Children in Egypt are leaving hazardous, life-threatening work for safer workplaces as part of a pilot project that recently earned an award for MEDA’s PPIC-Work* project.

A case study outlining the pilot project won first place in the Good Practice Competition on Responsible Business Conduct organized by the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center in partnership with GIZ, the World Bank Institute, the UN Global Compact and the MENA-Responsible Business Conduct Forum. (MENA = Middle East/North Africa)

As part of the project, PPIC-Work was asked by the Egyptian government to look at some of the worst forms of child labour and help provide opportunities for children to move from dangerous workplaces to safer environments.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines “worst forms” as work that is inherently hazardous and/or exploitative and from which children should be removed. PPIC-Work makes a distinction between these “worst forms” and other, safe workplaces where children who must earn a living can also learn meaningful skills to improve their lives in the long term.

In the Cairo area, PPIC-Work staff found two areas of special concern – children working in lead smelters, removing lead from batteries, and those working in scrap sorting of industrial garbage.

PPIC-Work partnered with the Center for Development Services to identify children as young as 12 working in these areas and to link them with businesses having less hazardous working environments – construction, furniture manufacturing and textile production – that offer apprenticeships.

As part of the pilot, the children also received literacy and numeracy training and good prospects for employment at the end of the training period, when they turn 18.

“The pilot project proved that good business practices can be matched with responsible and ethical treatment of children who work,” says Jennifer Denomy, MEDA’s director of youth and financial services.

“The award brought a positive note to the closure of our PPIC-Work project in Egypt after nine years, and we are delighted that CDS, our partner in this pilot project, will continue this work.”

* PPIC-Work: Promoting and Protecting the Interests of Children who Work