Arise project impresses Malawi
under the initiative
Malawi’s Ministry of Labour, principal secretary Wezie Kayira has hailed Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in Support of Education (Arise) project for withdrawing many children from hard labour and bringing them back to school.
Kayira said this last week at Ganya Primary School ground in Traditional Authority (T/A) Ganya in Ntcheu during commemorations of the World Day Against Child Labour.
“This project has led to increased enrolment of pupils. For instance, at Kampanje Primary School, the enrolment has increased from 890 to 1326,” said Kayira, who commended the community for embracing the project.
Arise is a programme developed by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in partnership with Winrock International and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to prevent and eliminate child labour by addressing the social and economic factors that drive smallholder tobacco farmers to engage children in hazardous work.
It aims at reducing child labour through improvements in education and foster economic empowerment for tobacco growing communities.
So far, the project has withdrawn 228 children from child labour in Lilongwe and Ntcheu where it is being implemented.
Arise programme manager Dalitso Baloyi said the project provides school materials for targeted children as well as entrepreneurship training.
“We also provide conditional capital investment for their mothers or guardians to create successful income generating activities,” said Baloyi.
