U.S. Ambassador Tulinabo S. Mushingi and the Minister of Civil Service, Labor, and Social Security Vincent Zakané gave hugs to 11-year-old Alice Traoré after she delivered an emotional message about child labor and children’s desire to live a “normal life” at the launching ceremony of the U.S.-funded anti-child labor project. On September 26, 2013, Counterpart International launched the US Department of Labor’s International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB)-funded Reducing Child Labor through Education and Service (R-CLES) project at the Chamber of Commerce in Bobo-Dioulasso. The event gathered officials from the Government of Burkina Faso, including the Minister of Civil Service, Labor and Social Security, representatives of the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity, as well as participants from the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, the National Union of Burkinabe Cotton Producers (UNPCB), and the press. The project is a four-year, $5 million cooperative agreement awarded to the U.S.-based NGO Counterpart International to complement the Government of Burkina Faso’s efforts to combat child labor. The project will target child labor in cotton production and gold mining in the Hauts-Bassins, Boucle de Mouhoun, and Cascades regions of Burkina Faso. Counterpart International, in partnership with Terre des Hommes Lausanne, will implement the project to protect children from the worst forms of child labor by helping them attend quality schools and training programs and their families to build sustainable livelihoods. It will also link at-risk children to national social protection programs, while helping build local governments’ capacity to implement policies to eliminate child labor.
