What Are Some Solutions to Child Slavery?
With over 152 million child laborers worldwide, child labor and child slavery are significant problems.1 However, there are some solutions to child slavery.
To combat child slavery and child labor, we need to address the root of poverty. So how can we eliminate poverty and help protect children from slavery?
One way to address poverty and child labor is through education assistance. Lack of education often contributes to poverty, especially cyclical poverty. Parents who did not receive an education not only typically earn less, but they are less likely to put their children in school and encourage them in their education. Through education, children learn valuable skills, such as literacy, math and relational skills. These skills are vital to escaping poverty because they enable children to hope. If children can graduate from secondary school, that increases their chances of obtaining jobs with better pay than their parents and even looking for better opportunities. Schools need to be built, funded and staffed. Even more importantly, families need money to pay for school tuition, uniforms and supplies.
When children regularly attend school, traffickers have less time and access to those children. When families are not in desperate financial situations, children do not need to work to help meet the needs of the family.
What is GFA World doing to help alleviate poverty and end child slavery? Here are some examples:
GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program — Through this program, GFA World connects donors to impoverished children, who may be at risk of falling into the trap of child labor. Donors’ monthly contributions are pooled to provide community-wide solutions, providing invaluable resources such as food, school supplies, clean water, health care, and much more. These resources relieve financial pressure on families. Through the child sponsorship program, children and their families begin to experience hope in new and powerful ways.
Vocational skills training — According to the World Bank,
“One-third of the working-age population in low- and middle-income countries lack the basic skills required to get quality jobs, leaving them unable to achieve their full productive potential and limiting economic investment and growth.”2
GFA World partners with donors to provide vocational training classes for adults to help them develop skills necessary for an occupation like tailoring. These new skills are invaluable solutions to poverty that empower individuals to earn better income for themselves and their families, which in turn helps kids remain in school.
Income-generating gifts — A one-time donation can provide animals or other income-generating gifts to an impoverished family. Gifts such as chickens, goats and cows offer families new sources of income that can help them afford food, medicine or opportunities for their children.
Learn more about child slavery1 “Global Estimates of Child Labour.” International Labour Office. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575499.pdf. 2017.
2 “Understanding Poverty: Skills Development.” The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/skillsdevelopment#1. 21 July 2021.