A visit by the Albanian Teachers’ Union FSASH and Indian organisation MV Foundation to teachers’ unions in Central America marked a new departure in south-south cooperation last month. For the first time ever teachers’ unions and civil society organisations from Europe, Latin America and Asia came together to share experiences on how they are fighting child labour in their respective countries.
The main goal of the visit was not only exchange information but also to deal with context-specific issues relating to child labour and enrolment. Successful approaches and strategies to enrol and retain working children in formal, full-time education and the specific role of teachers unions to prevent and eliminate child labour were the main topics of discussion.
Mr. Stavri Liko from FSASH had an intensive week of meetings with Central American teachers’ unions from Honduras (COLPROSUMAH, PRICPMAH, COPRUM, COPEM and COLPEDAGOGOS) and Nicaragua (ANDEN) as well as other organisations involved in the fight against child labour in the region (Compartir, Cidenic and Cenidh). The discussions were fruitful and participants learned a lot about successful approaches followed by their teacher colleagues in other countries who face similar challenges.
The Exchange of Experiences mission is a follow up activity of last year’s regional conference Out of Work into School. The latter was organised by the Stop Child Labour: School is the best place to work campaign in cooperation with Compartir in Honduras. At his event, over 80 organizations signed the Honduras Declaration which reflects a commitment to work towards the total elimination of child labour and the provision of Education for All. For more information, please contact us at efaids@ei-ie.org.