As the UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, we conduct research to inform policymaking and implementation. This project brief summarizes our research on child labour.

1. PROJECT BRIEF
Child
Labour
How can research
help to eliminate
child labour?
©
UNICEF/UNI394712/Dejongh

2. Overview
Child labour, particularly in its most harmful forms,
has serious and long-lasting negative impacts
on child well-being, exposing children to health
hazards, violence and exploitation. SDG 8.7 – a
rapidly approaching priority highlighted by the 2021
InternationalYear for the Elimination of Child Labour
– calls for urgent action to eliminate child labour in
all of its forms by 2025. However, despite progress,
152 million children globally are still deprived of
their rights to education, play and protection from
harm. Protracted school closures and the economic
impact of COVID-19 will likely further worsen
this situation. Now, more than ever, rigorous
context-specific research is needed to inform policy
and programme efforts and increase awareness on
child labour.
Approach
UNICEF Innocenti is committed to building the evidence
base on strategies to eliminate child labour recognizing
that this is the result of a complex set of determinants
– including social norms and access to quality schoo-
ling – beyond poverty. First, we synthesize the latest data
and evidence on the key determinants of child labour in
diverse geographical, economic and social contexts. Next,
through interdisciplinary, mixed methods research, we
study the impacts of child labour policies and program-
mes across relevant sectors including education and social
protection.We also collaborate with researchers, practi-
tioners and policymakers to inform and support policies
and interventions that address child labour.Our research
adopts a strong gender lens in line with UNICEF’s commit-
ment to gender-transformative approaches to child rights.
We draw attention to the distinct experiences of children
andyouth living in marginalized circumstances, including
those engaged in migration.
Goal
We use research to identify, communicate results
and promote knowledge uptake on effective strate-
gies for eliminating child labour. At every stage of
the research process, we strive to include meanin-
gful co-creation – including close engagement with
stakeholders from governments, civil society and
families, particularly at the national level – and
equitable, meaningful inclusion of the voices of
children and youth.
Project Highlights
PROJECT BRIEF
Contact Info
Josiah Kaplan
Child Protection Specialist
jkaplan@unicef.org
Addressing child labour through integrated
programming in sub-Saharan Africa.
Direct payments of cash to households, or cash
transfers, can contribute to reducing child labour, though
they may not be enough. Multi-component interventions
including cash and services (‘cash plus’) are proving to
be effective to address the multiple determinants of child
labour. For instance, services to address child labour can
include supplying primary education in locations where
the risk of child labour is high and providing linkages
to strengthened community-based child protection
networks ensuring psychosocial, medical and legal care
and support to children engaged in child labour or at risk
of exploitation.
With funding from the United States Department of
Labor, UNICEF Innocenti is conducting research to
assess the effectiveness of integrated social protection
programming in eliminating child labour in sub-Saha-
ran Africa.This research builds on previous impact
evaluations conducted under theTransfer Project, a
research and learning initiative of the Food and Agricul-
ture Organization, the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and UNICEF
.
Valeria Groppo
Social Policy Specialist
vgroppo@unicef.org
Educational strategies to address child labour in
India and Bangladesh.
While educational policies and programmes show
promise as a means of reducing child labour, the
global evidence base on their effectiveness is limited,
especially in South Asia. Not enough is known about
what works, how and why. More research is needed
to understand which supply- and demand-side
educational interventions can effectively address
child labour, particularly in its worst forms.
This four-year research project examines the types
of educational strategies that can drive sustainable
changes in child labour and address marginality and
diversity with a focus on India and Bangladesh.
Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office, the project will generate
evidence on the interlinkages between child labour
and education, and map evidence on the effective-
ness of educational strategies to reduce child labour.
Through a challenge research and innovation fund,
it will also contribute to ideating, piloting and scaling
up new educational interventions addressing child
labour.