Stop Child Labour & Promote Education
Child labour impedes progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Exploitation and child labor represent a significant problem in Cameroon and in many parts of Africa even though the prevalence of child labor has been falling in recent years. Its practice continues to harm the physical and mental development of children and adolescents and interferes with their education. In African countries 2 in 10 children between the ages of 5-14 work, while in Cameroon, it is estimated that between 1 and 2 million children under the age of 15 work.
Child labor reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty, undermines national economies and impedes achieving progress towards the Development Goals. It is not only a cause, but also a consequence of social inequities reinforced by discrimination.
President Pqul Biya made this issue a top priority in his Administration’s Emergency Development Plan 2015- 2018. As a result, Cameroon’s Secretariat of Labor and Social Security chose LEBIAMEDS as a partner given the Foundation’s experience spearheading campaigns in Cameroon, working in the hemisphere on sensitive issues such as child labor, human trafficking, and discrimination, and managing multi-sectorial programs as well as cultivating institutional relations with actors from government, private sector, and civil society.