ICI hosts stakeholders' validation workshop on Ghana’s Child Labour Compendium on Child Labour Indicators

The International Cocoa Initiative, in collaboration with the Child Labour Unit under the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment (MLJE), convened a national validation workshop in Accra to review and validate Ghana’s newly developed National Compendium on Child Labour Indicators. 

The workshop brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from relevant government institutions, civil society organizations, development partners, and the cocoa industry. This forms part of ongoing efforts to standardize data collection and strengthen the collaborative efforts to eliminate child labour in Ghana. 

Opening the workshop, Esther Ofori Agyemang, Head of the Child Labour Unit under the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment (MLJE), emphasized the importance of the compendium of statistics of child labour in Ghana. “This compendium provides a standardized, nationally owned tool that streamlines reporting and enables tracking of progress on child labour issues. By establishing one common reporting measure, it will help the country monitor and report on child labour issues more effectively at the national level.”  

Mike Arthur, Country Director for ICI Ghana, emphasized the significance of the validation process “This is a crucial step forward to align national efforts and ensure all actors are working from the same baseline when identifying and monitoring child labour.” He noted “the indicators will feed directly into the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS) and are essential for its completion. They will help connect different data sources, making the system more effective in identifying, tracking, and addressing child labour across the country.” ICI is a member of the technical working group that developed the indicators and played a leading role in facilitating the process. 

The development of the indicators is part of the project funded by the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) in partnership with UNICEF, Tony’s Chocolonely and the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment. Once validated the compendium will be made available to all stakeholders tackling child labour in Ghana 

ICI is committed to supporting national systems and enhancing coordination among stakeholders in safeguarding children’s rights and promoting decent work in cocoa-growing communities.