From Barranquilla to Lima in Reducing Child Labor: Lessons in Community Action

Abstract

El programa Edúcame Primero Colombia se aplicó para la prevención del trabajo infantil entre 2008 y 2010 como parte de una iniciativa de cooperación al desarrollo en 7 departamentos de Colombia, con la participación de cerca de 10.000 niños. A partir de entonces Universidad del Norte procedió a la apropiación local del programa, entre 2011-2013: la intervención se llevó a cabo a través de una red de estudiantes universitarios que realizan sus prácticas en 33 escuelas y fundaciones educativas de Barranquilla, departamento del Atlántico. En este artículo se resumen las lecciones aprendidas por los facilitadores del programa, así como los profesores y directores de las escuelas donde se implementó el programa. Sistematizamos las experiencias en Colombia con el fin de permitir la transferencia de la misma intervención a Lima (Perú).

According to International Labour Organization (ILO) 168 million children work worldwide, 85 million of which are engaged in hazardous work. In the past decade a 30 per cent reduction of child labor worldwide has been achieved with programs that promote universal access to quality education, conditional cash transfer and coalitions of social agents. The program Edúcame Primero Colombia for prevention of child labor was applied between 2008 and 2010 as part of a cooperation for development initiative in 7 departments of Colombia, with the participation of about 10,000 children. Thereafter Universidad del Norte proceeded to local ownership of the program from 2011 to 2013: the intervention was implemented through a network of university students doing their practices in 33 schools and educational foundations of Barranquilla, Department of the Atlantic. In this piece we summarize the lessons learned by facilitators of the program as well as teachers and principals of the schools where the program was implemented. We systematize the experiences in Colombia in order to enable the transference of the same intervention to Lima (Peru). This work was possible with the support of a SCRA Community Mini-Grant that was helpful for organizing meetings with facilitators, conducting interviews with teachers and principals, and elaborating a video with lessons learned in Colombia, which will be used for launching the program in Peru next year.