13 The literature review revealed that the occurrence of child labor and child trafficking are
entwined in poverty and social injustices making it a problem that cannot be tackled in isolation.
1.7 Reducing Child Labor and Trafficking CLaT in Fisheries
The SFMP objective for activity 1.7 is to contribute to the prevention of child labor and trafficking in sourced communities in the Central Region through evidence-based information
gathering and the implementation of behavioral change communications. Towards this, the following key activities were implemented in Year 1.
Literature Review on Child Labor and Trafficking in Ghana
SFMP conducted a comprehensive literature review on Child Labor and Trafficking CLaT in Ghana to understand the issues. Information gathered by the review revealed the existence of
several forms of child labor in Ghana, especially in the Agriculture sector, Small Scale Mining sector, amongst domestic workers and many other areas. The literature review revealed that
children work in a variety of fields as part of family enterprises, as unpaid family workers, self- employed or employed by others. In the agriculture sector, CLaT occurs in cocoa production,
fisheries, aquaculture, livestock, forestry and other sub-sectors.
The review also identified about 78 key organizations and institutions working on Child labor and Child trafficking issues in Ghana as a database for future work.
Child Labor and Trafficking Participatory Rural Appraisal Participatory Rural Appraisal on child labor and trafficking was conducted in 35 communities in
the Central Region. The process involved initial scoping visits to find out communities where the practice was pervasive. This was followed with over 800 individual household surveys in the 35
communities.. The Information collated revealed that CLaT activities were very intensive in the Central Region where children were given off for free or at very low fees to traffickers. Some of
the perpetrators explained that the new caretakers were rather helping the poor families by reducing the burden of providing basic necessities for the children.
The information also revealed that children from the Central Region have been trafficked to work in other areas in Ghana, notable; the Volta Lake areas, as well as to neighboring countries;
Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Senegal.
Information gathered from the survey participants revealed that the root cause of CLaT is poverty, deprivation, poor parenting and economic hardship, illiteracy and weak regulatory institutions were
the underlying factors for widespread CLaT in central region. Also large family where the parents are unable to provide and control the children makes the children in the family susceptible to CLaT.
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PRA Survey Validation workshop
A validation workshop was organized to certify the findings of the CLaT PRA
exercise. Participants attending the validation workshop were drawn from various
stakeholders’ institutions and organization in Ghana; including Government institutions,
Security Agencies, CSOs, Media, Traditional Leaders, Community leaders, SFMP partners,
International NGOs, Fisher folks, academia, etc. Participants of the workshop discussed
finding of the survey and corroborated the ongoing widespread CLaT practices in Central
Region that served as source for child trafficking. Participants also stressed the need
for a multi-sectorial approach to address the CLaT issues in Ghana. They noted that low
capacity of regulatory agencies; inadequate manpower, financial and logistical resources
to tackle CLaT issues was a major challenge.
Training for CLaT Community Volunteers
CEWEFIA identified 40 community champions; 20 each from Elmina and Moree
in the Central Region where the practice persists. These champions were oriented to
become anti-CLaT Advocates in the various communities. They were oriented on the
concept of child labor; Population Health and Environment PHE and its linkages with
CLaT, the Depletion of the Natural Resources and how it leads to CLAT, etc. The workshop
also successfully contributed to equipping them with communication skills to engage
well with targeted households. A refresher training was also organized for the advocates
to share ideas, experiences and feedback from the community after the orientation 25th
September, 2015.The meeting also aimed at giving insight on the distinction between child
labor, acceptable child work and worse forms of Child Labor and behavioral change
communications.
Figure 8 Under-age children working alongside adults on the beach
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IR 2: Science and Technology Applied to Policy and Management
This component area seeks to improve fisheries management processes by engaging scientific research and findings as part of the driving forces and rationale for management.
2.1 Scientific and Technical Working Group
