From 2019 to 2024, the USDOL-funded Palma Futuro project worked to promote acceptable working conditions and the prevention and eradication of child labor and forced labor in palm oil supply chains in Colombia and Ecuador. Through the project’s community engagement and diagnostics, we found child labor to be pervasive. It is common for children to regularly support housework at young ages or accompany their parents to work and help with various tasks, such as carrying things between work locations or collecting fruit. Child labor of this sort is endemic in the communities; it is considered not only normal, but often the best option available, due to a lack of educational opportunities.
While companies are responsible for preventing and mitigating child labor within their operations, community engagement offers a powerful pathway to strengthen the enabling environment for labor rights. By involving community leaders, parents, schools, and other local actors, the responsibility is broadened, leading to more sustainable, systemic change.
Even if they are aware of the risks, it can often be a challenge for parents and caregivers to identify and understand child labor, which can take many forms beyond the typical image of an underage worker illegally working for pay. Over the project, we found that hands-on, interactive activities are the most effective way to teach communities about complex and sensitive issues like child labor.
As part of this work, SAI worked closely with communities throughout Ecuador and Colombia to form and implement Community Circles – spaces for dialogue where community members and leaders can identify local problems and develop and implement their own solutions to address them. Members also help raise awareness to promote labor rights and address child labor and forced labor in their communities. In recognition of World Day Against Child Labor, we’re sharing a few examples of creative methods developed by these Community Circles to address child labor.
Community Festivals for Self Expression
A series of twelve festivals was developed in Colombia through an in-depth dialogue between the Palma Futuro project, its private sector partners and their surrounding communities. Organized by Community Circles with support from SAI, they were called Festivals of Experiences and Stories: Together for a Tomorrow Without Child and Forced Labor (Festivales Vivencias y Relatos).
The festivals brought hundreds of children, parents, and other community members together to participate in learning about the risks of child labor and expressing their feelings about it. SAI worked closely with the children to share their experiences and stories of hope through drawings, poems, songs, dances, writing, and music. The festivals provided a space for parents and children to learn from each other in a profound way – and they were an opportunity to come together and have fun! Watch our video about the Festivals of Experiences and Stories below.
“We knew that many of the parents who attended the Experiences and Stories Festivals had difficult childhoods themselves – many left school for work to help support their families. We also knew that many of them had never had the opportunity to attend events like this, with entertainment, games, dancing, storytelling, and more. At the festivals, you could really see the happiness and emotions on their faces.”
Leyla Patricia Baquero Uribe
Palma Futuro Community Engagement Consultant (Colombia)Click “CC” for English subtitles
Creative Tools to Spark Conversation
In Ecuador, local school teachers suspected that many young children were busy outside of school helping their parents work on farms, which led to incomplete homework and skipping school. Community Circle members learned that the teachers weren’t sure how to approach this sensitive topic or discuss the risks of child labor with families, and decided that a creative approach was needed.
SAI worked with the teachers to implement the “clock activity” with students – a tool that allows children to visualize how they spend their day by encouraging them to write about or draw what they are normally doing during each hour of the day. Following the activity, the Community Circle connected school administrators with a child labor specialist from the Ministry of Labor, who conducted a discussion with local parents to help them better understand the risks of child labor and the importance of school and recreational activities for children’s development.
A Local School’s Incredible Transformation
The local school in La Paulina, Colombia was falling apart. The walls and roof were crumbling, the rotting smell was unbearable, and teachers feared the building would collapse all together. Classes were often forced to take place outside, students squeezing together under a tree for shade. When it rained, water dripped from the roof onto papers, so many children skipped school on rainy days. Then, many stopped coming altogether.
The school had fallen into extreme deterioration after years of disrepair, making it nearly impossible for children to learn. There was no running water, no doors to the bathrooms, no cafeteria or kitchen. A mother in the community said that “the walls were cracking, and the desks had almost no chairs because they were damaged, the children had to sit on the floor to be able to write.” A teacher who worked at the school described feeling depressed, knowing that the school’s conditions were often worse than what children faced at home, she said she understood why many children in the area did not attend.
Understanding that access to school is crucial to addressing child labor, the nearby Community Circle worked diligently to identify and mobilize support from local organizations to repair and renovate the school. This incredible effort resulted in a brand new building housing 150 students with six new classrooms, air conditioning, bathrooms, and a cafeteria. With children returning to school, this community saw a measurable reduction in child labor risk.
Before renovation
After renovation with Celia Mejia, Community Circle Member
“For me, it’s the atmosphere; it totally changed. The children come more cheerful to study, you can see the enthusiasm in the atmosphere. Also, for the community. Now, with the school that is beautiful, we’re teaching a sense of belonging, ‘I take care of it because it is mine.’”
Celia Mejia
Community Circle Member, Colombia→ Interested in helping us continue this work? SAI has facilitated the formation of nine Community Circles in agricultural communities in Mexico and we are now looking for support to continue these important efforts. Email swilson@sa-intl.org to learn more.
