According to the latest National Labour Force Survey (NLFS) 2021, released last week by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), a total of 6.2 million children (40 percent) aged 5-17 years were engaged in some form of child labour (excluding household chores). The largest share of this Child labour is prevalent in the Agriculture sector where children are employed as unpaid family workers. 19.5 percent of children in rural areas are engaged in child labour compared to 11.3 percent in urban areas (UBOS, 2021).

The ACCEL Africa Project is thus proposing a new Social Finance Model to combat this abuse and exploitation of children. In Uganda, the ACCEL Africa Project is targeted towards the Tea and Coffee supply chains with activations on strengthening livelihoods, raising awareness of child labour, integrating measures to eliminate child labour into economic activities, and providing access to financial and non-financial services.

The Social Finance Model is a comprehensive package of services whose design and delivery models put into consideration backstops to mitigate against unintended social risks of financial services including child labour. Business models designed include operational structures, training of field agents, incentive schemes, communication to farmers, digital solutions as well as creating awareness on child labour amongst services providers, like those from the financial sector, to mitigate against social risks in their product design.

The ACCEL Africa project is being implemented in six districts including Kikuube, Hoima, Buikwe, Mbale, Sironko, Bulambuli and Kabarole. The project is currently supporting more than 3000 beneficiaries both women and men as well as 4500 children from these households.

The Two-Day Launch event of the Social Finance Model will bring together key players across the Financial Sector, Implementing Partners, Local government officials from project areas, Value chain Actors (Exporters, Processors, and Input Providers), Ministries Department and Agencies, Workers and Employers Representatives, Industry Associations, Non-Government Organizations and Development Partners. It is hoped that these actors will be able to adopt, replicate the model and implement it within their operations in their intervention areas.

The First Half-day workshop, which is the official launch event will deliberate on the role of the financial sector in the elimination of child labour and enlist potential partners to replicate the social finance model. The Launch will be officiated by the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Hon. Amongi Betty Ongom. It will be opened with welcome remarks from Mr. Wellington Chibebe, Director of the ILO Office for Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi located in Dar es Salaam and remarks by UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, Susan Ngongi Namondo.

The other speakers will include; the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda, Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego, and Dr. Karin Boven Ambassador of the Government of Netherlands to Uganda. A presentation of the Social Finance Model shall be delivered by a representative from ILO prior its official launch by Minister Betty Amongi.

The subsequent programme consists of various presentations from representatives of the ILO/ACCEL Africa Project implementing partners MobiPay, Nascent Research and Development Organisation (Nascent RDO) and Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) followed by a Q&A session. The Second Full day workshop will raise awareness about the model and enable key stakeholders in the tea and coffee value chains to explore their role in the implementation of the social Finance model within their operations.

The launch workshops are set to take place at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday the 23rd of November 2022 (8:00am – 2:00pm) and Thursday the 24th of November 2022 (8:00am – 5:00pm).


About the ACCEL Africa Project:

ACCEL Africa is a regional project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, with focus on the specific supply chains, namely Cacao, Coffee, Cotton, Gold and Tea. The Project is implemented in six countries Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Mali, Uganda, Egypt and Malawi.

The ACCEL Africa project seeks to support the improvement of the national legislations and policies to better address child labour. In addition, cooperate with governments, social partners, local farmers, communities, industries, and international buyers to institutionalize innovative solutions that address child labour root causes.

For more Information contact:

1. ILO ACCEL Africa Project National Project Coordinator – Jacqueline Banya; jbanya@ilo.org or 0772 503618
2. ILO ACCEL Africa Project National Project Officer - Benedict Akansiima, akansiima@ilo.org or 0774-235505
3. The assigned communications and media agency contact- Mr. Frank Kisakye, fkisakye@gmail.com or 0702-895199.