 
municipalities of Funza and Madrid. Colombia also participates in a 
regional project in four South American countries to withdraw and 
prevent

[[Page 32878]]

children from CSEC and child domestic labor, and was part of a global 
project on child soldiers, both funded by USDOL and implemen