Intervention Projects to Deliver Services to
Working Children in Egypt
A detailed Description of the Projects:
Duration: April 2000 until 2001
Location: Khom Ghorab, a squatter area of Old Cairo
Objectives:
Target Group: 300 working children in the age group 8-15, basically in
leather tanning, auto workshops, and furnace-based industries.
Activities:
- Providing literacy classes for working children
- Providing social and health services and vocational training for
working children.
- Re-enrollment in schools of 100 dropouts from basic education.
- Increasing income of poor families who have a working child by
providing micro credit.
- Raising awareness in the community among employers, and improving
working conditions.
- Maintaining sustainability by supporting a local organization within
the community to take over and make future plans for the project.
Duration: August 14th 1998 until August 14th 1999
Location: Shubra El Kheima in Qaluyoubeya Governorate
Objectives:
- To support and increase the capacity of the NGO in combating child
labor and withdrawing children from dangerous work.
- To withdraw selected children from hazardous work in textiles,
plastics, and auto workshops in Shubra El Kheima, and to provide them with
education and training opportunities as well as health services,
protection and recreation.
- To raise awareness in the community among parents, employers and
leaders on the dangers of hazardous and exploitative work of children.
Target Group: Working Children in Shubra El Kheima
Main Characteristics:
- Age Categories: The selected children included two age groups:
Children under 12 years of age (about 30%) Children between 12-14 years of
age (about 70%)
- Sex: The selected children included both males and females.
- Industries: The first phase of the project concentrated on children
working in textiles, plastics and auto workshops.
Total Number: The targeted number of working children was 300.
Selection Criteria: Targeting gave priority to the following factors:
- Exploitative occupations or conditions
- Poor family background
- Families willing to cooperate with the project
Institutional Framework: Description of the Responsible Institution
Implementation was undertaken by the NGO "Gami'at Tanmeyet Al Mogtama -
Manshiyat Al Nasr". The NGO provides the following services for the
community:
- Several clinics have been equipped to treat different diseases. Minor
operations are also undertaken.
- A private school provides basic education.
- A training center provides opportunities for girls and women to learn
sewing and knitting and contributes to raising their income through
production.
The Craftsman City (Herafeyeen Village) was established in 1989, in order
to transfer the workshops of car repair, smithery and carpentry operating in
several districts in Cairo. Since its establishment, 380 workshops have been
included.
Children working at Craftsman City: 711 children are working in workshops
in Craftsman City.
In the light of the child labor situation in the Craftsmen City, the
National Council for Childhood and Motherhood carried out in October 1997 a
pilot experiment together with a number of responsible agencies, for the
purpose of protecting these children, health-wise, socially and culturally,
in addition to offering services to children and to their families.
Project Objectives
- Offering integrated care programs for working children, and developing
the existing services
- Improving the working conditions of 380 workshops in which children
work
- Providing health protection and health care
- Guiding family members to join vocational training centers, in order
to create an alternative income other than that of the working child
- Eradicating the illiteracy of fathers, mothers, and workshop owners
- Raising the standard of environmental awareness among children and
inhabitants of the city
Services offered by project to working children and their families
- In the Health Domain
Periodic checkup and offering necessary treatment and
preventive services.
Providing complementary meals to the children.
Raising health awareness through health educational seminars.
- In the Educational Domain
Eradicating the illiteracy of children, who were never
enrolled in schools, or who had dropped out
Literacy programs for parents of working children.
- In the Social Domain
Training mothers on income-producing crafts, in order to
raise the living standard of families
Offering household counseling to acquaint people with services
available in the various domain.
- In the Cultural and Recreational Domain
Holding symposia and cultural meetings with the participation
of children, in order to study some important issues, such as:
(smoking - drug addiction - spending leisure time).
Allowing children to participate in sports programs, trips, visits to
theatres and kinds
Holding contests among children, participating in team games and
spending free time in useful activities.
- In the Environmental Domain
Establishing the "Friends of the Environment Club" as a
center for raising environmental awareness, getting acquainted
with environmental problems and participating in solving them
Services offered by the project to employers:
- Literacy programs
- Holding seminars for spreading environmental awareness and enhancing
social participation
The UNICEF - Egypt office initiated in 1993 a pilot project for working
children in Alexandria. The initial objective of the project was to improve
the working and living conditions of working children and to contribute to
developing their personalities, talents and abilities.
Practical experience indicated the need for adopting a holistic approach
to addressing the problem. New components were introduced into the project
to include preventive, protective and developmental measures.
This project is implemented in two areas: EL Haggari and Maawa EL
Sayadeen in the West District Alexandria.
At present the project is a collaborative initiative coordinated by the
chief of the West District and with the collaboration of three NGOs: the
Maritime Scouts, Sidi Gaber and Sidi Ali EL Sammak associations.
Target group : Served 2000 working children and 2000 mothers of working
children or potential working children.
Community Development Activities: in Karmouz and in Maawa El Sayadeen
serving most of the inhabitants in the two locations.
Main Objectives:
- Improve the working and living conditions of working children through
improving their talents, personalities, health, education and vocational
skills, as well as providing them with safety measures and raising the
awareness of the children and their employers regarding occupational
safety.
- Contribute to the protection of working children to ensure a healthy
developmental environment for their upbringing. This component includes
empowering mothers of working children and mothers of potential working
children through literacy programs, health and nutrition awareness and
environmental upgrading. These activities contribute to the improvement of
the living conditions of working children.
- Contribute to the prevention of child labor through the provision of
credit and training for poor mothers to enhance their income generating
ability. The purpose is to take the burden off the working children and
enable the vulnerable mothers to send their children to school.
A supervisory committee formed from local representatives of the involved
NGOs and headed by the Chief of the District (local government) coordinates
the three components of the project.
Specific Objectives:
Currently, the project achieves the following specific objectives:
- Monitor the situation of working children and those at risk of
becoming working children, through a mechanism established at local
community level.
- Develop working children's personalities, talents, mental and physical
abilities.
- Facilitate access to community based health services for working
children in order to improve their health status safety and working
conditions.
- Promote occupational health awareness among workshop owners, working
children and their families and to encourage the use of safety equipment.
- Contribute to the prevention of child labor through the provision of
credit and training for poor mothers.
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