Name: Nayla Zaatini
Title: Children and Youth Coordinator
Project name: Strengthening Exports of Lebanese Fruits and Vegtables to European and Regional Markets funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Child labour is prevalent in the agricultural sector especially that it occurs in a family farming concept in Lebanon and in most developing countries. Some children are subjected to the worst forms of child labour and are deprived from all their rights. Low-socioeconomic status force families sometimes to rely on child labour for coping mechanism. Other factors may lead to child labour such as lack of law enforcement, illiteracy and cultural influence. Accordingly, and under the scope of this project, RMF is tackling the socio-economic conditions (poverty) and education. By enhancing the sustainable income for families and creating job opportunities, families will be motivated to enroll their children in schools. This is one of the added values of having a large number of people engaged in income generating activities on the project. From the education perspective, RMF is tackling it in two ways,
whereby the project showcases a successful complementarity between the RMF Education & Human Development and Agriculture & Rural Development departments to support vulnerable children involved in all kinds of labor through basic literacy and numeracy classes that will build the child’s skills as well as vocational training aiming to transform child labor into decent work. Zero tolerance to taking away a child’s right is not an option, it is a must.
