Despite technological advancements in engineering, medicine, agriculture, food, and health; we live in a global community of incidents, challenges, and crises, contrary to the hope of living in a 21st century utopia. Child labour can be seen as a malignant symptom for which policy-makers and senior authorities must take immediate and effective…

Global progress in child labour reduction has stalled since 2016. In South Asia, the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, recurrent extreme weather events and the cost-of-living crisis further threaten to slow or even reverse the progress made. This synthesis report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and…

We leverage data on 1,857 families in 140 rural cocoa-growing communities of Côte d'Ivoire to report on child work activities and schooling decisions. We distinguish between unpaid domestic labor and unpaid agricultural child labor activities reported by children in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that more than 80% of children…

In the past two decades, Bangladesh experienced a substantial reduction in the prevalence of child labour, associated with improvements in school enrolment and completion. Despite progress, child labour persists in the country, also driven by household earning losses and school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report addresses a timely…

India has made rapid progress towards the universalization of school education, hand in hand with a decline in child labour. Despite progress, child labour persists in the country, just as school attendance and completion rates reveal gaps in educational attainment. This report addresses a timely need for new research to help decision-makers and…

Under-education in Cameroon significantly hampers the nation's socio-economic development. Addressing this issue is crucial for enhancing the overall quality of life and economic growth of the country. This study identifies and analyses the primary factors contributing to under-education, offering actionable solutions to improve educational…

Pakistan is a country with insufficient educational resources. The formal educational system is unable to cater to the educational needs of the growing population. A great number of school-going children were out-of-school or dropped out and the majority was those who could not attend formal schooling due to some issues. Non-Formal Education (NFE)…

Street children are often constructed as fragile individuals who lose their innocent childhood since they have to work and do not have the opportunity to play like most of their peers. Using Bourdieu's concept of field, capital and habitus, this article seeks to go beyond the existing notion of play by exploring how street children in Bandung,…

Since 1999, one of the main strategies the Colombian government has used to mitigate coca cultivation is to spray the crops with herbicide, which is carried out from airplanes. In this paper I evaluate the consequences of this strategy for rural households in areas where coca is cultivated, specifically the effects of aerial spraying on child…

Education is important for the successful development and growth of individuals and societies, yet some factors adversely affect its provision. This article reports on a study that explored the factors that adversely affect education in the Builsa District located in the Upper East Region (UER) of Northern Ghana, by examining the attitudes and…

This article reports the findings from a study aimed at assessing the challenges of evening educational programs for working children and young people. A descriptive research design and mixed research approach were employed. The design helped to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena and to describe "what…

This paper investigates the effect of various idiosyncratic shocks against child labor, child labor hour and school attendance. Also, the role of the assets held by households as one of the coping strategies to mitigate the effects of shocks. The results show that various idiosyncratic shocks that encourage child labor is generally caused by crop…

The rapid expansion of primary education in Ethiopia has enabled most children to attend primary education--or at least to start schooling. This expansion, however, is largely "symbolic" rather than "substantive" where "substantive" refers to access that generates meaningful learning. The article explores spatial…

Since Indonesia's transition to democracy in 1998, wealth inequality has increased significantly with a dramatic rise in the wealth of the rich and stagnating income growth among poorer citizens. Similar to many developing countries, the issue of child workers in Indonesia is a critical problem. The "2015 National Labour Force Survey"…

This paper asks whether education is a viable route to better livelihoods and social inclusion for children living in poor urban areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It uses qualitative interviews with 36 students aged 11-16, living in slum and middle-class areas, and also draws on data from a larger, mixed-methods study to provide context. Many children…