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Tackling the Worst Forms of Child Labour amongst IDPs, Refugees, and Vulnerable Host Communities in Iraq - Final evaluation

eval_number:

3308

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/3308

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Child labour

category:

Child labour, forced labour, human trafficking and slavery

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comments:

• ILO Project Designers • ILO ROAS Regional Programme Service Unit • ILO Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch

challenges:

The project design did not adequately take into account gender equality concerns. The project design did not consider specific gender equality concerns beyond the situation analysis identifying the disproportionate impact of child labour on boys aged 5-17 (10.2% vs. 4.3% of girls), and the disproportionate impact of worst forms of child labour on boys (9.2% vs 2.5% of girls). There was not really any gender analysis, nor any explicit strategy to address gender equality in the project outcomes, outputs or activities. The outcome and output indicators in the project document did not seek any disaggregation by gender. One key informant noted that despite the project design noting the disproportionate impact of child labour and worst forms of child labour on boys, the project implementation did not seek to focus on reaching this particularly vulnerable group. Also, the project missed the opportunity to focus on an area where girls are particularly vulnerable to child labour, namely in forced domestic work. It was challenging to identify and track girls' prevalence in forced domestic work settings as inspectors often do not have the mandate to intrude if there is insufficient evidence. This challenge was partially mitigated through gaining the trust of households, establishing child friendly learning spaces as the main safe spaces, delivering activities for all-female groups, and ensuring the time of activities is suitable for the girls and ensures their safety to and from the programme locations. Several key informants observed that the vocational training for men and women was in gender stereotypical roles, i.e. sewing for women and barbering for men. They noted that females in Iraq tend to work in gender stereotypical roles, including in education and health. Government departments do not tend to employ as many women, particularly the MOLSA, which impacted on the amount of women present at capacity building initiatives.

success:

On the other hand, the monitoring and evaluation framework, although developed after the project document was approved, contained indicators which requested disaggregation by gender where appropriate. The gender mainstreaming shortcomings of the project design document hindered contribution of outputs and outcomes to gender equality at the implementation phase. However, the project implementation team sought to address this by collecting data disaggregated by gender for the 2022 project progress report (although not included in previous ones), including for training and capacity building workshops. This noted that the CLMS training reached 34% females. The 2022 Annual Report noted that only 8% of cases withdrawn from child labour were girls, 8% of children returning to school were girls, 49% were girls receiving non formal education support, and 48% girls participated in psycho-social and recreational activities. It has not been possible to analyse in any detail whether outcome 2 contributed to gender equality, since the National Action Plan and laws to which the project contributed technical input were unavailable for review. However, the 2022 Annual Report notes the project’s advice, “To amend the language of Article 98 to ensure it more comprehensively covers different family environments in a gender-neutral manner, as follows: 
“The provisions of this law do not apply to juveniles who are over (15) fifteen years of age and who work in a family environment under the management and supervision of their spouse husband, a parent father, mother or a sibling brother in what is produced for local consumption and does not employ wage workers, provided that the work is not dangerous.” 


context:

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was concerned at the persistence of discriminatory stereotypes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society, which perpetuate the subordination of women to men and are exacerbated by the sectarian and religious divisions in Iraq. Across Iraq, 5.9% of children are involved in hazardous work, one of the worst forms of child labour. For this category, the gender differentials are particularly pronounced, with boys close to four times more likely to be in hazardous child labour (9.2%) than girls (2.5%). According to the US Department of Labour, worst forms of child labour in Iraq include cross-border smuggling and drug and weapons trafficking; forced domestic work; forced begging, and commercial sexual exploitation sometimes as a result of human trafficking. An estimated one in five schools are out of use in heavily conflict-affected areas, leaving children at heightened vulnerability of child labour. There is a lower rate of enrolment of girls at the primary, intermediate and secondary levels and a higher dropout rates for girls. In some rural areas, girls are prevented by their families to attend school, and the role of mother and caregiver is encouraged over participating in the formal workforce. Key informants noted that many breadwinners were killed during years of conflict leaving a higher proportion of female-headed households. Unemployment is particularly high among women, youth and displaced communities. Female labour force participation in Iraq is particularly low, estimated at 20%, with a concentration of women in the informal sector.

description:

Child labour has important gender equality aspects which if focused on can increase impact

administrative_issues:

• Any future project should ensure equal integration of cross-cutting issues including gender into its outputs and activities, including by utilizing mechanisms and tools derived from relevant UN gender mainstreaming strategies and the UN System Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. • Targeting forced domestic labour, in particular among the girls should be increased. Government’s efforts and future projects aimed at tackling child labour should ensure availability of more social workers and mechanisms to focus on monitoring and access to domestic settings.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/252286

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location:

country:

Iraq

region:

Arab States

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eval_title:

Tackling the Worst Forms of Child Labour amongst IDPs, Refugees, and Vulnerable Host Communities in Iraq - Final evaluation