CHILD LABOUR IN UGANDA A REPORT ON LINKING CHILD LABOUR TO AGRICULTURE
CHILDREN DIGGING DURING SCHOOL HOURS IN IGANGA DISTRICT-(Photo by Vincent Ssennono)
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour(IPEC) Adam House, Plot 11 Portal Avenue
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ………………………………………………………………………………… List of Tables…………………………………………….……………………………..
v
List of Figures …………..……………………………………………………………..
vii
Acronyms ………………………………………………………………………………
viii
Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………..
Ix
Recommendations …………………………………………………………………….
xiv
1
Social Economic ……………………………………………………………………..
1
1.0
Background……………………………………………………………………………...
1
1.1
Demographic characteristics………………………………………………………….
1
1.2
Uganda’s economic performance…………………………………………………….
2
1.3
Poverty and income inequality trends ……………………………………………….
6
1.4
Employment and labour market structure……………………………………………
7
1.5
Education situation in Uganda………………………………………………………..
8
1.6
Objective of the survey………………………………………………………………..
9
1.7
Literature review ………………………………………………………………………
10
1.8
Determinants of child labour in agriculture …………………………………………
16
1.9
Child labour: National context ……………………………………………………….
22
1.10 The legal framework ………………………………………………………………….
26
1.11 Policies and programs ………………………………………………………………..
28
1.12 Concepts and definitions ……………………………………………………………..
30
2 2.0
Methodology and Data Collection ………………………………………………… Scope and coverage …………………………………………………………………..
33 33
2.1
Sample size determination and implementation ……………………………………
33
2.2
Response rate ………………………………………………………………………….
34
2.3
Data collection tools …………………………………………………………………...
34
2.4
Pre-testing ………………………………………………………………………………
36
2.5
Fieldwork ……………………………………………………………………………….
36
2.6
Data Processing and data cleaning …………………………………………………
37
2.7
Quality control ………………………………………………………………………….
37
i
CHAPTER THREE: Characteristics of Households 3.0
Background …………………………………………………………………………….
38
3.1
Population distribution by age and sex ……………………………………………..
38
3.2
Population distribution by district and age …………………………………………..
39
3.3
Population distribution of children by sex, age and district ………………………..
40
3.4
Population distribution of household heads by sex and age………………………
41
3.5
Education of household head…………………………………………………………
41
3.6
Education level of household population…………………………………………….
42
3.7
Orphan hood and living arrangements ………………………………………………
43
3.8
Orphan hood status by sex of the household head ………………………………..
44
3.9
Living arrangements of children 5.17 years by sex, age and district …………….
44
3.10 Main sources of households’ income ………………………………………………..
45
3.11 Type of dwelling units …………………………………………………………………
46
3.12 Source of drinking water and fuel for cooking ………………………………………
46
4
Characteristics of Working Children ……………………………………………... 48
4.0
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………..
48
4.1
Age, sex distribution of working children ……………………………………………
48
4.2
Working children by sex, age, district and education attainment …………………
49
4.3
Working children by background characteristics …………………………………..
50
4.4
Working children by age, sex, household size, district and schooling status …...
52
4.5
Working children by age group and household size ……………………………….
53
4.6
Employment status of children ……………………………………………………….
55
4.7
Occupation of working children ………………………………………………………
55
4.8
Distribution of occupation of children by age ……………………………………….
56
4.9
Work place ……………………………………………………………………………..
57
4.10 Hours of work …………………………………………………………………………..
57
4.11 Mean number of hours worked by occupation ……………………………………...
58
4.12 Industry and employment status ……………………………………………………..
59
ii
5
Incidence and Characteristics of Child Labour …………………………………
62
5.0
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….
62
5.1
Characteristics of the population aged 5 to 15 …………………………………….
62
5.2
Distribution of the child labourers by background characteristics ………………..
63
5.3
Percentage of the child labourers to total population by district …………………
64
5.4
65
5.5
Percentage of the child labourers to total population by other background…….. characteristics Current schooling status of child labourers …………………………………………
5.6
Employment status of child labourers ……………………………………………….
68
5.7
Occupation of child labourers ………………………………………………………..
68
5.8
Occupation of child labourers by age groups ………………………………………
70
5.9
Place of work of child labourers ……………………………………………………..
70
5.10 Child labour …………………………………………………………………………….
73
5.11 Average hours worked by child labourers …………………………………………..
78
5.12 Incidence of child labour in agriculture ………………………………………………
80
5.13 Age of starting child labour ……………………………………………………………
80
67
6
Health and Safety Child and Community Perception of Child Labour
6.0
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………
83 83
6.1
Children aged 5 -17 years who fell sick by working status ……………………….
83
6.2
Number of times working children fell sick …………………………………………
84
6.3
Children who fell sick by sex and working status ………………………………….
86
6.4
Working children at risk by risks at work ……………………………………………
87
6.5
Community perception of child labour ………………………………………………
87
6.6
Activities children should do …………………………………………………………
89
6.7
Community perceptions of the worst forms of child labour ……………………….
90
6.8
Child labour situation in the communities ………………………………………….
90
6.9
Health situation in the community where the child comes from ………………….
91
6.10 Why children engage in child labour ………………………………………………..
91
iii
6.11 Why people employ children …………………………………………………………
92
6.12 How children should be used in labour ……………………………………………..
92
6.13 Conditions under which children work ………………………………………………
93
6.14 Relationship between going to school and child labour …………………………..
93
6.15 Requirements of child labour victims ……………………………………………….
94
6.16 Persons working on issues of child labour in communities and what are they actually doing ………………………………………………………………………….
94
Reference …………………………………………………………………………..............
iv
95
LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1
Percentage distribution of children by selected characteristics and sex ….
2
Table 1.2
Uganda: Policy variables ……………………………………………………….
4
Table 1.3
Uganda: Annual average growth rates of GDP……………………………….
5
Table 1.4
Uganda: Poverty headcount trends …………………………………………...
6
Table 1.5
Education indicators for primary and secondary education in Uganda…….
9
Table 2.1
Number of selected EAs and households per district ……………………….
34
Table 2.2
Number of households, fieldworkers and duration of fieldwork by district ..
37
Table 3.1
Population distribution by age and sex ……………………………………….
38
Table 3.2
Population distribution by district and age ……………………………………
39
Table 3.3
Population distribution of children by sex, age and district …………………
40
Table 3.4
Population distribution of household head by sex and age ………………..
41
Table 3.5
Education of household head …………………………………………………
42
Table 3.6
Education level of household population …………………………………….
42
Table 3.7
Orphan hood status by age and district ………………………………………
43
Table 3.8
Orphan hood status by sex of household head ……………………………..
44
Table 3.9
Living arrangements of children 5-17 years by sex, age and district ……..
44
Table 3.10
Main source of household income …………………………………………….
45
Table 3.11
Type of dwelling units …………………………………………………………..
46
Table 3.12
Source of drinking water and fuel for cooking ……………………………….
47
Table 4.1
Distribution of working children by sex and age ……………………………..
49
Table 4.2
Percentage of children working by sex, age district and educational attainment ……………………………………………………………………….. Percentage of children working by background characteristics ……………
50 51
Table 4.5
Percentage of children working by age, sex, household size, district and schooling status ………………………………………………………………… Percentage distribution of occupations of children by sex …………………
52 56
Table 4.6
Percentage distribution occupation of children by age ……………………..
56
Table 4.7
Place of work of working children by sex and age ………………………….
57
Table 4.8
Hours of work on economic activity …………………………………………..
58
Table 5.1
Population aged 5 to 17 by age groups ………………………………………
63
Table 5.2
Percentage of child labourers by sex, age district and educational attainment ………………………………………………………………………. Percentage of children who are child labourers by age group and districts
64 65
Percentage of children who are child labourers by sex, age district and educational attainment ………………………………………………………….
66
Table 4.3 Table 4.4
Table 5.3 Table 5.4
v
Table 5.5 Table 5.6
Percentage of children who are labourers by sex, age district and schooling status …………………………………………………………………. Child labourers by age group and household size …………………………..
67 68
Table 5.7
Employment status of child labourers by sex of children ……………………
68
Table 5.8
Percentage distribution occupation of child labourers by sex ………………
69
Table 5.9
Percentage distribution of occupation of children by age …………………..
69
Table 5.10
Place of work by sex and age ………………………………………………….
70
Table 5.11
Proportion of working children who are child labourers ……………………..
72
Table 5.12
Average hours worked on economic activity per day ………………………..
74
Table 5.13
Occupation by hours of work …………………………………………………..
75
Table 5.14
Industry by mean hours of work ……………………………………………….
76
Table 5.15
Employment status by mean hours of work …………………………………..
76
Table 5.16 Table 5.17
Median number of hours spent on house keeping activities per day by sex, working children and child labour……………………………………………….. Incidence of child labour in agriculture sector …………………………………
78 79
Table 5.18
Age at which child labourers started working by sex …………………………
80
Table 5.19
Age at which child labourers started working by district ……………………..
81
Table 5.20
Age at which child labourers started working by occupation ………………..
82
Table 6.1
Percentage of children aged 5-17 years who fell sick by working status …..
83
Table 6.2
Number of times working children fell sick …………………………………….
85
vi
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1
Percentage distribution of population by age group……………… 1
Figure 2.1
Basic distributions in ILO child labour standards ………………… 30
Figure 4.1
Working children by age group and household size .,…………… 53
Figure 4.2
Employment status by sex of children …………………………….. 55
Figure 4.3
Mean number hours of work by occupation ………………………. 59
Figure 4.4
Mean number of hours worked by Industry ……………………….. 60
Figure 4.5
Mean hours of work by employment status ……………………….. 61
Figure 6.1
Percent of children who fell sick by sex and working status …….. 86
Figure 6.2
Percent of working children at risk by risks at work ……………… 87
vii
ANPPCAN
ACRONYM African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect
CRC
Child Rights Convention
EA
Enumeration Area
ILC
International Labour Conference
ILO
International Labour Organisation
FIDA
Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda)
LC
Local Council
NCC
National Council for Children
LRA
Lord’s Resistance Army
OAU
Organisation of African Unity
NGOs
Non-governmental organisations
MGLSD
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development
NRM
National Resistance Movement
UPE
Universal Primary Education
UN
United Nations
UBOS
Uganda Bureau of Statistics
UDHS
Uganda Demographic and Health Survey
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
WFCL
Worst Forms of Child Labour
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study on the situation of child labour in Agriculture was contracted to Ssennono Vincent Fred. The Consultant wishes to thank the following people for their participation in this survey: Ms Jacent Nakalyango who was involved in the data collection and typing of Kawase
the report, Mr. Wilson Nyegenye, Okua Bob,
Goerge and Mr Cranmer katalihwayo
and enthusiastic research
assistants who helped to make this study possible. Also special thanks goes to Ms Sarah Helga Birungi for her technical support in identifying , recruiting , training and supervising the survey.
This work was coordinated by Dr Regina Mbabazi at the International Labour Organization Area Office, Kampala., and Hango Juma ILO/IPEC Dar as Salaam provided guidance and technical support throughout the study. I wish also to express my gratitude to ILO/IPEC for providing the technical and financial assistance for the survey . My gratitude extends to the, District and Local Government Officials, NGO and CBO officials, working and non-working children and all respondents in Arua, Iganga, Kayunga and Bushenyi for their support and cooperation during the data collection, as well as the general public, villages and communities in which they lived and worked for their support and cooperation - often under very difficult circumstances; without them this study would not have been possible.
Ssennono Vincent Fred Consultant
ix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Child labour in agriculture survey
was conducted from 1st to 15th September,
2006. The survey covered 855 households from 4 districts, namely; Arua, Kayunga, Iganga and Bushenyi districts. The survey collected data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of all persons in selected households, and specific questions were asked for working children. In addition, information on house keeping activities and on illness and diseases was collected for children aged 5-17 years. The broad objective of the baseline survey on Child Labour in General agriculture was to provide accurate and detailed benchmark information to act as basis for policy formulation, advocacy campaigns and designing of programmes targeting the elimination of child labour in the sector under Time Bound Programme (TBP) for Uganda. The findings shows that large number of the child labourers work families and live at home, others go to work
for pay on
with their
employers farms.
Farming accounts for 92 percent of the hazardous child labour in the study areas. The incidence of an orphan child becoming a child labour was greater as compared to non orphans. Majority of the children are in rural areas and the activities they involved in included digging, planting and harvesting crops, caring for animals and livestock. In addition to agriculture , they are involved in other activities like fetching water for brick making, brick making, stone and sand quarrying.
Further more, the
children were involved in transporting produces to the market. Child labourers faced a number of risks which included working long hours, heavy loads, and transporting produce to the market and falling sick
x
Causes of child labour The survey identified the factor below that pushed
and pulled children in
hazardous child labour I. Large household sizes The finding showed that majority of the child labourers were in large households that are probably unable to cope with the numbers and therefore, requires children to work in order to supplement the family incomes. Also large household’s size means that adults alone cannot grow enough food for the family which necessitates children to work on the family farms. Further more large household sizes their meagre income makes it difficult for such households to afford basic school requirements such as pens, books and Uniform. This requires children to work
so that they can
buy for themselves these scholastic materials II. Orphanhood The results showed that death of parent(s) of children makes them vulnerable to child labour.
The findings showed that clear causal link between
orphanhood, on the one hand, and child labour and school drop-out, on the other. Therefore, orphanhood frequently forces children out of school, but not all are forced into work - some enter economic activity or spent greater time on household chores, but others remain at home, outside of economic activity and school. III. Family problems Separation of parents was also identified as one of the factors that forces children to drop out school and hence into child labour. Some parents are negligent to the point of refusing to provide basic scholastic materials or even sending them to school and thus they end up working. IV. Ignorance of Risks xi
Most families did see the danger of children working as they regard it as a form of skills training. Parents urged that they do not have money to send them to secondary education; therefore they should start work at early age to gain skills. V. Gender discrimination played a role in the creation of child labourers as girls are more likely than boys not to complete their primary education and to become involved in child labour. Key findings Characteristic of survey population
•
The survey population had more males than females. 52.3 per cent of the survey population was in the 0 – 14 years age group.
•
There were more boys (53.9 per cent) than girls (46.1per cent). There were more children in the age group 10 – 14 followed by the 5 – 9 age group.
•
Eighty five per cent of the households were male headed compared to 15.0 per cent which were female headed.
•
About 60 per cent of the household heads had attended primary school with no significant variations among the sexes. Sex differentials were significant among those without any formal schooling.
•
More than 71.4 per cent of the household population had attained some primary schooling and there was almost no variation among the sexes.
•
About 2 in every 10 children were orphans. The proportion of orphans was highest in the 15 – 17 age groups.
•
Slightly more than half of the orphans (56.4 per cent) were living in male headed households.
•
Majority of children were staying with both parents while the least number were staying with mother only and there were no notable sex differentials.
•
Crop farming was the main source of income for over 60 per cent of the households
•
More than half of the households live in detached/separate houses. xii
•
Two-thirds of the population has access to safe water.
•
Nearly all households use firewood for cooking.
Characteristics of working children •
The sex ratio of the working children was 122 males per 100 females, implying that more male children than females were workers;
•
Bushenyi District had the highest proportion of working children of 82 percent and Iganga District the lowest of 60 percent;
•
Children staying with their parents had lower chances of engaging in work as compared to other children;.
•
Four in every five working children were enumerated in big households of more than 5 people.
•
Orphaned children had higher chances of working compared to nonorphans as the study showed that 81 percent of orphans and 67 percent of the non-orphans respectively were working children;
•
Close to 94 percent of the working children are employed as unpaid family workers with no wide sex differentials (92 percent of males and 95 percent of females);
•
The results indicate that the average number of hours worked per day was 4 with no wide differences by sex;
•
Children employed in hotels and restaurants had the highest mean number of hours worked of 10 hours and those in agriculture and related enterprises the lowest of 4 hours.
xiii
Incidence of child labour •
Thirty seven percent of the children aged 5 to 17 years are child labourers, with the proportion higher for males (39 percent) than that of females (35 percent).
•
Forty six percent of the child labourers are in the 5 to 9 age group, followed by almost a similar proportion of 42 percent in the 10 to 14 age group. Only 12 percent of the child labourers were in the 15 to 17 age group.
•
The proportion of girls in the 5 to 9 age group who are child labourers is higher (51 percent) compared to that of boys (43 percent). In the other age groups of 10 to14 and 15 to 17, boys are more likely to be child labourers than the girls.
•
Bushenyi district has the highest share of the child labourers of 35 percent, followed by Arua district with 28 percent.
•
Majority of the child labourers (87 percent) have primary education level, while only 7 percent have no formal education at all.
•
From the living arrangements of the child labourers, there seems to be no pattern arising from who they are staying with. The proportion of the child labourers ranged from 36 percent for those staying with both of their parents to 39 percent for those staying with their fathers only.
•
Children who are orphans are more likely to be child labourers than those who have their parents. Forty two percent of the child labourers
were
orphans compared to 36 percent who were not orphans. Boys who are orphans are more likely to become child labourers than the girls.
xiv
•
Thirty eight percent of the child labourers are not currently attending school while 27 percent are currently attending school. In both cases the proportion of child labourers is higher for boys than for girls.
•
Of the total child labourers, 80 percent were staying in households with more than 5 people, this implies that the bigger the household size, the more likely that its children will participate in child labour activities.
•
Ninety percent of the child labourers worked as were unpaid family workers, 8 percent were paid employees while only 2 percent were own account workers (self employed).
•
Ninety two percent of the child labourers were working as agriculture and fisheries workers, and 5 percent were in elementary occupations.
•
Ninety four percent of the child labourers worked at plantations, farms or gardens operated by the parents or caretakers of the children, while 3 percent worked at the family dwelling.
•
One half of the children who worked were in child labour, the proportion was similar for both the boys and girls. But there were a decreasing proportion of children involved in child labour with increase in age.
•
Of the children who work in Bushenyi district, almost three quarters are involved in child labour activities.
•
The child involvement in child labour activities decreases with the increase in the children’ education. Children with no formal education are more likely to get involved in child labour activities than those studying.
•
Children living with their mothers only are more likely to engage in child labour activities compared to children living with their fathers only.
xv
•
Overall, the child labourers worked for 6 hours a day, the time being almost similar for both boys and girls. But the average number of hours worked varies depending on the kind of industry and occupation. Domestic paid employees on average work for 13 hours, girls working for longer hours than boys.
The median number of hours spent on house keeping activities was 3, and it was the same for both the working children and the child labourers. The median for girls is an hour longer. The survey results shows that Child labour in
agriculture sector is far bigger than manufacturing sector. There is need
for the government and other stakeholders on the elimination of child labour to consider this sector. Eliminating hazardous child labour in agriculture involves prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation and at the same time requires government policies aimed at promoting adult employment, raising incomes and improving living standards and access to quality education
Recommendations 1.
The extraordinary numbers of children working in agriculture, and the high levels of risk to their health and safety, demand, that government, employers, trade unions and community prevent , withdrawal and protect children as part of their strategies to end child labour.
2.
The
Local councils, Community Development officers
and NGOs,
should sensitize the children and their families about rights of children. In addition
there is a need to strengthen
or set up
Child labour
committees or task forces who are nominated by the communities to act as child labour watch dogs. Also multi-media campaigns
can also
be used for awareness creation. 3.
There is need to strengthens partnerships between NGOs with different expertise, trade unions, community based organisation(CBOs) and government. Working with CBOs helps to strengthens the capacity of xvi
institutions at the local levels 4.
Government should waive Associated costs of education, including costs for books and uniforms, or scholarship programs developed for children whose families are unable to afford them. Special educational or vocational programs should be developed for child farm workers who have dropped out of school.
5.
Violators of child labour laws should be sanctioned to the fullest extent of the law. Governments should consider increasing fines for child labour violations and dedicating a portion of the fine to the rehabilitation of child labourers.
6.
Government through it organs should ensure that child agricultural workers who work in hazardous conditions in violation of ILO Convention 182 and suffer disabilities as a result of workplace accidents or illnesses are provided with free health care in adult life
7.
The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development together with District labour officer/ Community Development officers should establish mechanisms to monitor the treatment of children working in agriculture and ensure that effective complaint mechanisms are available to children and their families.
8.
The Government through the MGLSD and districts together with workers
unions,
Federation
of
Uganda
employers,
International
Agencies and Institution( ILO, UNICEF, etc) , international and National NGOs, should provide adequate support for underage workers (below 18 years) as defined by the ILO Minimum Age Convention and potential child labourers to attend school or an appropriate academic alternative in lieu of working. 9.
Conscious effort should go towards improving the production and competitiveness of farming at the household level as a means of improving household incomes which is a key determinant for improving xvii
child welfare. The speedy and effective implementation of the Plan for Modernization
of
Agriculture
(PMA)
and
the
Medium
Term
Competitiveness Strategy (MTCS) for Private Sector would have a positive impact on raising household incomes and thus reduction in child labour. 10.
There is need for Government to invest adequately in strengthening the institutions mandated to deal with child issues and enabling them carry out their roles effectively. This includes the Children’s Department in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, National Council of Children (NCC) and the Children’s Courts in the local governments. There is need to take stock of laws, policies and programmes on childrelated issues, identify the gaps and create a centralised place where a data bank can be kept and easily accessed by all stakeholders
11.
Specific interventions should be targeted to address the specific constraints that face children but are not common to adults such as orphanhood, juvenile exploitation and discrimination, homelessness and being household heads at a tender age. Increased support, financial and otherwise (such as needed facilities) should be given to orphanages and institutions that help homeless children to scale up their capacity to help more disadvantaged children. The Government should extend support to child headed households to enable them access basic necessitates such as food, clothing, shelter, health and schooling. A Grant could be set up at district level for this purpose.
xviii
xix
Chapter One Socio-Economic Background 1.0
Background
1.1
Demographic characteristics
The findings of the 2002 Population and Housing Census (PHC) shows that Uganda’s population growth rate between 1991 and 2002 was increasing by 3.2 per cent per year. Censuses have shown that the population share of the young ( those aged below 15 years) has continued to constitute the majority of the population in Uganda, Figure1.1 shows that the population share of this age group has increased from 46.2 per cent in 1969 census,
to 49.3 per cent in
2002 PHC. Figure 1.1: Percentage distribution of population by age group. 1969-2002 60 50
46.2
47.3
49.3
50
49.4
47.7
Percent
40 30 20 10 3.8
3.3
3
0
0-14 Years
15-64Years
65+years
Years
1969
1991
2002
Source: 2002 Population and Housing Census Report, UBOS
The 2002 census demonstrated that there were 13.7 million children (population below 18 years) in 2002, and these constituted 56 percent of the total population.
1
The sex distribution shows that the male children (6.70 million) were slightly more than the females (6.67 million) Comparison with 1991 census data shows that the population of children increased from 8.96 million in 1991 to 13.7 million in 2002. This shows the proportion of children in Uganda increased from 54 percent in 1991 to 56 percent in 2002. Also regional distribution of children is proportional to the regional share of the total population with the central region having the largest share (26.9 percent) and northern region has the least (20 percent) as seen from table 1.1 below. The majority of children (89 percent) live in rural areas. Sex ratios by residence show that for every 9 male children residing in urban areas, 10 there were 10 females. Table 1.1: Percentage distribution of children by selected characteristics and sex Characteristic of Children
Male
Female
Uganda
Sex Ratio
Number of Children (Millions)
6.70
6.67
13.37
99.6
Region Central (Kampala Excl.)
23.0
22.7
22.8
98.7
Central
26.7
27.1
26.9
100.8
Eastern
26.5
26.6
26.5
99.9
Northern
20.2
19.7
20.0
97.2
Western
26.5
26.6
26.6
99.9
0-5
39.5
39.6
39.6
99.8
6-12
39.0
39.2
39.1
100.1
13 – 17
21.5
21.2
21.3
98.3
Rural
89.7
88.6
89.2
101.2
Urban
10.3
11.4
10.8
90.4
Uganda
100
100
100
99.6
Age group
Rural – Urban
Source: 2002 PHC, UBOS
1.2.
Uganda’s economic performance
The 1990s were characterized by strong economic growth, party driven by external and internal shocks. These shocks had both positive and negative effects on the performance of the economy. Table 1. below presents some policy 2
variables for the period 1992-2002. On average, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.6 but as shown in Table 1. below there were yearly fluctuations in GDP. All sectors, on average experienced positive growth. Over an 11 yearperiod, growth in agriculture averaged 4.2 percent; services 7.7 percent and industry 10.9 percent. But these aggregate figures conceal a lot of policy relevant information. During the 1990s the industry sector recorded growth rates that were above 10 percent but later declined to a single digit. Unlike the other sector, agriculture registered growth rates well below the national average GDP. The poor performance of the agricultural sector largely explains the slow down in the economy since 1999/2000. We observe higher than average growth rates in the services sector, a non-tradable sector associated with internal demand. The average annual underlying inflation was maintained at a one digit level (Table 1. 3). It has been kept in check, even declined during the period when poverty was on the rise. The government’s inflation target of 5 percent seems to have been achieved by 2002/03. Other notable features were the deteriorating internal terms of trade, associated in part with a fall in crop prices relative to prices of the goods and services; and positive growth, although at a decreasing rate, in private consumption. The stock of Uganda’s debt stood at about US$4.3 billion as at June 2004, which was an increase as compared to US$3.6 billion in 1999/00. The ratio of debt service to exports of goods and non-factor services, which in effect measures the amount of foreign exchange earnings foregone in servicing the debt, fell from 22 percent in 1999/00 to 19 percent in 2003/04.
The ratio of debt service to
domestic revenue, which measures the fiscal burden of servicing the external debt, remained constant at 20 percent both in 1999/00 and 2003/04 (MoFPED, 2004).
3
Table 1. 2: Uganda: Policy variables 1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
8.4
5.4
10.6
7.8
4.5
5.4
7.3
5.9
6.5
6.3
4.9
Agriculture
9.3
1.8
5.9
4.3
1.1
1.9
5.8
5.6
4.8
3.9
2.3
Industry
8.4
13.0
20.3
16.6
11.4
11.5
12.0
5.3
6.6
7.9
7.2
Services
7.1
7.8
13.2
8.6
5.7
6.5
6.8
6.5
8.3
8.0
6.3
Exports
-4.4
31.6
28.6
27.2
29.5
-14.9
-13.1
5.3
72.7
26.0
-3.3
Imports
11.6
55.4
13.1
2.0
3.1
35.9
-23.2
-8.6
54.2
18.2
-2.3
0.6
6.7
-10.3
-6.9
13.7
-11.5
-3.8
-2.1
-18.2
11.2
GDP, constant prices
2002/03
Annual growth rates (%)
Internal terms of trade (index) Private Consumption Private Investment
7.1
5.0
15.3
7.0
2.6
6.9
2.6
2.7
9.8
6.2
3.1
10.8
19.7
42.8
11.6
3.1
6.1
17.5
-2.9
-1.0
15.7
16.5
As share of GDP (%) (factor cost) Agriculture
50.3
48.6
46.5
45.0
43.5
42.0
41.4
41.3
40.7
39.7
38.7
Industry
12.7
13.6
14.8
16.0
17.1
18.0
18.8
18.7
18.7
19.0
19.5
Services
37.1
37.9
38.8
39.1
39.5
39.9
39.7
39.9
40.6
41.2
41.8
Share of GDP (%) (market prices) Exports
5.8
7.2
8.3
9.7
11.9
9.7
7.8
7.8
12.7
15.0
13.8
Imports
11.7
17.0
17.3
16.1
15.8
20.5
14.6
12.7
18.4
20.4
19.0
Annual underlying inflation rate (%) 26.0 10.3 Source: UBoS, National Accounts data and Consumer Price Index data Note: 1997/98=100
7.1
10.9
4.4
1.0
2.8
5.0
5.3
3.5
2.4
4
Table1. 3: Uganda: Annual average growth rates of GDP 1992-1999
1999-2002
1992-2002
6.9
5.9
6.6
Agriculture
4.5
4.1
4.2
Industry
12.3
6.8
10.9
Services
7.8
7.3
7.7
GDP, constant prices
Note: 1997/98=100
The large foreign exchange in-flows in the form of external official grants and private transfers into the Uganda economy continues to stabilize the foreign exchange rate and increase the import cover of foreign reserves over the structural adjustment period. The HIPC relief funds have continued to be a major source of external aid which rose from US$57 million in 1999/00 to US$83 million in 2003/04 (MoFPED, 2004). It should be noted that Uganda was vetted as a “success story” by IMF/World Bank for implementation of economic reforms and this explains why Uganda qualified for the HIPC Debt Relief Initiative. However, it is only fair to say that the “success story” concept was based primarily on macroeconomic and poverty indicators but not on reduction of income inequality. In terms of production structure, the pattern of economic growth was characterized by a gradual decline in the share of production accounted for by the agricultural sector (Table 1.2). Nonetheless, the Ugandan economy continues to be heavily dependent on agriculture. While the share of agriculture in total GDP declined from 50.3 percent in 1992/93 to 38.7 percent in 2002/03, it still constitutes a major source of livelihood for the majority of the population. This underscores the potential role of economic reforms in improving the welfare of small-holder farmers in the export crop production sector through increased producer prices. The analysis so far reveals that there has been a structural transformation in the economy away from agriculture with relative increases in the shares of the other sectors in GDP.
5
1.3
Poverty and income inequality trends
Poverty headcount fell from 56 percent in 1992/93 to 34 percent in 1999/00 before rising to 38 percent in 2002/03 (Appleton & Ssewanyana, 2003). However, the increase in poverty over the period 1999/00 – 2002/03 was more pronounced in the rural areas with an increase of 4.3 percentage points as compared to 2.6 percentage points for the urban areas (see Table 1.4). Poverty continues to be regionally concentrated with the northern and eastern regions having the largest proportions of poor populations. Further, evidence also suggests that between 1997 and 1999/00, mean real consumption per capita (as a measure of economic welfare), grew by 22 percent but not all groups benefited to the same extent. The increase was larger in urban areas (42 percent) than in rural areas (15 percent). Table 1.4: Uganda: Poverty headcount trends 1992/93
1997
1999/00
2002/03
55.7
45.0
33.8
37.7
Rural
59.7
49.2
37.4
41.7
Urban
27.8
16.7
9.6
12.2
Central
45.6
27.9
19.7
22.3
Eastern
58.8
54.3
35.0
46.0
Northern
72.2
60.9
63.6
63.3
Western
53.1
42.8
26.2
31.4
Crop agriculture
63.6
53.0
39.1
50.4
Non-crop agriculture
52.4
37.0
41.9
33.6
Mining & construction
36.5
25.3
25.7
23.0
Manufacturing
44.4
36.4
23.3
28.4
Trade
26.5
20.5
12.7
17.4
Transport & communication
34.5
28.0
13.8
18.3
Public services
36.8
22.0
15.4
12.6
Other services
29.5
30.8
16.4
24.1
Not working
65.6
51.6
42.4
38.9
Uganda Place of residence:
Region:
Sector of employment:
Source: Appleton & Ssewanyana (2003)
6
1.4
Employment and labour market structure
Uganda labour force is estimated at 9.8 million of which 53 percent are females. About 75 percent of the labour force is aged below 40 years. Most of the labour force is rural based estimated at about 85 percent. The largest portion of the labour force is found in the central region. Furthermore, 30 percent of the total labour force is illiterate and close to 77 percent had education level below secondary ( UBOS,2006) The current labour force participation rate is 80 percent. Participation levels by selected background characteristics show higher participation rates amongst women in rural than in urban areas. The findings indicate that illiterate persons are more likely to be available for work. Further more, persons without formal education had higher participation levels than those with primary education. Those who had attained secondary education indicated the lowest levels of participation in economic activities (69 per cent). About 36 percent of the households in Uganda own non-crop enterprises. The major enterprises of the manufacturing, trade and services broad industries employ about 1.8 million persons. Other categories including livestock, poultry, bee keeping, and fishing industry employ about 0.5 million persons (UBOS, 2006). Overall, 36 percent of the Uganda labour force are working poor (3.5 million persons) of whom 44 percent were employed in agriculture.
The urban (11
percent) based working persons are least likely to be poor than their rural (40 percent) based counterparts. In addition, the incidence of being working poor is highest amongst those engaged in the primary sector followed by those in the manufacturing sector (UBOS, 2002).
7
The overall unemployment rate in Uganda is 3.5 percent of which 17 percent are females. The urban unemployment rate is at 12 percent.
The graduates’
unemployment rate was at 7.4 per cent in 2005 prompting the adoption of policies geared towards orienting graduates from being job seekers to job makers. The underemployment rate is estimated at 17 percent and is highest amongst the rural population. 1.5
Education Situation in Uganda
1.5.1 Primary education The government of Uganda attaches great importance to improvement of education services. Education plays a vital role in promoting sustainable development through improving the population’s various skills as well as raising awareness on various issues of national importance including improving general standards of living. There has been a remarkable change in this sector over the past seven years since the inception of the UPE programme. Enrolments in all institutions have drastically increased .The effects of implementing UPE in 1997 are dramatic. Primary school enrolment which was about 3.1 million in 1996 rose to 5.2 million in 1997, an increase of about 68 percent. Table1.5 shows that although primary school enrolments had continued to increase over the past years, the enrolment in 2004 of 7.4 million primary school pupils was lower than the 7.6 million in 2003, representing a decline of about 3 percent. Out of the 7.4 million primary pupils in 2004, 3.6 million (49 percent) were females. The number of primary schools has been increasing ever since. However, since the inception of UPE in 1997 there has been a higher increase in primary schools to absorb the higher number of pupils. In 2004 there were 13,371 schools compared to 12,480 in 2000 representing an increase of about 7 percent during that period. The pupil teacher ratio was 50:1 in 2004 and the pupil classroom ratio 79:
8
1.5.2 Secondary school education When government introduced Universal Primary Education in 1997, more pupils enrolled in primary schools which led to increased demand for more secondary schools. Between 2000 and 2004 secondary school enrolment increased by 34 percent while the student teacher ratio increased from 11 to 19. Table 1.5: Education indicators for primary and secondary education in Uganda 2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
6,559
6,901
7,354
7,633
7,377
4.3
5.2
6.6
3.8
-3
1,892
2,400
2,723
2,899
3,645
Pupil Teacher Ratio
59
54
53
52
50
Pupil class Ratio
96
90
87
87
79
518,931
539,786
655,951
683,609
697,507
17
18
18
18
19
Indicators Primary Education Indicators Enrolment(000) % Annual change in Enrolment Number of school
Secondary Education Indicators Enrolment(000) Pupil Teacher Ratio Source: UBOS, Statistical Abstract 2006
1.6
Objective of the survey
(i)
To identify and analyze the factors responsible for the existence and increase of child labour in agriculture in Uganda.
(ii)
To establishing the relationship between child labour and general agriculture in Uganda using information generated by a survey from four selected districts.
(iii)
To provide policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders with a comprehensive set of information and indicators on child labour in general agriculture to guide interventions.
(iv)
To form the basis for the creation of a long -term database on child labour in agriculture.
(v)
To make practical recommendations for appropriate policy formulation and other interventions.
9
1.7
Literature review
Child labour is work perceived to be harmful or potentially harmful to the child. According to Bachman (2000) child labour has been a concern of the formal, industrial economy since the beginning of the industrial age and by the end of the World War II, most developed countries had passed laws against child labour, at least in industry. It was one of the central concerns of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) from its inception, given that two child instruments were among the six adopted at the First Session of the International Labour Conference in 1919. 1.7.1 Introduction This chapter highlights several reports, presentations, documents and literary evidence written on Child labour in general agriculture, both at international level and national context in Uganda. The focus of the literature review is on nature, trends, causes, consequences, interventions and some issues for further consideration.
1.7.2 Child labour in general agriculture: The global situation Child labour today represents the largest single cause of child abuse across the globe. Children who are economically active are found working in all major regions of the world, although the Asia – Pacific region, with 127.3 million1 child labourers in the 5-14 age bracket, has the largest number, followed by Sub – Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean with 48 million and 17.4 million respectively. Sub Saharan Africa has the highest relative number of working children in this age bracket, with a Light work ratio of 29 percent, compared to Light work ratios in other major world regions, which fall below 20
1 ILO/EPEC: Every child counts; New global estimates on child labour 2002 (Gevena)
10
percent. "In Africa, one child in three is at work, and in Latin America2, one child in five works. In both these continents, only a tiny proportion of child workers are involved in the formal sector and the vast majority of work is for their families, in homes, in the fields or on the streets." -- UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report A majority of working children in both developed and developing countries are employed in agriculture. Of nearly 2,46million children engaged in child labour around the world, the vast majority-70 percent, or some 171 million-are working in agriculture. In some developing countries, children may comprise up to a third of the agricultural workforce. Studies in Brazil, Kenya and Mexico, for example, have shown that children under 15 make up between 25 and 30 per cent of the total labour force in the production of various commodities. According to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) study on child labour in Portugal presented in Lisbon in July 2002 , agriculture accounts for the largest proportion of child labour in Portugal (49.2 percent), followed by: commerce (12.6 percent); and manufacturing (12.6 percent, of which 3.8 percent is in the textiles industry and 2.5 percent in the food industry). In Bangladesh, 82 percent of the country's 6.1 million economically active children work in agriculture, according to a 1989 ILO survey. As many as 3 million children, age 10 to 14, are estimated to work in Brazil's sisal, tea, sugar cane and tobacco plantations. In India, Human Rights Watch looked at bonded child labourers working in agriculture as part of a larger study of bonded labour. There are as many as 15 million bonded child labourers in India, most of whom are Dalits (untouchables) or lower caste. More than half, and possibly as many as 87 percent of these bonded child labourers work in agriculture, tending crops, herding cattle and performing other tasks for their “masters” A study by the same organization in Egypt examined the cotton industry-the country’s major cash crop- where over one million children work each year to manually remove pests from cotton plants.
2 Ibid
11
In the United Sates, Human Rights Watch looked at conditions for the estimated 300,000 children who work as hired labourers in large scale commercial agriculture, planting, weeding, and picking apples, cotton, cantaloupe, lettuce chilies and other crops. In Guatemala, the agriculture sector with more than 500,000 children
(about 56 percent) employs the largest number of child
3
labourers .This is almost two thirds of children aged 7-14 years. According to Understanding Children Work in Morocco, The overwhelming majority of Moroccan working children are found in the agricultural sector. Eighty-four percent, or, in absolute terms, 450,000 of the 600,000 total chil;d workers, are involved in farm work. This, however, is primarily a reflection of children’s work in rural areas, where 96 percent of children are involved in agriculture. The Yemen Poverty Monitoring Survey (YPMS) 1999 estimates 700,000 children aged 6-14 years to be working, of whom an overwhelming majority are found in the agriculture sector and work for their families. Agriculture is a complex and heterogeneous economic sector comprised of a number of sub sectors. It ranges from highly industrialized, commercial production to traditional small-scale, subsistence farming. Agriculture covers different types of farming activities, such as crop production, horticultural/fruit production, livestock raising, livestock- food preparation, forestry activities, fish farming. It also includes many other associated activities: the primary processing and packaging of agricultural and animal products, crop storage, pest management, irrigation, construction and domestic tasks like carrying water and fuel wood, as well as the use and maintenance of machinery, equipment, appliances, tools and agricultural installations. It can include any process, operation, transport or storage directly related to agricultural production.
3 ILO/UNICEF/World Bank: Understanding children work in Guatemala; a report prepared for the understanding children’s work project.
12
Agriculture has strategic importance in the overall economic development of many countries; for export revenue and capital, as a source of food, and a vital source of employment, especially in developing countries, for millions of women, men, boys and girls. Although a leading sector in rural development, agriculture ironically, poses grave danger to both adults and children engaged in it.
1.7.3 Occupation hazards of child labourers in Agriculture Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous work sectors for any age, along with construction and mining. In terms of fatalities, it ranks second only to mining4 Agriculture is more hazardous for children than adults, posing a long list of potential risks, ranging from exposure to chemicals and pesticides, injuries from cutting tools, heavy weights and snakebites to chronic lung diseases, amputations, impairments to hearing, vision and immune function. This is in addition to psychological, ergonomic, welfare/hygienic and biological hazards. The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that children “have a right to be protected from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” In spite of this, child labourers face the following occupational hazards: 1.7.4 Pesticide exposure Exposure to pesticides is one of the greatest threats to child agricultural labourers. The effects of these range from mild cases of headaches, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea
rashes, to severe manifestations of convulsions, brain
damage, sterility, birth defects, coma and death. According to Human Rights
4 ILO/IPEC” The end of child labour: Within reach, global report under the follow up to the ILO declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, (2006) Geneva.
13
Watch, Egypt is still using two of the five pesticides categorized as “highly hazardous” by the World Health Organisation, while in Ecuador, one pesticide in common use is the subject of over one hundred lawsuits from around the world, alleging that it is responsible for serious birth defects, including cleft palate and being born with no eyes5. 1.7.5 Injuries and disabilities Children working in Agriculture suffer high rates of injuries and often suffer cuts from sharp tools. They are prone to falls from heights and trees and risk being maimed by heavy farm machinery. In the United States, agriculture is second only to mining for occupational fatalities. Child farm workers make up only 8 percent of children in USA, yet account for 40 percent of work related fatalities among minors. An estimated 100,000 children suffer agriculture related injuries each year in the USA6. 1.7.6
Long hours of work and age
Children labouring in agriculture often begin work at early ages and work for more than twelve or more hours a day. The younger the children, the more vulnerable they are to hazards in the workplace and to the economic exploitation of their labour. Children who start working at an early age have a longer period of exposure to cumulative hazards. For instance, exposure in early life to substances such as asbestos with long latency periods increases the possibility of contracting chronic diseases like lung cancer in young adulthood. Younger children are also less likely to be able to perceive danger or to know what to do if accidents occur. It is not unusual for bonded child workers in India, as young as seven to work for sixteen to seventeen hours a day, typically beginning at 5 or 6 am and continuing 5 Human rights watch: World report 2002: Children’s rights 6 Ibid
14
until 9 or 10 at night. In Morocco, children engaged in the agricultural sector, average 43 hours per week, though hours spent working during the peak agricultural seasons can be substantially greater7. Children’s work in Guatemala is characterized by very long working hours, leaving children little time for study or play. Working children put in an average of 47 hours of work per week8, considerably more than a full-time adult worker in the industrial world. By contrast, the Guatemalan Labour Code sets 30 hours per week as the maximum acceptable limit. Children working in cotton pest control in Egypt are typically between the ages of seven and twelve. For periods of up to ten weeks each year, they work eleven hours a day seven days a week. The cumulative period a child labourers spends at work, especially of a hazardous nature is more likely than not to have a permanently detrimental health, social and psychological implications. 1.7.7 Low wages The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Minimum Age Convention (Convention 138) sets a basic minimum age for employment of 15 years, and 14 for countries meeting the ILO’s developing country exemptions. It prohibits hazardous work for young workers under 18. In relation to this, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ( CRC) Article 32 states: “State parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”
7 ILO/UNICEF/World Bank: Understanding Children’s Work in Morocco: Report Prepared for the Understanding Children’s Work Project,March 2003. 8 ILO/UNICEF/World Bank: Understanding Children Work in Guatemala; A report prepared for the Understanding Children’s Work Project,2003.
15
Despite the above legislation, child labourers in agriculture are exploited in terms of wages, as compared to adults. In Ecuador, the legal minimum wage for a banana worker is US $5.85 per day. Adult workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch earned, on average, approximately US $%.44 per day, while children averaged only US$3.50, or 60 percent of the legal minimum wage for banana workers. In India, children bonded into agricultural labour are working to pay off a debt. Parents or other relatives promise the labour of the child to an employer in exchange for a sum of money. The children then spend long hours over many years in an attempt to pay off these debts. Due to high interest rates charged, and abysmally low wages, they are often unsuccessful .Usually; the annual or monthly sum deducted from the loan is not even one quarter or one third of the prevalent daily wages, let alone the legal minimum wage. Occupational hazards cause not only short-term health effects (mainly injuries, skin problems, etc), but most effects are long-term and will only become evident in adulthood. Therefore, they are difficult to measure and to quantify. Cancer, infertility, chronic back pain and IQ reduction are some of the expected long-term outcomes.
1.8
Determinants of child labour in agriculture
1.8.1 Poverty and child labour Poverty is widely recognized as the most fundamental cause of child labour. Most of the worst cases of child labour involve children from poor families in developing countries. Most children who work do so as a means of survival, and working children have been shown to contribute up to almost 90 percent of the family income9. Due to 9 Naidu US,Parasuraman S.:Health Situation of Working Children in greater Bombay, A report of
16
poverty, children are either unable to enroll in school or dropout before completion, further increasing their vulnerability to join child labour. Such circumstances condemn them to grow up illiterate, unskilled and with serious health problems. As a consequence, many of them are unable to support their own families in adulthood, as their own children are more likely than not, to get drawn into the whirlpool of child labour, so as to support their families. Sub Saharan Africa, with the highest relative number of working children is also the region worst hit by poverty worldwide. There are about 21 million very young children (5-9yrs) at work in Sub Saharan Africa. Every fourth child in the region appears to start work below the age of 10. While the Asia-Pacific region harbors twice as many child involved in light work in the 5-9 age brackets, the incidence of child involved in Light work is about half as low(12.3 percent)10 Uganda for example, with an estimated 2.7million working children11, with an overall participation rate of 34.2 percent, had 38.8 percent, corresponding to 9.8million people, living below the poverty line12 in 2003. Among the 95 countries counted in the human Poverty Index, Uganda is ranked 60th13 , comparable to Tanzania and Cameroon in Sub Saharan Africa. One of the causes of the escalating levels of child labour has been identified as poverty at household levels. It has been established that one of the key driving factors for child labour activities is the need to support parents and benefactors in raising household incomes. As a result, one of the good practices realized through implementing partners programmes has been raising household incomes, using a range of approaches, depending on the nature and location of child labour activities in the country14. Eradicating poverty and hunger is one of the Millennium Development Goals which creates a link between poverty reduction and elimination of child labour. the World Health Organisation. Bombay Tata institute of Social Sciences 1985. 10 ILO/IPEC: Every Child Counts:New Global Estimates on Child Labour. 11 ILO/IPEC: Child Labour in Uganda, A report based on the 2000/2001 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 12 UN System( 2004)Common Country Assessment(CCA) of Uganda,2004,Kampala. 13 UNDP: Common Country Assessment of Uganda 2004Kampala, 2004. 14 ILO/IPEC: Commercial Agriculture in Uganda: Good Practices;(Kampala)March 2005
17
The important role child labourers play in helping their families cope with extreme poverty has been illustrated by several studies. Some of the most compelling evidence is from Vietnam, which cut child labor nearly in half over a five-year period during its economic boom in the 1990s. The Vietnam data show that throughout the population child labor declined dramatically between 1993 and 1998. The declines were largest in the households living on less than $400 per person per year, but were not confined to the poor and near poor. Moreover, the rate of decline in child labor was steepest in the neighborhood of the poverty line. In fact, one study using these data observed that improvements in per capita expenditure could explain 80 percent of the decline in child labor in households exiting poverty between 1993 and 199815. The 2000 International Labour Organization's estimates of child labor by country against per capita gross domestic product (GDP) show that while child labor is endemic in the world's poorest countries such as Tanzania and Ethiopia, it is rare in countries richer than Gabon, with a per capita GDP of $8,400 per year. There are other factors apart from income, which enter into the child labour decision. However, the strong overall association between income and child labor suggests that a family's need for the child's economic contribution is likely of firstorder importance. Eliminating child labour in the long term therefore requires breaking the cycle of poverty that underlies much child labour. , whin provide enough salary. Dream of education to lab 1.8.2 Education and child labour The link between education, both formal and informal, and child labour has been well established. Educational interventions constitute one of the most effective means of action in the fight against child labour. Free, compulsory and good quality education provided up to the minimum age of employment as defined by ILO Convention 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment is widely promoted and accepted as the key to progressively eliminating child labour.
15 Government of Vietnam: Vietnam Living Standard Surveys 1993 and 1998
18
Education has a dual role in relation to child labour: it is a crucial element in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of child labourers. Additionally, it is a powerful tool in preventing children at risk from slipping into situations of child labour. Innovative non-formal or transitional education programmes have been implemented, which enable withdrawn child labourers to attain the level of their peers in formal education and ultimately reintegrate them into formal education, thus laying stepping stones for future educational advancement. The international community’s efforts to achieve Education for All (EFA) and the progressive elimination of child labour are strongly interwoven. Child labour, however, is a direct hindrance to EFA, because children who are in full time employment are unable to attend school and
denial of education opportunities
forces millions of children to work in dangerous and exploitative conditions. According to UNESCO, there were 104 million children of primary school going age not enrolled in school at the turn of the millennium, the majority of whom are working children. In Guatemala, Understanding Children’s Work report has established that Work appears to interfere with children’s ability to join schooling. About 62 percent of working children attend school compared to 78 percent of non-working children. child involved in Light work complete only about half the total number of years of schooling of their non-working counterparts. In Morocco, interference with schooling is the most obvious negative consequence of children’s work. Only 14 percent of working boys and eight percent of working girls manage to attend school. These levels of school attendance are the lowest of all countries outside Sub Saharan Africa. On the contrary, increased enrollment and retention in school of school going age children, is detrimental to child labour recruitment. Uganda, in its effort to achieve the MDG , introduced
Universal Primary Education consequently
increasing primary school enrolment, with net enrolment more than tripling from
19
2.3million children in 1996, to 7.5 million in 2004, with an average NER of 86 percent16. It is vital to note however, that unless issues of accessibility, quality, relevance and affordability are equally accorded priority, they are likely to remain major impediments to provision of education, and elimination of child labour. Education provides former child labourers with fundamental literacy and numeric skills. It builds their confidence and self-esteem, enhancing their communication skills. Many programmes targeting child labourers include life skills components to help them build a sense of independence and often provide them with skills training in a range of crafts and trades based on local labour market assessments. For many of these children, the education and training they receive could enable them to obtain better and safer jobs under improved working conditions in the future. It is a lifeline to becoming fulfilled and productive adults and in shaping their approach and attitudes towards the education needs and aspirations of future generations. It can help them in breaking out of the downward spiral of poverty. 1.8.3 HIV/AIDS , orphan hood and child labour HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic with far reaching social economic and health consequences. Of the estimated 40 million HIV/AIDS cases globally, about 63 percent or 25 million17 are found in Sub Saharan Africa, making it the worst affected region in relative and absolute terms. In the regions most affected by HIV/AIDS, the scourge is attributed with increased economic pressure on households, giving rise to more orphans, contributing to absenteeism in school, subsequent drop out of children and reduced adult labour supply, resulting in increased reliance on child labour. The growing proportion of children orphaned by AIDS is one of its most devastating aspects.
16 UNDP: Common Country Assessment of Uganda-2004, Kampala. 17 UAC: Monitoring HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, June 2004(Unpublished)
20
A large proportion of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) children must grow up in
the
absence of one or both birth parents. In 2001, ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa had orphan rates higher than 15 percent of all children in the population. The rate in Zimbabwe was 17.6 percent with more than three quarters due to AIDS. In Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Botswana and Zambia, at least half of the orphans were as a result of AIDS. By 2010, it is estimated that the rate in Lesotho will be 25 percent (four out of five from AIDS) and in Zimbabwe 21 percent (89 percent as a result of AIDS). In Zambia, Swaziland and Namibia, 75 percent of all orphans will be AIDS related while in South Africa 16 percent of all children will be orphans, more than 70 percent as a result of AIDS. Projections suggest that South Africa will experience an increasing orphan problem during the first decade of the 21st century even if HIV prevalence declines as rapidly as it did in Uganda, currently estimated to have 2 million orphaned children18, constituting 14 percent of all children19. (USAID/UNICEF/UNAIDS, 2002). Children are affected by HIV/AIDS before they are orphaned. Their workload starts when parents become sick and increases when they become orphaned. When a parent falls sick, children often shoulder new responsibilities; these include domestic chores, nursing the ailing parents, agricultural or income generating activities and childcare duties. Workload for orphans may be greater than non-orphans living in the same household (Foster, Makufa, Drew and colleagues, 1997). In many cases, households with orphans cannot cover school fees and children are withdrawn from school to reduce family expenses. Rates of absenteeism can be expected to rise and consequently the likelihood of premature dropout increases as children are forced to work or to take on caretaking responsibilities. Foster parents may not have the same altruistic ties to the children, and may be less likely to realize financial gains from investments made in orphans, leading to weaker incentives to invest in such children’s
18 Children on the Brink,2000. 19 Basaza, R. and Kaija, D.( 2001): The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Children: Lights and Shadows in the “Successful Case” of Uganda.
21
education. Once out of school, child labour more often than not is the only option open to such orphaned children. 1.9
Child labour: National Context
In Uganda, a child is legally defined as a person below the age of 18. The total number of children aged 5-17 years is estimated to 7.9 million, which is about 365 of the estimated total projected population of Uganda in 2000.According to the Child Labour Report, it is estimated that there are about 2.7 million working children in Uganda, giving an overall participation rate of 34.2 percent.More than half of the working children (54 percent) are aged 10-14 years, with about one third of them being less than 10 years. The number of working children aged 5-17 years who were currently attending primary school was estimated to be about 1.9 million, with more than 300,000 in the same age bracket having no formal education. According to ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter report of 2001, there are two types of child labourers identified in Uganda. The first category comprises of boys and girls who are exploited by adults, to provide cheap labour, whereas the second categories are those who are forced into child labour due to harsh conditions and desperation. The regional distribution of child labour in Uganda indicates that eastern region has a relatively higher proportion of working children aged 5-9 years and reveals the highest number of working children compared to other regions20. The majority (more than half) of working children are employed in domestic chores, with sex differentials indicating about 70 percent of girls engaged in domestic work, as compared to 42 percent of boys. Additional activities include crop farming 18.2 percent, unskilled manual labour 15.4 percent, livestock and fishing 5.6 percent, sales service and other activities, each accounting for 2.5 percent and manufacturing 1 percent, employing the least number. However, 20 Child Labour report,Opcit
22
child sexual exploitation of children, forced recruitment of child soldiers, child pornography are some of the worst forms of child labour which lack reliable data due to their invisible nature. In spite of Uganda being signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, the African Charter on Rights and Welfare of the Child and having ratified the ILO Convention No. 138 (Minimum Age Convention) and ILO Convention No.182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, with a constitution that provides for protecting children’s rights, child labour is still widespread throughout the country and still poses a significant developmental challenge. Several factors account for this phenomena. 1.9.1 Education Uganda is a signatory to the Jomtien declaration (1999) on EFA and has demonstrated this support through political, technical, infrastructural and financial commitments towards implementation of UPE. In spite of this, the education sector still faces numerous challenges. With a national growth rate of 3.4 percent, one of the highest in the world, pupils enrolled in Uganda primary schools are expected to hit the 8.4 million mark by 2006. Against such numbers is a 59,273 classroom shortfall, about 40 percent of current pupils studying under trees or temporary shelters, over 58 percent of pupils not having access to safe water, about one million pupils displaced by insurgency in the north, and only 20 percent of schools having enough latrines and washing facilities. Although government contributes a significant fraction of the cost of schooling, auxiliary costs make many children who are financially and socially disadvantaged either dropout, or fail to enroll. The highest percentage of dropouts occur during transition from primary 1 to primary 2 and from primary 6 to primary 7.32 percent of pupils dropout before P4 and another 32
23
percentdropout between P6 and P721.The government has not yet moved to ensure that all children have access to compulsory education as a front-line response to child labour. These are some of the issues which have negatively
affected access, quality,
affordability and relevance of education, contributing to dropout, and non enrolment of eligible children thus increasing vulnerability of children to child labour. The fact that education is not compulsory further compounds the situation. In 2000, only 15 percent of the youth who completed school could enter formal employment due to lack of functional skills, in spite of the fact that there are 144 public and over 600 private institutions in the country. Business and technical vocational education requires revamping to a level where the enrollment levels, quality and relevance of education are conducive enough to attract and retain the growing numbers of boys and girls withdrawn from child labour and those who are at risk of joining, as a result of prohibitive post primary schooling. 1.9.2 HIV/AIDS It is estimated that the number of orphans in Uganda is 2 million, the majority of whom are paternal orphans living with their mothers. Eighty percent of double orphans are attributed to AIDS(UNAIDS 2002). Since the onset of the HIV pandemic in the early 1980, over two million people are estimated to have been infected with HIV in Uganda, with over 1 million dead by the end of 2002.Although the prevalence rate has been declining steadily, AIDS is still the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 25 and 49 years22. The subsequent death of these people negatively impacts on the economy and labour force supply and is a likely cause of an increase in child labour.
21 Government of Uganda:Enhancing UPE:A stakeholders handbook. 2004. 22 UNDP:Common Country Assessment opcit
24
A study on child labour and HIV/AIDS conducted by ILO/IPEC and GoU in June 2004 in the districts of Kampala, Jinja, Mbale and Nebbi found that out of 929 respondents, 417 had been affected by /HIVAIDS and 398 of the AIDS affected were working. The majority,58 percent, were fending for themselves through the supply of their labour, which was the only coping strategy for them23 1.9.3 Gender Gender is an important factor affecting the households’ decision making process on time allocation for girls and boys. In addition, there is gender based segregation in the allocation of tasks to both girls and boys, often denying girls the opportunity to study at home thus negatively impacting on their academic performance. Children from single-parent households may be under more pressure to work than those in which both parents are present, and children from large families more likely to work than those from smaller families. Within the same household, older children may be under more pressure to work than younger children, and girls expected to work more than their brothers. In Uganda, children’s participation in household activities is regarded as part of their social upbringing, in preparation for life as adults. However, some of the activities that society considers as acceptable, can end up being harmful to children well being and detrimental to their health. Hazardous work, such as child domestic work, is regarded as one of the worst forms of child labour, and is the leading activity undertaken by child involved in Light work, engaging 70 percent of the girls, as compared to 42 percent of boys. 1.9.4 Poverty Although poverty steadily decreased from 56 percent in 1992 to 34 percent in 2000, it actually rose between 1999/2000 and 2002/2003, both in urban and rural areas. In the rural areas, the percentage of people living in poverty rose from 37 percent to 42 percent corresponding to 8.5 million people in 2003. In the urban 23 GoU and ILO/IPEC Op cit
25
areas, the proportion of the population living in poverty rose from 10 percent to 14 percent. The poor are mostly in rural areas, where headcount is 43 percent and in the Northern region with 63 percent24. Poverty increases children’s vulnerability to labour, since poor households are unable to afford even the basic requirements to retain their children in school. Auxiliary charges for school stationery, school uniform, books and pens and provision of lunch to pupils are regarded by a significant fraction in rural areas as extremely prohibitive. According to a UNEB study in 2002, children who are malnourished or just temporarily hungry do not learn as well as healthy well nourished ones do: 55 percent of urban schools provide food compared to only 13 percent of rural ones, leading to a conclusion that “urban schools perform better because of feeding” 1.10
The legal framework
Uganda has taken significant steps towards development and improvement of Children’s welfare, such as signing and ratification of international treaties, instituting sectoral policies, national legislation and programmes. 1.10.1 International conventions Uganda is a signatory to the international conventions aimed at elimination of child labour including its worst forms. Uganda has ratified three ILO Conventions that provide for the protection of girls and boys from certain categories of employment. These are the Minimum age (Industry) Convention, 1919 No5; minimum age (Underground work) Convention, 1965 (No123); Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, (No182) and the Minimum age Convention , 1973(No 138). Provisions of the latter two Conventions have been incorporated into the national labour legislation, namely the Employment Decree No. 5 of 24 UNDP: Op cit
26
1975. Uganda also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of 1989 and the African Charter on the Rights and welfare of Children. 1.10.2 National legislation 1.10.3 The constitution of the republic of Uganda(1995) The country has also made progress in putting in place, an enabling legal and policy framework to fight exploitative forms of work. The national laws in place include Uganda constitution of 1995, which in Article 25 prohibits holding in slavery or servitude of any person in Uganda including children and which also in article 34 (4) protects children under the age of 16 years from economic and social exploitation. The 1995 Constitution of Uganda provides that girls and boys under the age of 16 years are to be protected from social and economic exploitation and shall not be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be harmful to their health or physical , mental , spiritual , moral or social development(Article 34, 45) In addition to this protection, the GoU has also developed a number of policies , which in varying degrees, respond to the needs and rights of children susceptible to exploitative forms of labour. 1.10.4 The children’s act The Children Act, 2000, gives legal status to many of the commitments in the CRC and follows the CRC principle of the best interest of the child. It defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years. Article5 (3) establishes the rights of children such as: the right to live with parents , have custody, be protected from discrimination, violence, abuse and neglect Article5 (6). In addition, Article 5 (9) prohibits the employment of children or their engagement in any activity that
27
may be harmful to their lives, health, education, mental, physical or moral development. 1.10.5 The local government act (1997) This Act provides for a Secretary responsible for Children’s Affairs at all local levels and gives them mandate to plan and implement programmes at local government level. 1.11
Policies and programes
1.11.1 Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) The PEAP is the overall policy framework for development interventions in Uganda. It underscores HIV/AIDS and social protection as critical crosscutting issues. Although the PEAP does not specifically address child labour, it recognizes
the various dimensions of poverty and vulnerable groups including
orphans, particularly those orphaned by HIV/AIDS. 1.11.2 Social development sector strategic investment plan (SDSSIP) The SDSSIP aims at ensuring full realization of economic, social, cultural and civic rights as well as improved livelihoods for the people of Uganda, with particular focus on protection of the poor and vulnerable groups, for sustainable and gender responsive development. The categories of vulnerable people in the SDSSIP include child labourers, abused and neglected boys, girls and orphans. It recognizes the importance of social protection and will focus on mechanisms and processes that will increase access to and benefits from services delivered from various sectors for the vulnerable groups identified.
28
1.11.3 The national child labour policy This policy identifies the Worst Forms of Child Labour which require immediate action. These include children in commercial agriculture in plantation, children in domestic labour, children in armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation of children, children engaged in street activities, those in the informal sector and construction and children engaged in fishing activities.
1.11.4 Draft national policy on young people and HIV/AIDS This has an overall policy of preventing and controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS and strengthening care and support for young people both infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Emphasizing the rights based approach, the policy aims at promoting the involvement of young people in designing implementing, monitoring
and
evaluating
HIV/AIDS
related
interventions
jointly
with
government, and key stakeholders. 1.11.5 Universal primary education (UPE) This policy which was introduced in 1997, provides children with the opportunity to continue their education and attain better opportunities and life skills development. It is in recognition of the constitutional right to education for every Ugandan and a response to child labour. Since introduction in 1997, the enrolment of children in primary schools increased from 2.3 million to 7.5 million in 2004. Recent studies however point to several challenges facing the programme, like inadequate infrastructure, low quality, absenteeism, dropout of children, to such an extent that only 22 percent of children enrolled in P1 in 1997 completed P7 in 200325
25 Ministry of Education and Sports: Primary Education Enrolment Inflows since Inception of UPE in 1997.
29
1.12
Concepts and definitions
1.12.1 A child For the purpose of the survey, a child was any person in the 5-17 age bracket. 1.12.2 Child labour Child labour comprises of: i) All children involved in work aged 5-11 years; ii) All working children aged 12-14 years involved in work beyond their capacity or work which is not ‘light work’ as provided for in national legislation and, or, they work for a total of 14 hours or more a week and; iii) All working children aged 15-17 involved in hazardous work and, or, they work an equivalent of 43 or more hours per week. This definition of child labour fits squarely within the ILO Conventions on child labour and national labour legislation26. Figure 2 below shows basic distinctions in ILO child labour standards. Child labour is work that harms children's well being and hinders their education, development and future livelihoods. Child labour is work which, by its nature and/or the way it is carried out, harms, abuses and exploits the child or deprives the child of an education. Hazard” is anything with the potential to do harm. A “risk” is the likelihood of potential harm from that hazard being realized.
26 The ILO conventions for elimination of child labour include; Convention No. 138 of 1973, on the Minimum age for admission to work and Convention No. 182 of 1999 for Elimination of Worst Forms of child Labour. The existing national legislation for employment include; The Employment Act 2000, the Child Statute 1996 and The Uganda Constitution of 1995.
30
Source: UCW, 2003
1.12.3 A usual member Is defined as those persons who have been living in the household for 6 months or more during the last 12 months. However, members who have come to stay in the household permanently are to be included as usual members, even though they have lived in this household for less than 6 months. Furthermore, children born to usual members on any date during the last 12 months will be taken as usual members. 1.12.4 Household A household is defined as a person or group of persons who live together in the same house or compound, share the same housekeeping arrangements and are catered to as one unit. Or a person or group of persons who live under the same roof / compound and share meals from the same kitchen/pot
31
1.12.5 Employee A person who works for a public or private employer and receives remuneration in wages, salary, commission, tips, piece-rates or pay in kind 1.12.6 Light work This term generally refers to activities that children carry out within or outside their households for income, family gain or profit, including unpaid family work. Such children are often described as being economically active, which is a broad concept that encompasses most productive activities undertaken by children, whether for the market or not, paid or unpaid, for a few hours or full-time, on a temporary or regular basis, legal or illegal. The term excludes schooling and chores undertaken in the child’s own household
1.12.7 Economic activities Economic activity as defined by United Nations Systems of National Accounts (SNA) covers all market production and certain types on nonmarket productions, including production and processing of primary products for own consumption, own-account construction and other production of fixed assets for own use. It includes not only unpaid work by a family member in a family business of any kind, but also A household chores or work of a domestic nature performed within a household by a non-family member. 1.12.8 Economically active children (working children) The number of children who are economically active, i.e., they reported to have worked either for pay (cash or in-kind), or unpaid family workers during the last 7 days prior to the survey. 1.12.9 scope of agricultural activities covered
32
Agriculture covers different types of farming activities, such as crop
production,
horticultural/fruit production, livestock raising, livestock-food preparation, forestry activities, fish farming, and insect raising. It also includes many other associated activities: the primary processing and packaging of agricultural and animal products, crop storage, pest management, irrigation, construction and domestic tasks (carrying of water, fuel-wood, etc.), as well as the use and maintenance of machinery, equipment, appliances, tools and agricultural installations. It can include any process, operation, transport or storage directly related to agricultural production.
33
Chapter 2 Methodology and Data collection 2.0
Scope and coverage
The paragraphs below outline the methodology that was used in conducting the baseline survey in the 4 districts. In each of region, one district was selected namely; Kayunga in the central region, Iganga in the eastern region, Arua in the northern region and Bushenyi in western region. The districts were randomly selected from each region using a table of random numbers. The methods used involved the collection of both primary and secondary data. The survey was household based because the household is the best unit of measurement for identifying its members and quantifying their socio –economic characteristics as well as particulars of the dwelling and conditions that force children to work The survey used a de-jure approach during data collection, i.e all persons interviewed were usual members of the household present at their usual residence as well as those who were temporarily absent from their usual residence. A total of 43 EAs were covered with a total of 855 households 2.1
Sample size determination and implementation
The area-sampling frame used for the survey was the 2002 population census frame. A two stage sampling design was used to draw the sample. At the first stage Enumeration Areas (EAs) was drawn with Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) while at the second stage households as Ultimate Sampling Units, were drawn using Simple Random Sampling (SRS). The survey was conducted in 43 EAs in four districts. In each selected EA, 20 households were selected and a household questionnaire was administered to the household ( see Table 2.1)
34
Table 2.1: Number of selected EAS and households per district District
Number of EAs
Number of households
Kayunga
7
140
Iganga
9
180
Arua
15
300
Bushenyi
12
240
Total
43
860
2.2
Response rate
The study had targeted 860 households; however, 855 households were covered giving a response rate of 99 percent. . 2.3
Data collection tools
Basically for the primary data, interviews, case studies and focus group discussion were conducted. This led to the generation of both quantitative and qualitative information. The following tools were used in collecting primary data; 2.3.1
Household questionnaire.
A household questionnaire was administered to all 855 households. The mode of administration was face to face interview by 12 Research Assistants supervised by the Lead Consultant. The child engaged in economic activities was identified from the household roster and specific questions were administered to those children who were found working in the selected households.
35
2.3.2 In- depth –Interview guide (IDI)
An interview guide was designed and interviews were conducted among Policy and Programme officers/personnel in the districts of Arua, Bushenyi, Iganga and Kayunga districts. These included: •
LC Secretaries for children welfare
•
Sub-county Chiefs;
•
NGOs and CSO’s working with children;
•
District Community Development officers and CD assistants at lower
levels; •
District Labour Officers;
•
District Agriculture Officers.
•
District Education Officers and Inspectors of schools
•
Identifiable employers of the children;
•
Law enforcement officers;
•
Program Officers implementing programmes on the elimination of child labour and other child related issues.
•
District Probation and Social Welfare Officers.
•
Community Development Officers and Assistants.
2.3.3 Group meeting discussion guide (GMD) Groups meetings with selected members of the community were held. A guide for the meeting was developed These were important in order to obtain in-depth information about the varying perspectives about child labour including causes, magnitude, dimensions, benefits, working conditions and their consequences on the children. In this regard GMDs were conducted among the following: •
Children aged 5-17 and segregated by gender.
•
Adults FGs members of the community
36
The main study tools were developed in English, following guidelines and tools that ILO-IPEC has used elsewhere. To cater for the specific needs in the local setting, the study tools were adjusted accordingly. An instruction manual was developed to guide the researchers on the terminologies, concepts and variables on which data was collected. In addition, a key informants’ structured questionnaire and check-list was designed along specific themes to gather qualitative information from the policy makers, active NGOs, CBOs
and the
communities. The study tools were translated in the local languages of the respondents, and administered by trained Research Assistants who understand the local languages. 2.4
Pre-testing
Pilot testing of the Data Collection Instruments particularly the Survey Questionnaire was done in Wakiso district. A total of 25 survey questionnaires were administered during the pre-testing exercise. This exercise was carried out in order to ensure clarity, proper sequencing and wording as well as to eliminate ambiguity of the questions. After the pilot testing, appropriate changes were incorporated as necessary before actual data collection to ensure the suitability of the research instruments.
2.5
Fieldwork
A total of 12 persons constituted into 4 field team collected the data. All the districts had one team each, where one Research Assistant was for qualitative interviews but could support the other team members who were carrying out household interviews. Table 2.2 shows the number of fieldworkers, coverage and duration of the fieldwork for the four districts.
37
Table 2.2: Number of households, fieldworkers and duration of fieldwork by district District
Number of Fieldworkers
Fieldwork Duration (Days)
Households covered
FGDS
KIs
Arua
3
19
300
Iganga
3
14
180
9
4
Kayunga
3
14
140
7
5
15
10
Bushenyi
3
10
135
12
6
Total
12
18
855
43
25
2.6
Data processing and data cleaning
Every day, after data collection the consultant together with the Interviewers manually cleaned, edited and checked the questionnaires for in consistencies, errors and omissions. During data entry, further editing of computer identified errors ws done and corrections made. Data entry and editing were done in CSpro program and analyzed using SPSS and Stata packages. Data outliers as a result of mistakes made during coding and data entry were also corrected by crosschecking with the questionnaires.
Outliers especially of income were eliminated during data
analysis as they were skewing the data. 2.7 Quality control Prior to the fieldwork activities, training was conducted for all the members of the research team, during which time the research instruments were reviewed and discussed. Key concepts were translated into the local languages to ensure uniformity of issues being discussed.
38
Chapter Three Characteristics of households 3.0
Background
This Chapter provides the contextual background against which the analysis of the Child Labour Survey should be mirrored. It is generally accepted that the incidence of child labour has a lot to do with the socio-economic environment in which the children live, both at the micro and macro levels. Understanding these factors will therefore contribute significantly to the appreciation of the salient causes of this phenomenon. This Chapter therefore presents information on some of the socio-economic characteristics of the household population and the individual survey respondents, such as age and sex by district. This Chapter also considers the conditions of the households in which the survey population lives, including education of household head and household members, orphan-hood status, children’s living arrangements/survival status of parents, main sources of households’ incomes and type of dwelling units as well as source of drinking water and type of fuel used for cooking. 3.1
Population distribution by age and sex.
Age and sex composition of the population can be used to give a clue of the potential workforce by age group. The Survey collected information on the socioeconomic characteristics of 855 households with a total population of 5653 persons. Table 3.1 shows the reported distribution of the household population by age and sex in four age groups. Table 3.1: Population distribution by age and sex Age
Male
Female
Total
UNHS 2002
0-14 15-30 31-64 65+ Not stated.
53.1 23.5 20.1 1.7 1.6
51.5 25.6 20.8 1.2 0.9
52.3 24.5 20.4 1.5 1.3
52.4 25.5 20.0 2.2 -
Total
100
100
100
100
Number
2,953
2,700
5,653
39
The table shows that there were more males than females. This does not reflect the trend of findings of other surveys. The 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey showed that 52 per cent of Uganda’s population is female. The table 3.1 also shows that the proportion of the population aged below 14 years is about 52.3 per cent of the population and there is a consistent decrease in proportion with upward progression in age group. This trend is consistent with the findings of the 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey which showed that overall 52.4 per cent of the population was in the age group 0 – 14 years and 45.2 per cent in the age group 15 – 64 years. 3.2
Population distribution by district and age
The findings of the survey show that overall 52.2 per cent of the total population were male compared to 47.8 per cent females. Apart from Iganga district which had fewer males (48.6 per cent) than females (51.4 per cent) and Kayunga district where the distribution was more or less equal, the other districts had more males than females as shown in Table 3.2 below. Table 3.2: Population distribution by district and age Kayunga Sex Male Female Age 0-14 15-30 31-64 65+ Not stated
Iganga
Arua
Bushenyi
Total
UNHS 2002/03
50.0 50.0
48.6 51.4
52.9 47.1
56.5 43.5
52.2 47.8
48.6 51.4
56.5 22.3 18.2 2.4 0.6 100 943
58.6 20.5 18.8 1.1 1.0 100 1,365
51.8 23.8 21.2 0.9 2.3 100 1,949
44.1 31.0 22.3 2.1 0.5 100 1,396
52.3 24.5 20.4 1.5 1.3 100 5,653
52.4 25.5 20.0 2.1 100
Age distribution among the survey population depicts that the majority of the population (52.3 per cent) fall in the age group 0 – 14 years. As shown in the table 3.2 above, the trend was similar across the districts although there were
40
some inter-district variations. Bushenyi had 44.1 per cent of the survey population aged 0 – 14 years whereas the other districts had over 50 per cent of the survey population in this age group. This trend is consistent with the findings of the 2002 Population and Housing Census and the 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey although there is a slight reduction in the 65+ age group. 3.3
Population distribution of children by sex, age and district
Age and sex composition of children can be used to get a clue of the potential workforce for children by broad age group. At the same time this information can be used to highlight the age at which children take on responsibility at a tender age. Table 3.3: Population distribution of children by sex, age and district Kayunga
Iganga
Arua
Bushenyi
total
Sex Male Female
52.7 47.3
48.5 51.5
55.7 44.3
58.4 41.6
53.9 46.1
5-9 10-14 15-17
39.1 44.6 16.3
38.6 45.4 16.0
41.3 40.7 18.0
30.3 44.1 25.6
37.8 43.4 18.8
Total
100
100
100
100
100
Number
514
751
990
640
2,895
The Table 3.3 above show that overall there were more male children (53.9 per cent) than female children (46.1 per cent). Apart from Iganga district which had more female children (51.5 per cent) than males (48.5 per cent), the rest of the districts had over half of the children being males. The data also shows that there are more children in the age group 10 – 14 years followed by the 5 – 9 age group. Other than Arua district where the 5 – 9 age group was the majority (41.3 per cent), the trend was generally similar for the other districts. This is not as expected of a young population like that of Uganda where it is expected that the
41
age group 5 – 9 has more children than the subsequent groups. Generally there should be a decreasing proportion of children with increasing age. 3.4
Population distribution of household heads by sex and age.
For each of the households, information was sought on the composition of household members. Each household had only one member designated as a household head and who was defined as the member under whose guidance the major decisions of the household are undertaken. The table 3.4 below reveals that the majority of households are male headed (85.03 per cent) compared to female headed (14.97 per cent) meaning that nearly 9 out of every 10 households is headed by a male. This trend is similar between those below 26 and 26 – 64 age groups. However in the 65+ age group, the proportion of female headed households is higher than the proportion of female headed households in other age groups. Table 3.4: Population distribution of household head by sex and age
Below 26 26-64 65+ Total Number
Male
Female
Total
88.0 86.0 72.7
12.0 14.0 27.3
100 100 100
85.03
14.97
100
727
128
855
Overall the findings reveals that the majority of households are male headed and it is consistent with the findings of the 2000 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey although there are variations in the percentages. 3.5
Education of household head
Education is considered to be one of the socio-economic factors that influence child labour. The Survey sought to establish the educational status of the household head as a background characteristic. The findings of the survey show
42
that overall 59.6 per cent of the household heads had attended primary school with a small variation between the sexes – males 60.7 per cent and females 53.1 per cent as shown in the table 3.5 below. Table 3.5: Education of household head Male 10.8 60.7 19.7 8.8
No formal schooling Primary secondary Above Secondary
Female 35.2 53.1 8.6 3.1
Total 14.5 59.6 18.1 7.9
As shown in table 3.5 above, a notable variation between the sexes exists among household heads with no formal schooling. Generally the findings depict that male household heads were more likely to have had formal schooling than their female counterparts. 3.6
Education level of household population
In each household, data was collected on the highest level of education attained by each household member. The table 3.6 below shows that overall 71.4 per cent of the population have attended or are currently attending Primary level education and there is no significant variation between the sexes. More females (16.8 per cent) have not had any formal schooling compared to males (10.6 per cent) Table 3.6: Education level of household population
No formal schooling Primary secondary Above Secondary Not stated
Male 10.6 71.7 13.4 3.5 0.8
Female 16.8 71.2 9.7 1.3 1.1
Total 13.6 71.4 11.6 2.5 0.9
UDHS 2000 Male 15.2 68.2 12.1 3.4 1.0
UDHS 2000 Female 26.5 63.2 8.1 1.8 0.4
The findings show that more males have been exposed to education than their female counterparts. It further shows that males are less likely to have no education and more likely to have attained some secondary education and above
43
than females. This trend is similar to the findings of the 2000 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey.
3.7
Orphan hood and living arrangements
In Uganda, a child is defined as a person less than 18 years old. An orphan is defined as a child under 18 years who has lost at least one of his/her biological parents. The survey sought to establish the orphan hood status of children and the findings are as shown in the table below. The table 3.7 below shows that overall the majority of the children (84.5 per cent) were non orphans while 15.5 per cent were orphans. This is consistent with the findings of the 2002 Uganda Population and Housing Census which found that in Uganda 86.7 per cent of the children below 18 years had both parents alive and orphans were 13.1 per cent. In terms of proportions, orphans were highest in the 15 – 17 age group but in terms of numbers orphans were highest in the 10 – 14 age group.
Table 3.7: Orphan hood status by age and district
5-9 10-14 15-17 Kayunga Iganga Arua Bushenyi
Total
Number 1,094 1,255 546
Orphan 11.2 16.8 21.1
Non-Orphan 88.8 83.2 78.9
Total 100 100 100
514 751 990 640
18.1 11.3 11.9 23.9
81.9 88.7 88.1 76.1
100 100 100 100
2,895
15.5
84.5
100
In terms of distribution by district, the trend was similar across all the districts with the majority of children in each district being non-orphans. The proportion of orphans was highest in Bushenyi and lowest in Iganga.
44
3.8
Orphan hood status by sex of the household head
The Survey sought to establish the orphan hood status by sex of the household head and the findings are as presented in the table below. Table 3. 8: Orphan hood status by sex of household head Sex Male Female
Orphan 56.4 43.7
Total
Non-Orphan 89.6 10.4
Total 84.4 15.6
100
100
100
449
2,446
2,895
The findings depict that slightly more than half of the orphans (56.4 per cent) were living in male headed households compared to female headed households (43.7 per cent). Similarly more non-orphans were living in male headed households than female headed households. 3.9
Living arrangements of children 5 – 17 years by sex, age and district
The survey sought information on the living arrangements of children 5 -17 years. The findings reveal that majority of the children 5 -17 years were staying with both parents followed by children living with none of their parents and there were no significant variations between the sexes. Table 3.9: Living arrangements of children 5 – 17 years by sex, age and district
Staying with both parents 67.8 65.9
Father only 9.3 11.9
Mother only 6.5 5.4
None 16.5 16.8
Total 100 100
5-9 10-14 15-17
71.1 64.8 63.4
9.5 11.3 10.6
4.4 6.9 7.1
15.0 17.1 18.9
100 100 100
Kayunga Iganga Arua Bushenyi Total
59.0 70.0 68.7 66.9 1,937
12.3 8.5 12.3 8.6 304
5.3 5.3 6.4 6.7 173
23.5 16.1 12.6 17.8 481
100 100 100 100 2,895
Male Female
45
The table 3.9 above reveals that 71.1 per cent of the children aged 5 – 9 were staying with both parents compared to 15.0 per cent living with none. More children were living with father only than with Mother only. Kayunga district had the highest percentage of children living with none of their parents while Arua district had the lowest. The trend across the districts shows that majority of children were living with both parents and minority living with mother only. 3.10
Main sources of households’ income
Child labour is often considered a norm in those communities with a sizeable portion of the population having limited resources. The survey sought information on households’ main source of earnings as a background characteristic and the findings were as shown in the table below. Table 3.10: Main source of household income Economic activity
Number
per cent
Crop farming
535
63.2
Livestock farming
17
2.0
Employment
63
7.5
Sales/trade
70
8.3
Casual labouring
100
11.8
Fishing
5
0.6
Manufacturing
4
0.5
Remittances
22
2.6
Others
30
3.5
As shown in the table 3.10, crop farming was the main source of income for 63.2 per cent of the households followed by casual labouring for 11.8 per cent of the households. Fishing and manufacturing were insignificant sources of household income.
46
3.11
Type of dwelling units
The type of dwelling unit may be viewed as an indicator of the quality of housing from an income dimension i.e. housing is a critical indicator of poverty which in turn is a cause of child labour. Information was collected on the type of dwelling units occupied by the households and the findings were as shown in the table 3.11 below. Table 3.11: Type of dwelling units Number
per cent
Detach/separate
434
50.5
Semi-detach
41
4.8
Flat/apartment
2
0.2
Hut/shacks
306
35.6
Muzigo/tenement
76
8.9
The findings of the survey depict that slightly more than half the households lived in detached /separate houses. Huts/shacks were the second most common type of dwelling units. This trend is similar to the findings of the 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey. 3.12
Source of drinking water and fuel for cooking
The survey sought information on source of drinking water and fuel for cooking and the findings are presented in the table 3.12 below. Water is normally classified as safe if it is drawn from a tap (piped), boreholes, or protected wells and/or springs. The findings show that two thirds of the population has access to safe water (i.e. combined total for protected source and borehole). This is consistent with the findings of the 2002/03 Uganda National Household Survey. It should be noted that protected water sources and boreholes are usually a bit distant from the households meaning that children have to walk long distances to fetch safe water.
47
Table 3.12: Source of drinking water and fuel for cooking Source of drinking water
UNHS 2002/3 %
Number
Per cent
A - Protected source
304
35.6
B - Borehole
278
32.6
A+B=Safe water
582
68.2
C-Unprotected source
219
25.7
D -Others
50
5.9
.C+D=Unsafe water
269
316
32
Firewood
805
94.6
N/A
Charcoal (Protected source + Borehole = Safe water)
46
5.4
N/A
68
Source of fuel for cooking
The table 3.12 above shows that nearly all households use wood fuel for cooking with only a small proportion using charcoal.
48
Chapter Four Characteristics of working children 4.0:
Introduction
This chapter discusses characteristics of working children aged 5-17 years in the four districts covered by the study. The base children population in the study area was 2,895 of which 1999 were working. The areas considered for study in the chapter include education status, living arrangements, economic activity and orphan hood status of working children. An attempt is made to assess how the above factors inter-relate to influence the magnitude of working children. 4.1
Age sex distribution of working children
Table 4.1 presents the distribution of the working children by single ages and sex. The study indicated that of the population aged 5-17 years, 69 percent were working. The sex ratio of the working children was 122 males per 100 females, implying that more male children than females were workers. This is consistent with the results of the 2002 Population and Housing Census, although the ratio from the census results showed a slightly lower sex ratio of 106 males per 100 females of working children in the four Districts. As expected the results tend to reveal that generally the proportion of working children increase with age. The relationship at age 11 is different, this can be partly due to age heaping at age 10.
49
Table 4.1: Distribution of working children by sex and age
Male
Female
Both Sexes
Age
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
5
24
2.2
22
2.5
46
2.3
6
45
4.1
39
4.3
84
4.2
7
55
5
44
4.9
99
5
8
63
5.7
57
6.3
120
6
9
71
6.5
73
8.1
144
7.2
10
133
12.1
91
10.1
224
11.2
11
62
5.6
65
7.2
127
6.4
12
150
13.6
105
11.7
255
12.8
13
112
10.2
94
10.5
206
10.3
14
106
9.6
105
11.7
211
10.6
15 16
95 96
8.6 8.7
86 65
9.6 7.2
181 161
9.1 8.1
17
88
8
53
5.9
141
7.1
Total
1,100
100
899
100
1,999
100
4.2
Working children by sex, age, district and education attainment
Table 4.2 below reveals that the number of working children in the age category 10-14 was more than twice that in the age groups 5-9 and 15-17. The District with the largest share of working children in the sample was Arua comprising almost a third of the group, and the lowest was Kayunga, 19 percent. In addition to sample selection procedures which tend to use measures of size to select a sample in a given area and hence award bigger districts high representation, the differences in proportions of working children can also be explained by the different rates across districts. Table 4.2 shows that 88 percent of the working children had attained primary school education. This is expected since a high proportion of the target population is primary school going - age.
50
Table 4.2: Percentage of children working by sex, age district and educational attainment
Boys
Share(%)
Girls
Share(%)
Total
Share (%)
5-9
258
23.5
235
26.1
493
24.7
10-14
563
51.2
460
51.2
1,023
51.2
15-17
279
25.4
204
22.7
483
24.2
Kayunga
200
18.2
173
19.2
373
18.7
Iganga
218
19.8
235
26.1
453
22.7
Arua
382
34.7
269
29.9
651
32.6
Bushenyi
300
27.3
222
24.7
522
26.1
Age group
District
Educational attainment No formal education Primary some secondary Not stated
4.3
43
3.9
39
4.3
82
4.1
974
88.5
784
87.2
1,758
87.9
60
5.5
51
5.7
111
5.6
7
0.6
10
1.1
17
0.9
1100
100
899
100.0
1999
100.0
Working children by background characteristics
The results indicate that 45 percent of children in the age group 5-9 years were working, the proportion almost doubling for the age group 10-14 years (81 percent), there after marginally increasing to 89 percent for those aged 15-17 years. Apart from age group 10-14 years, there were minimal differentials by age of proportions of working children. The table 4.3 below shows that Bushenyi district had the highest proportion of children working of 82 percent followed by Kayunga at 73 percent while Iganga district had the lowest of 60 percent closely followed by Arua district at 66 percent.
51
Table 4.3: Percentage of children working by background characteristics Sex Characteristic
Boys
Girls
Total
5-9
44.8
45.4
45.1
10-14
84.0
78.6
81.5
15-17
88.9
87.9
88.5
Kayunga
73.8
71.2
72.6
Iganga
59.9
60.7
60.3
Arua
69.3
61.3
65.8
Bushenyi
80.2
83.5
81.6
Age group
District
Educational Attainment NO formal Education
27.0
27.3
27.2
Primary
76.5
73.3
75.1
Some Secondary
87.0
83.6
85.4
68.4
65.5
67.1
80.7
67.9
74.0
69.3
75.0
71.7
73.9
71.9
73.0
82.3
79.1
80.8
68.3
65.3
66.9
1,100
899
1,999
Living Arrangements Both parents Father only Mother only None
Orphan hood status Orphan Non-Orphan
Number
The analysis by education attainment reveal that the more the child is educated the high the chances of him/her getting engaged in work. This is not surprising given the fact that those with higher education are likely to be older than those with lower education attainment and hence have high chances of working. Children staying with their parents have lower chances of engaging in work as compared to other children. Two thirds of children staying with both parents engaged in work as compared to 73 percent for those who did not stay with any of the parents.
There are no notable differentials in proportions of working 52
children in categories of those staying with either parent and those were staying with no parent. Male children staying with only their fathers have high chances of working as compared to their female counterparts and vice versa. Orphaned children have higher chances of working compared to non-orphans as the study showed that 81 percent of orphans and 67 percent of the non-orphans respectively were working children. This re-affirms the fact that orphans are vulnerable and therefore conditions force them to work for survival. 4.4
Working children by age, sex, household size, district and schooling status Overall the proportion of working children among males is slightly higher than among females, 71 percent and 67 percent respectively. Children enrolled in school had high chances of engaging in child labour than their other counterparts, with no wide variations by sex. Apart from Bushenyi district which had low variations in the proportions of working children by schooling status, the other districts showed high differentials. Table 4.4: Percentage of children working by age, sex, household size, district and schooling status
Currently Attending
Schooling Status Not currently Attending
Total
73.5 71.2
49.5 41.2
70.5 67.3
75.8 64.2 69.9 82.9
45.5 36.2 39.6 70.8
72.6 60.3 65.8 81.6
Below 5
73.1
69.4
72.4
5+
72.4
43.0
68.8
Age group 5-9 10-14 15-17
51.0 82.0 87.8
22.7 69.4 92.0
45.1 81.5 88.5
1,832
167
1,999
Sex Male Female District Kayunga Iganga Arua Bushenyi Household size
Total
53
Higher proportions of children enrolled in school were working compared with those not enrolled. This could be partly due to the notion that schooling children need to help their parents /guardians with work to help raise their school fees. They are slight variations in proportions of working children by the size of household in which they stay. 4.5
Age Working children by age group and household size
Figure 4.1: Working children by age group and household size
90
83.7
80
80.7
79
76.1
proportion working(percent)
70 60 50 40 30
21.7
19
20
17.7
15.2
10
2.2
2
1.2
1.6
0 5-9
10-14
15-17
Total
Child Age group 1-3
4-5
More than 5
Four in every five working children were enumerated in big households of more than 5 people. The other 18 percent and 2 percent respectively are shared among households with sizes 1-3 people and 4-5 people. There are two aspects that explain these scenarios. First is the general distribution of children in the 54
study area, which indicates more children staying in households with big household sizes of more than 5 people than in other households. The other issue that partly explains the finding is economic, where parents/guardians of children in big households are burdened by the size of their households and therefore are willing to allow them work to help supplement the work done by the mature people to enable the survival of their families. This however in a number of cases leads to child labour to the disadvantage of the affected child and the society as a whole
4.6:
Employment status of children
Close to 94 percent of the working children are employed as unpaid family workers with no wide sex differentials (92 percent of males and 95 percent of females). This is not surprising given the fact that the study area was in a rural setting where a high percentage of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. A high proportion of the children here engage in subsistence agriculture since it is the main activity in the households they live in. The remaining 8 percent is shared between the self employed and the employees, with the employees being twice as many as the self employed. There are no sex differentials among working children in the self employed category, however close to 2 males per every 1 female are likely to be employees. This is at a disadvantage of the girl child since the monetary rewards from this category tend to be higher.
55
Figure 4.2: Employment status by sex of children
100
95 92.4
93.6
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
5.3 2.3
2.1
2.2
2.9
4.3
0 Unpaid family worker
Self employed
Employee
Emp lo yment St at us M ale
Female
B oth Sexes
4.7: Occupations of working children Working children are almost universally employed as agricultural and fisheries workers (96 percent), followed by elementary occupations at 3 percent with the other occupations combined contributing less than 2 percent.
This is not
surprising given that previous studies have shown that more than 70 percent of the population nationally is employed as agricultural and fisheries workers. Due to economic conditions children are forced to work in crop farming sometimes with other family members to support their families, and others may look after the family’s livestock. In the process the education of these children is negatively affected as more of their time is spent on working and they miss a couple of days not going to school. This problem is aggravated if they are engaged in child labour as it has negative implications on their future and of the country as a
56
whole. An analysis of the occupations by sex reveals that a slightly higher proportion of the females are engaged as agricultural and fisheries workers as compared to the males. On the other hand the proportion of the male children who worked in elementary occupations was more than two times that of the females. Table 4.5: Percentage distribution of occupations of children by sex
Child Occupation
Male
Female
Total
0.8
0.7
0.8
94.4
97.0
95.6
Crafts and Related trade workers
0.7
0.6
0.7
Plant and Machine Operators
0.5
0.2
0.4
Elementary Occupation
3.6
1.5
2.7
Service Workers and S Agriculture and Fisheries
4.8
Distribution of occupation of children by age
Distribution of the occupations by age category show interesting results. The ratio of children employed as agriculture and fisheries workers slightly reduces with increasing age. On the contrary engagement in the other occupations follows an opposite trend. This can be partly due to the degree of sophistication of the work. While the agricultural and fisheries sector can be employ children of any age, however the other occupations may need some degree of knowledge and skill and hence need relatively older children. Table 4.6: Percentage distribution occupation of children by age Occupation
5-9
10-14
15-17
Total
Service Workers and S
0.2
0.8
1.2
0.8
Agriculture and Fisheries
98.1
96.5
91.3
95.6
Crafts and Related trade workers
0.0
0.4
1.9
0.7
Plant and Machine Operators
0.4
0.1
0.8
0.4
Elementary Occupation
1.3
2.3
4.8
2.7
Number
466
1,016
482
1,964
57
4.9
Work Place
Data was also collected on the areas where the children work. This information is among the aspects that are investigated under child labour as the place of work may determine how hazardous the activity is to the children. The results point to the fact that an extraordinarily a large proportion of working children work in a plantation/ farm/ garden implying that these children are mostly engaged in subsistence farming see table 4.7 below. The proportion of girls working in the family dwelling of 3 percent was one and a half times the proportion of boys of 2 percent. Table 4.7: Place of work of working children by sex and age Place of work
Male
Female
2.2
3.1
2.6
93.6
95.3
94.4
Shop/market/kiosk
0.7
0.5
0.6
Employer's house
0.5
0.0
0.3
Different places
2.1
0.8
1.5
At family dwelling Plantation/farm/garden
Total
Construction sites
0.9
0.2
0.6
On the street
0.0
0.1
0.1
4.10
Hours of work
The results indicate that the average number of hours worked per day was 4 with no wide differences by sex. As expected the mean number of hours worked per day increases with age, with minimal sex variations. It should be noted that when the number of hours worked are used to investigate child labour the results indicate that all children below the age of 15 years qualify to be categorized as child labourers27. The highest mean number of hours worked by children per day of Bushenyi district was 9 hours six times that of the lowest for Iganga of 1.5 hours. On average orphaned children work 6 hours a week more than the nonorphaned children.
27 All children below 12 years engaged in work and children aged 12-14 years and work beyond an average of 14 hours a week are taken as child Labourers.
58
Table 4.8 : Hours of work on Economic activity Back ground Characteristic
Male
Female
Total
5-9
3.0
3.4
3.2
10-14
3.8
3.5
3.6
15-17
5.6
5.3
5.5
Kayunga
3.2
3.0
3.1
Iganga
1.6
1.4
1.5
Arua
2.3
2.2
2.2
Bushenyi
8.7
9.0
8.8
NO formal Education
3.0
3.8
3.4
Primary
4.2
3.9
4.0
Some Secondary
4.0
3.9
3.9
Orphan
4.7
4.6
4.7
Non_orphan
3.9
3.7
3.8
Both Parents
4.1
3.8
4.0
Father Alone
3.8
3.7
3.7
Mother Alone
5.0
5.1
5.0
None
3.8
4.0
3.9
Total
4.1
3.9
4.0
District
Educational attainment
Orphan hood status
Living arrangements
4.11
Mean number of hours worked by occupation
Figure 4.3 indicates that apart from children employed as agricultural and fisheries workers, all other occupations engage children for more than 6 hours a day. Children employed as service, shop and market sale workers, had the maximum mean number of hours worked per day of above 8. This is even higher than the recommended mean number of hours of work for the public servants of 8 hours. Boys work for more hours than girls in all occupations apart from the category of the occupation of “plant and machine operators and assemblers”.
59
Figure 4.3: Mean number hours of work by occupation 12
Mean number of Hours worked
10
8 Male 6
Female Total
4
2
0 Service Workers and Shop and Market Sale
Agriculture and Crafts and Related Plant and Machine Fishery Workers trade workers Operators and Assemble
Elementary Occupation
Occupation
4.12
Industry and employment status
An industry is the type of economic activity carried out by the establishment where work takes place. The results indicate that children employed in hotels and restaurants had the highest mean number of hours worked of 10 hours and those in agriculture and related enterprises the lowest of 4 hours. It is worth noting that the other enterprises were also employing children for high number of hours of 9 and 8, for the manufacturing sector and the sales sector respectively.
60
Figure 4.4: Mean number of Hours worked by Industry
4.13: Employment status by mean hours of work Male
Female
Total
3.8
3.6
3.7
5.3
7.5
6.2
12.1
12.6
12.3
9.2
11.7
10
8.8
9.3
9
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Unpaid family worker
Own account worker
Domestic paid employee
Regular employee
Casual employee
Children employed as domestic paid employees, Regular employees and casual employees each worked on average very many number of hours. The mean number of hours worked for child domestic paid employees of 12 was 3 times those of un paid family workers.
61
Figure 4.5 Mean hours of work by Employment status 14 12.6 12.1
12.3 11.7
12
10 Mean number of hours worked
10
9.3
9.2 8.8 8
9
7.5
Male Female Both Sexes
6.2 6
4
5.3
3.8
3.6
3.7
2
0 Unpaid family worker
Own account worker
Domestic paid employee
Regular employee
Casual employee
Employment Status
62
Chapter FIVE Incidence and Characteristics if child labour 5.0
Introduction
It is necessary that an elaboration of the definition used for analysis of child labour, is made before the discussion is made. We defined child labour for the purposes of this study to include: a) All children aged 5-11 years who are at work (whether for pay or not). Children at this age are not supposed to be at work as per ILO conventions 38 (1973), and the employment Act 2000 of the Republic of Uganda. All children aged 12-14 doing work other than ‘light work’ or who do work beyond 14 hours a week. The Employment Act 2000 provides that the commissioner from time to time would have to define among others, light work for purposes of implementation of the law. In the Draft Child labour policy 2003, light work has been defined as consisting of all domestic work which children do under parental supervision for purposes of training or learning for children. But if this work should exceed 14 hours a week, for the age group under consideration (12-14), then it is child labour. b) All children aged 15-17 involved in hazardous forms of labour prescribed by the Employment Act 2000 and ILO conventions 38 (173) are also considered to be in child labour. And, or if they work an equivalent or beyond 43 hours in a week. 5.1:
Characteristics of the population aged 5 to 17
According to the 2002 Population and Housing Census, the total population aged 5 to 17 was 9.2 million persons as shown in Table 5.1 below. This constitutes 37 percent of the total population of Uganda. Of this total population aged 5 to 17, 44 percent were in the age group 5 to 9, 38 percent were in the age group 10 to 14, while 18 percent were in the age group 15 to 17. Out of the total population
63
aged 5 to17, about 686,000 persons were working, representing a proportion of 8 percent.
Table 5.1: Population aged 5 to 17 by age groups Boys
Share (%)
Girls
Share (%)
Total
Share (%)
5-9
1,998,157
43.5
2,002,895
43.8
4,001,052
43.7
10-14
1,757,111
38.2
1,752,040
38.4
3,509,151
38.3
15-17
840,183
18.3
813,454
17.8
1,653,637
18.0
Total
4,696,451
100
4,568,389
100
9,163,840
100
685,944
7.5
Population working
5.2:
Distribution of the child labourers by background characteristics
Table 5.2 below indicates that majority of the child labourers i.e. 46 percent were in the 5 to 9 age group, followed by almost a similar proportion of 42 percent in the 10 to 14 age group. Only 12 percent of the child labourers were in the 15 to 17 age group. This distribution of the labourers is proportional to the distribution of the population in those age groups. The proportion of girls in the 5 to 9 age group who are child labourers is higher (51 percent) compared to that of boys (43 percent). In the other age groups of 10 to14 and 15 to 17, boys are more likely to be child labourers than the girls. Bushenyi district has the highest share of the child labourers of 35 percent, followed by Arua district with 28 percent. This is also in proportion to the total population in these two districts according to the 2002 census results. Iganga district has the least share among the child labourers of 17 percent. In Kayunga and Iganga districts, girl are more likely to be child labourers than the boys, while in Arua and Bushenyi district, boys are more likely to be child labourers. Majority of the child labourers (87 percent) have primary education level, while only 7 percent have no formal education at all. Eight percent of the girls who are
64
child labourers have no formal education compared to 6 percent of the boys. The proportion of males child labourers with some education levels is slightly higher than that of the females. Table 5.2: Percentage of child labourers by sex, age district and educational attainment Share (%) Boys
Girls
Share (%)
Total
Share (%)
5-9
258
42.9
236
50.8
494
46.3
10-14
265
44.1
184
39.6
449
42.1
15-17
78
13.0
45
9.7
123
11.5
Kayunga
113
18.8
96
20.6
209
19.6
Iganga
90
15.0
94
20.2
184
17.3
Arua
180
30.0
116
24.9
296
27.8
Bushenyi
218
36.3
159
34.2
377
35.4
No formal education
38
6.3
36
7.7
74
6.9
Primary
531
88.4
399
85.8
930
87.2
some secondary
12
2.0
7
1.5
19
1.8
Not stated
7
1.2
10
2.2
17
1.6
Total
601.0
100
465
100
1066.0
100
District
Educational Attainment
5.3:
Percentage of the child labourers to total population by district.
As depicted in Table 5.3 below, more than one half of the children aged 5 to 9 are child labourers in Bushenyi and Kayunga districts i.e. 62 and 52 percent respectively. The proportions of the child labourers are less than one half in Iganga and Arua districts of 35 and 41 percent respectively. Fifty nine percent of the children aged 10 to 14 in Bushenyi district are child labourers compared to only 21 and 29 percent in Iganga and Arua districts respectively. Only 6 percent of the children aged 15 to 17 were child labourers in
65
Arua district compared to 56 percent in Bushenyi district. The proportion is also low for Kayunga and Iganga districts of 12 and 8 percent respectively.
Table 5.3: Percentage of children who are child labourers by age group and districts Age group
Kayunga
Iganga
Arua
Bushenyi
5-9
51.7
35.2
41.1
61.9
10-14
41.5
21.1
29.0
58.5
15-17
11.9
8.3
6.2
56.1
5.4: Percentage of the child labourers to total population by other background characteristics. Overall, 37 percent of the children aged 5 to 17 years are child labourers, with the proportion higher for males (39 percent) than that of females (35 percent). (See Table 5.4 below). About 45 percent of the children aged 5 to 9 years are child labourers and the proportion is almost the same for boys and girls. Thirty six percent and 23 percent of the children aged 10 to 14 and 15 to 17 are child labourers respectively, the proportion being higher for boys than that of girls. Bushenyi district has the highest proportion of the child labourers of 59 percent, followed by Kayunga district with 41 percent. Every one in four (25 percent) of the children aged 5 to 17 in Iganga district are child labourers. One quarter of the child labourers have no formal education, while 40 percent have primary level education. Fifteen percent of the child labourers have some secondary education, with proportion being higher for boys.
Of the living
arrangements of the child labourers, there seems to be no pattern arising from
66
whom there are staying with. The proportion of the child labourers ranged from 36 percent for those staying with both of their parents to 39 percent for those staying with their fathers only. Children who are orphans are more likely to be child labourers than those who have their parents. Forty two percent of the child labourers
were orphans
compared to 36 percent who were not orphans. Boys who are orphans are more likely to become child labourers than the girls. Table 5.4: Percentage of children who are child labourers by sex, age district and Educational attainment Boys
Girls
Total
5-9
44.8
45.6
45.2
10-14
39.6
31.5
35.8
15-17
24.8
19.4
22.5
Kayunga
41.7
39.5
40.7
Iganga
24.7
24.3
24.5
Arua
32.7
26.4
29.9
Bushenyi
58.3
59.8
58.9
No formal Education
23.9
25.2
24.5
Primary
41.7
37.3
39.7
Some Secondary
17.4
11.5
14.6
37.7
34.2
36.1
44.1
33.3
38.5
39.6
37.5
38.7
38.1
37.5
37.8
45.2
38.3
42.1
37.3
34.2
35.9
Over all
38.5
34.8
36.8
Number
601.0
465
1066.0
Age group
District
Educational Attainment
Living Arrangements Both parents Father only Mother only None
Orphan hood status Orphan Non-Orphan
67
5.5:
Current schooling status of child labourers
As indicated in Table 5.5, 38 percent of the child labourers are not currently attending school while 27 percent are currently attending school. In both cases the proportion of the child labourers is higher for boys than for girls. Comparison of the child labourers by district indicate that Bushenyi district has the highest proportion of child labourers that are currently not attending school of 60 percent, while Iganga district had the least proportion of 25 percent. Bushenyi district also has the highest proportion of child labourers which are currently attending school of 53 percent, while the least was in Arua district of 19 percent. From the survey results, it is apparent that the small family is more likely to involve a child into labour activities than large families. Almost one half of the child labourers were from households with 1 to 3 persons, while 36 percent were from relatively large households of 5 persons and more. Table 5.5: Percentage of children who are labourers by sex, age district and schooling status Not currently attending
Currently attending
Total
Sex Male
39.4
32.1
38.5
Female
36.9
20.6
34.8
Kayunga
42.9
21.8
40.7
Iganga
25.1
21.0
24.5
Arua
31.5
19.4
29.9
Bushenyi
59.7
52.8
58.9
1-3
44.1
66.7
48.8
4-5
39.4
34.1
38.6
Above 5 Age group 5-9 10-14 15-17
37.9
23.2
36.2
51.1 35.5 21.4
22.7 42.9 28.4
45.2 35.8 22.5
Overall Total
38.3 968
26.8 98
36.8 1066
District
Household size
68
Table 5.6: Child labourers by age group and household size Age group
1-3
4-5
More than 5
Total
5-9
2.2
21.7
76.1
100
10-14
1.1
15.4
83.5
100
15-17
4.1
17.1
78.9
100
Total
2.0
18.5
79.6
100
5.6:
Employment status of child labourers
As indicated in Table 5.7 below, majority of the child labourers in economic activities were unpaid family workers (90 percent). This indicates that they work in family or household enterprises operated by their parents or relatives. The proportion is slightly higher for girls of 91 percent compared to 89 percent of boys. Three percent of the child labourers in economic activities were self employed (own account workers), while 8 percent were in paid employment. The proportion of child labourers in paid employment is higher for boys (9 percent) than for girls (6 percent). Table 5.7: Employment status of child labourers by Sex of children Employment status
Male
Female
Total
Unpaid family worker
88.5
91.3
89.7
self employed
2.6
2.8
2.7
Paid employee
8.9
6.0
7.6
Total
100
100
100
436
1,012
Number 576 Note: only those who stated the employment status are included
5.7:
Occupation of child labourers
Majority of the child labourers were working as agriculture and fisheries workers (92 percent) as shown in table 5.8 below, The proportion was slightly higher for girls (94 percent) than that of boys (90 percent). Five percent of the child labourers were in elementary occupations, the proportion of boys doubling that of girls, while only 2 percent are in service and sales workers. Less than one percent of the child labourers were plant and machine operators.
69
Table 5.8: Percentage distribution occupation of child labourers by sex Occupation
Male
Female
Total
Service Workers and Sales workers
1.5
1.4
1.5
Agriculture and Fisheries
89.8
94.1
91.7
Crafts and Related trade workers
1.4
0.9
1.2
Plant and Machine Operators
0.7
0.5
0.6
Elementary Occupation
6.6
3.2
5.1
Total
100
100
100
5.7.1: Occupation of child labourers by age groups As already mentioned before, majority of the child labourers are agriculture and fisheries workers (92 percent), the proportion reduces with increasing age. For the child labourers aged 15 to 17, the proportion in agriculture and fisheries reduces to 66 percent compared to 98 percent in 5 to 9 age group. The results are depicted in Table 5.9 below. There is a general shift from agriculture and fisheries of the child labourers into other occupation with the increasing age. The highest shift is in the elementary occupations whereby one in every five in the age group of 15 to 17 is in elementary occupations compared to only 1 percent in the 5 to 9 age group. Table 5.9: Percentage distribution of occupation of children by age Occupation
5-9
10-14
15-17
Total
Service Workers and S
0.2
1.8
4.9
1.5
Agriculture and Fisheries
98.1
91.9
66.4
91.7
Crafts and Related trade workers
0.0
0.9
6.6
1.2
Plant and Machine Operators
0.4
0.2
2.5
0.6
Elementary Occupation
1.3
5.2
19.7
5.1
100
100
100
100
466
1,016
482
1,964
Number
70
5.8:
Place of work of child labourers
As depicted in Table 5.10 below, 94 percent of the child labourers were at plantation, farm or garden operated by the parents or caretakers of the children. The proportion was almost similar for boys and girls. Three percent of the child labourers work at a family dwelling. Almost 2 percent of the child labourers work in more than one place (different places), while 1 percent of them work at shop/market/kiosk and another 1 percent work at construction sites. A very small proportion of the child labourers of 0.1 percent work on streets. There are some gender disparities amongst the different work places. Table 5.10: Place of work by sex and age Place of work
Male
Female
Total
At family dwelling
2.2
3.1
2.6
Plantation/farm/garden
93.6
95.3
94.4
Shop/market/kiosk
0.7
0.5
0.6
Employer's house
0.5
0.0
0.3
Different places
2.1
0.8
1.5
Construction sites
0.9
0.2
0.6
On the street
0.0
0.1
0.1
100
100
100
*************** Child Labour? ***********************
5.9:
Child labour
It is necessary that an elaboration of the definition used for analysis of child labour, is made before the discussion. We defined child labour for the purposes of this study to include: c) All children aged 5-11 years who are at work (whether for pay or not). Children at this age are not supposed to be at work as per ILO conventions 38 (1973), and the employment Act 2000 of the Republic of Uganda. All
71
children aged 12-14 years doing work other than ‘light work’ or who do work beyond 14 hours a week. The Employment Act 2000 provides that the commissioner from time to time would have to define among others, light work for purposes of implementation of the law. In the Draft Child labour policy 2003, light work has been defined as consisting of all domestic work which children do under parental supervision for purposes of training or learning for children. But if this work should exceed 14 hours a week, for the age group under consideration (12-14), then it is child labour. d) All children aged 15-17 involved in hazardous forms of labour prescribed by the Employment Act 2000 and ILO conventions 38 (173) are also considered to be in child labour. And, or if they work an equivalent or beyond 43 hours in a week. The results show that on overall, about one half of the children who worked were in child labour as indicated in Table 5.11 below. The proportion was slightly higher for boys (51 percent) compared to that of girls (50 percent). Considering age, there is a decreasing proportion of children involved in child labour with increase in age. All the children who worked in the age group of 4 to 9 were involved in child labour activities i.e. there are not supposed to work. About 44 percent of the children in the 10 to 44 age group who worked were involved in child labour activities; they performed work for more than 14 hours a week. The proportion is higher for boys (47 percent) than for girls (40 percent). Slightly more than one quarter of the working children aged 15 to 17 years were involved in child labour activities. They worked for more than 43 hours a week and some worked in hazardous conditions. Comparison between the surveyed districts indicates that of the children who work in Bushenyi district, almost three quarters are involved in child labour activities, the proportion being almost similar for boys and girls. The proportion is least in Iganga district of 41 percent.
72
The children’s involvement in child labour activities, decreases with the increase in the children’ education. Children with no formal education are more likely to get involved in child labour activities than those studying. Only 17 percent of the children with some secondary education were involved in child labour activities compared to 90 percent with no formal education. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) was introduced in 1997 and one of its objectives of provision of free education was to delay as well as discourage children from entering the labour market at an early age. It is important to educate a child and to reduce school drop out if child labour is to be minimized. There seem to be no pattern between the living arrangements and the children’s involvement in child labour. But to a certain extent, a child living with a mother only is more likely to engage in child labour activities compared to a child living with a father only. The survey results further indicates that an orphaned child is more likely to be a child labourer than one who is not orphaned. Slightly more orphaned boys are child labourers than the girls. Table 5.11: Proportion of working children who are child labourers Boys
Girls
Total
5-9
100
100
100
10-14
47.1
40.0
43.9
15-17
28.0
22.1
25.5
Kayunga
56.5
55.5
56.0
Iganga
41.3
40.0
40.6
Arua
47.1
43.1
45.5
Bushenyi
72.7
71.6
72.2
No formal Education
88.4
92.3
90.2
Primary
54.5
50.9
52.9
Some Secondary
20.0
13.7
17.1
Age group
District
Educational attainment
73
Living Arrangements Both parents Father only Mother only None
52.4
49.8
51.3
50.4
49.1
49.8
54.3
48.1
51.6
45.3
50.3
47.6
51.8
50.0
51.0
48.0
48.4
48.2
51.1
49.7
50.5
Orphan hood status Orphan Non-Orphan
Over all
5.10: Average hours worked by child labourers Overall, the child labourers worked for 6 hours a day, the time being almost similar for both boys and girls. The results are depicted in Table 5.12 below. The average number of hours worked per day increases with age. The children aged 5 to 9 years worked for 3 hours a day on average, compared to 6 hours per day for those aged 10 to 14 years. The children aged 15 to 17 on average worked 3 times longer per day than those aged 5 to 9 years. Children in Iganga and Arua districts on average worked for only 2 hours per day, but those in Bushenyi district worked 5 times longer. The difference in time might be partly attributed to the kind of activities the children carried out. The average number of hours worked per day increases as the level of education increases. Children with no formal education worked for about 3 hours per day on average. But as seen earlier, majority of these child labourers were engaged in agriculture. Children with primary level education on average worked twice longer than those with no formal education. About 90 percent of them were engaged in agriculture while 6 percent were in elementary occupations. Those with some secondary education worked on average for 14 hours a day.
74
On average, orphans worked for one and half hours longer a day than nonorphans while those living with their mothers only worked for longer hours than the rest of the living arrangements. Table 5.12: Average hours worked on economic activity per day Male
Female
Total
5-9
3.0
3.4
3.2
10-14
6.2
6.0
6.1
15-17
14.9
15.5
15.1
Kayunga
3.8
3.3
3.6
Iganga
1.4
1.6
1.5
Arua
2.2
2.1
2.2
Bushenyi
10.5
10.8
10.6
2.6
3.8
3.2
Age group
Districts
Educational attainment No formal Education Primary
5.8
5.5
5.7
Some Secondary
15.7
11.8
13.9
Orphan
6.4
6.5
6.5
Non_orphan
5.4
5.2
5.3
Orphan hood status
Living arrangements Both Parents
5.6
5.4
5.5
Father Alone
4.7
5.2
5.0
Mother Alone
7.0
7.2
7.1
None
5.2
5.0
5.1
Total
5.6
5.4
5.5
5.10.1: Average hours worked by child labourers by occupation Children engaged in agriculture and fisheries worked for 5 hours a day on average and the average hours worked per day are similar for both boys and girls. Children who were in crafts and related trade workers work for the longest hours on average of 12 hours per day. Boys on average work 6 hours longer than girls in this occupation group. Children who are service workers and shop
75
and market sales, those inelementary occupations, and the plant and machine operators and assemblers on average worked for 10 hours a day as shown in table 5.13 below.
Table 5.13: Occupation by hours of work Occupation
Male
Female
Service Workers and Shop and Market Sale
13.1
3.9
Total 10.0
Agriculture and Fishery Workers
5.2
5.3
5.3
Crafts and Related trade workers
14.2
8.0
12.4
Plant and Machine Operators and Assemble
8.1
10.9
9.5
Elementary Occupation
10.2
9.7
10.0
Total
5.6
5.4
5.5
5.10.2: Average hours worked by child labourers by industry Child labourers in agriculture on average worked for 5 hours a day, with average number of hours worked per day almost similar for boys and girls. The highest average number of hours worked per day for the child labourers were in the manufacturing sector of 11 hours. Those who are in the service sector on average worked for 8 hours per day, but the boys working almost three times longer than the girls as shown in table5.14 below.
76
Table 5.14: Industry by mean hours of work Industry Male Agriculture, Hunting and Forestry 5.2 Manufacturing 10.9 Services 12.7 Total 5.6
Female 5.4 10.9 3.9 5.4
Total 5.3 10.9 8.3 5.5
5.10.3: Average hours worked by child labourers by employment status For all the child labourers, the paid employees’ i.e. domestic paid employee, regular employee and the casual employees worked on average for 13 hours a day, but girls who are regular employees are likely to work for more hours than the boys. The results are indicated in Table 5.15 below. Child labourers who are own account workers on average work for 9 hours a day, girls working for slightly longer hours than boys. The child labourers who are unpaid family workers on average work for 5 hours a day. Table 5.15: Employment status by mean hours of work Employment status
Male
Female
Total
Unpaid family worker
5.1
5.0
5.0
Own account worker
7.1
10.4
8.8
Domestic paid employee
13.3
12.6
13.0
Regular employee
11.9
16.0
13.4
Casual employee
13.0
12.5
12.9
5.10.4: Median number of hours spent on house keeping activities House keeping activities included non-economic activities like fetching water for the household, fetching firewood for the household, cooking, taking care of the children and elderly. As indicated in Table 5.16 below, the median number of hours spent on house keeping activities was 3 hours, and it was the same for both the working children and the child labourers. The median for girls is an hour longer than that for the boys. 77
The median number of hours spent on house keeping activities for working children aged 5 to 9 is 3 hours for both the working children and the child labourers, compared to 5 hours and 7 hours for those in the 15 to 17 age group. In the age groups, the median number of hours spent on house keeping activities is higher for girls than for boys. The median number of hours spent on house keeping activities was highest in Bushenyi district of 6 hours for working children and 8 hours for child labourers. The least was recorded in Arua district of 2 hours and 1 hour respectively. The median number of hours spent on house keeping activities is more likely to be higher in children with some education compared to those with no formal education. It also increases with the level of education. This is true for both the working children and the child labourers.
As depicted in Table 5.16 below,
children with some secondary school education had a number of median hour spent on house keeping activities of 7 hours for child labourers, compared to 2 hours for those with no formal education. There is no much variation in the median hours spent on house keeping activities by gender. Children living with their mothers only as well as those not living with any of their parents are more likely to have a higher median of hours spent on house keeping activities than those with other living arrangements. This trend is true for both the working children and the child labourers. The trend is the same for orphans in comparison with the non-orphans.
78
Table 5.16: Median number of hours spent on house keeping activities per day working children and child labour Working children
by sex,
Child labourers
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
5-9
3
4
3
3
4
3
10-14
4
5
4
4
6
4
15-17
4
6
5
7
9
7
Age group
District Kayunga
4
5
5
4
4
4
Iganga
3
4
3
2
3
2
Arua
1
3
2
1
2
1
Bushenyi
5
6
6
8
9
8
Educational attainment No formal education
1
3
2
2
2
2
Primary
3
4
3
3
4
3
some secondary
3
5
4
7
6
7
Both Parents
3
4
3
3
4
3
Father alone
2
4
3
2
3
3
Mother only
2
4
3
3
4
4
None
3
4
4
3
4
4
Orphan
3
4
4
3
4
4
Non_orphan
2
4
3
3
4
3
Total
3
4
3
3
4
3
Living Arrangements
Orphan hood status
5.11: Incidence of child labour in agriculture. The results indicate that overall, 54 percent of the child labourers were in agriculture, with almost the same proportion of boys and girls. This information is depicted in Table 5.17 below. All the child labourers in the age group of 5 to 9 were in agriculture, while 41 percent of those in the age group of 10 to 14 were in agriculture. This is very high compared to only 17 percent of their counterparts in the age group of 15 to 17. In all the three age groups, the proportion is higher for boys than for girls.
79
Comparisons between districts indicate that in Bushenyi district, 68 percent of the child labourers were engaged in agriculture while the proportion was 53 percent in Kayunga district. The least proportion of child labourers in agriculture was found in Iganga district of 34 percent. The results further indicate that 88 percent of the child labourers with no formal education were engaged in agriculture while the proportion was slightly less than one half for those with primary education. Less than 10 percent of the child labourers with some secondary education were engaged in agriculture. There is a shift from agriculture for the child labourers with increase in level of education. Child labourers living with their mothers only are more likely to be engaged in agriculture than those in the other living arrangements. Almost 52 percent of the child labourers living with their mothers only were engaged in agriculture, the proportion was half for those living with both parents. Forty seven percent of the child labourers living with none of their parents were engaged in agriculture. Child labourers who are orphans are more likely to engage in agriculture compared to non-orphans. The results indicate that 54 percent of the child labourers who were orphans were engaged in agriculture compared to 48 percent who were non-orphans. The proportion is almost similar for boys and girls. Table 5.17: Incidence of child labour in agriculture sector Boys
Girls
Total
Age group 5-9
100
100
100
10-14
43.1
37.4
40.5
15-17
16.9
16.4
16.7
District Kayunga
52.6
53.5
53.0
Iganga
34.8
33.2
34.0
Arua
43.2
40.8
42.2
Bushenyi
68.0
68.5
68.2
86.8
89.7
88.1
Educational attainment No formal Education
80
Primary
50.1
47.9
49.1
Some Secondary
8.8
10.0
9.3
50.9
48.2
49.7
49.5
47.1
48.4
54.5
48.1
51.7
44.8
49.4
46.9
50.4
48.4
53.5
47.7
47.8
47.8
Over all
53.8
53.1
53.5
Total
512
404
916
Living Arrangements Both parents Father only Mother only None
Orphan hood status Orphan Non-Orphan
5.12: Age of starting child labour by sex Table 5.18 below shows that more than one half of the child labourers (53 percent) started working before celebrating their seventh birthday. Only 7 percent of the child labourers started working at the age of 10 and above. There is no significant gender disparity in the age of starting work. Table 5.18: Age at which child labourers started working by sex Age at first work
Male
Female
Total
5
25.6
24.7
25.2
6
26.3
29.7
27.8
7
17.1
15.5
16.4
8
15.6
13.3
14.6
9
5.5
4.3
5.0
10+
7.7
6.9
7.3
Not stated
2.2
5.6
3.7
100
100
100
81
5.12.1: Age of starting child labour by district Table 5.19 below; shows that 70 percent of the child labourers in Bushenyi district started working before celebrating their seventh birth day. The proportion was 67 percent in Kayunga district, 34 percent in Iganga district and 33 percent in Arua district. This indicates that children in Bushenyi and Kayunga districts start working at a lower age than those in Iganga and Arua districts. More children start working at the age of 10 and above in Arua and Iganga districts compared to Bushenyi and Kayunga districts. Table 5.19: Age at which child labourers started working by district Age at which children started working 5 6 7 8 9 10+ .
Kayunga 29.2 37.8 12.4 6.7 4.8 5.7 3.4
Iganga 15.2 20.7 18.5 14.7 6.0 12.0 13.0
Arua 9.1 23.7 21.6 25.0 8.5 10.1 2.0
Bushenyi 40.6 28.9 13.5 10.9 1.9 3.7 0.5
Total 25.2 27.8 16.4 14.6 5.0 7.3 3.7
5.12.2: Age of starting child labour by occupation One third of the child labourer in plant and machine operators and nearly 30 percent in agriculture and fishery workers start work at the age of 5 years. By the age of six, 56 percent of the child labourers in agriculture and fisheries have started working, and the proportions are one half for plant and machine operators, 43 percent for elementary occupations, one third for service and sale workers, and one quarter for crafts and related workers as indicated in table 5.20 below. One half of the child labourers in craft and related workers start work at the age of 10 and above, while the proportion is only 6 percent for agriculture and fishery workers. One in every five of the child labourers in service and sales workers, and elementary occupations started working at the age of 10 and above.
82
Table 5.20: Age at which child labourers started working by occupation Age at which children started working Occupation Service Workers and Sales workers Agriculture and Fisheries workers Crafts and Related workers Plant and Machine Operators Elementary Occupations
5
6
7
8
9
10+
20.0 26.9 8.3 33.3 18.9
13.3 29.4 16.7 16.7 24.5
26.7 17.5 8.3 0.0 11.3
20.0 15.1 8.3 33.3 15.1
0.0 5.0 8.3 0.0 9.4
20.0 6.1 50.0 16.7 20.8
100 100 100 100 100
83
Chapter Six: Health and safety of child and community perception of child labour. 6.0 Introduction This chapter presents the findings on health of children by working status, the number of times working children fell sick during the reference period, the children who fell sick by working status and child at risk by risks at work. The chapter also presents the findings of the qualitative module on community perception of child labour. 6.1
Children aged 5 – 17 years who fell sick by working status
Table 6.1 shows that overall 31.3 percent t of the working males aged 5 – 17 years fell sick, while 19.7 percent of the none working children fell. On the other hand, of the working females in the same age group 31.6 percent fell sick while among those not working 21.6 percent fell sick. This shows that working children are more likely to fall sick than their counterparts who are not working. As can be seen in the table, the sex differentials are insignificant.
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Table 6.1 : Percentage of children aged 5-17 years who fell sick by working status Working
Not working
Male
31.3
19.7
Female
31.6
21.6
5-9
31.7
22.0
10-14
32.0
18.1
15-17
29.9
17.5
Kayunga
31.6
6.8
Iganga
52.3
33.7
Arua
14.0
12.8
Bushenyi
35.3
27.5
Both Parents
29.2
19.7
Father alone
32.1
30.1
Mother only
32.0
13.6
None
38.8
22.1
Total
31.4
68.6
Total
Sex 28.3 29.1
Age group 27.3 29.8 28.8
District 26.3 46.4 13.7 33.4
Living arrangements 26.5 32.3 27.1 35.5
28.7
The table 6.1 furthermore shows that the highest proportion of the working children who fell sick were in the 10 – 14 years age group (32.0 percent) although the variations between the age groups is insignificant. Children who were not working were less likely to fall sick than their working counterparts irrespective of age group. By district, Iganga district had slightly more than half (52.3 percent) of the working children falling sick in the reference period compared to Arua which had only 14 percent. The proportion of children who fell sick by living arrangements shows that children who lived with none of their parents (38.8 percent) were more likely to fall sick than their other counterparts who live with at least one parent. Among those children who are not working, those living with father alone were more likely to fall sick than others. There are notable variations in proportions among the children who are not working by their living arrangements.
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6.2
Number of times working children fell sick
The table 6.2 shows the number of times working children fell sick by sex, age group, district and living arrangement. Of the males and females who fell sick, slightly more than half fell sick once or twice compared to 14.6 percent of the males and 20.2 percent of the females who fell sick more than five times. There exixts small variations between the sexes. The distribution of working children who fell sick by age group.shows that 60 percent of working children aged 5 – 9 years fell sick once or twice compared to 51 percent in the 15 – 17 years age group. In . Iganga district children fell sick more in a month twice (30.0 percent) while in Bushenyi district majority of the children fell sick once or twice. Iganga district had a higher proportion of working children who fell sick 3 – 5 times. . By living arrangement, children who live with none of their parents, 61.8percent fell sick once or twice whereas 44.7percent of the children who live with Mother only fell sick once or twice during the same period. The proportion of working children who fell sick also decreases with increase in number of times children fell sick. Overall the trend is similar. Table 6.2: Number of times working children fell sick Once or Twice
3-5 times
More than 5 timed
Total
Sex Male
54.9
30.4
14.6
100
Female
51.1
28.7
20.2
100
5-9
59.9
26.3
13.8
100
10-14
50.8
29.4
19.8
100
15-17
51.4
33.8
14.8
100
Age group
District Kayunga
64.9
13.2
21.9
100
Iganga
30.0
43.4
26.6
100
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Arua
62.1
31.0
6.9
100
Bushenyi
71.0
21.9
7.1
100
Living arrangements Both Parents
49.5
33.4
17.1
100
Father alone
60.9
21.7
17.4
100
Mother only
44.7
39.5
15.8
100
None
61.8
20.6
17.7
100
Total
53.16
29.66
17.18
100
Number
328
183
106
617
6.3
Children who fell sick by sex and working status
The Figure 6.1 above shows the percentage of children who fell sick by sex and working status. About 30 percent of the males and females reported falling sick was due to work. Figure 6.1: Percent of children who fell sick by sex and working status
80 70.1
69.9
69.6
70 60
Percent
50 40 29.9
30.4
30.1
30 20 10 0 Male
Female Due to work
6.4
Total Not due to work
Working Children at risk by Risks at work
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The figure 6.2 below shows children at risk by the types of risks they face at the work place. The graph shows that the greatest risk working children face is from dust, fumes and gas at their work places (45 percent). This is followed by conditions of extreme temperatures (31 percent) and the least risk Figure 6.2: Percent of working children at risk by risks at work
Machine Equipmments
3
Noise
9
Work at height
10
Dangerous tools
14
Extreme temperatures
31
Dust, funes, gas
45
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Percent
6.5
Community perception of child labour
Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIs) were used as tools to collect basic information about child labour situations in each of the communities. The process of group discussion provided an opportunity for sharing general information concerning child labour situations and practices in the particular community. Part of this chapter therefore looks at the findings of the qualitative component of the survey.
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6.5.1 Light work Generally the communities were of the view that not all work performed by children is equivalent to child labour. Majority of the communities and individuals had similar perceptions of Light work. It was defined it as “simple domestic work such as fetching water, cooking, cleaning, etc” by Mr. Patrick Makonzi, a respondent to a Key Informant Interview from Nalyamabibbe in Kayunga district. It was also defined as “measured and weighed work that is proportional to age and size” by the LC1 Chairman of Kisaaba village in Kayunga district. Most of the definitions given were related to the above definitions. 6.5.2 Child Labour The communities also had similar perceptions on child labour. Some defined it as “involving children in extreme work activities that does not match with their potential e.g. over-loading them with jerricans of water, firewood among other heavy loads and sending them to shops at night.” According to others it is “work that is demeaning and above their physical ability. It is work that is strenuous usually done very early in the morning, during school time, in the evening and at night time.” Another defined it as “work given to disadvantaged children e.g. those who are poor orphans or school dropouts. It may be done at any time but is usually done during school time. Yet another defined it as “work that hampers or interferes with children’s education and is likely to stunt their growth or cause them to fall sick. It is work that takes a lot of time e.g. throughout the day.” The genral consensus was that it is work aove the physical capacity of a child.
6.5.3
Activities undertaken by child labourers
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The communities identified the following are the activities undertaken by child labourers: I.
Child domestic work e.g. housegirls and houseboys
II.
Brick-making
III.
Sand quarrying
IV.
Stone quarrying
V.
Charcoal burning
VI.
Herding animals
VII.
Agricultural labour
VIII.
Carrying heavy loads or riding with heavy loads over long distances
IX.
Hawking and vending merchandise
X.
Loading and offloading big vehicles with agricultural goods
XI.
Fetching water
6.6 Activities children should do According to the Chairman of Kisaaba village in Kayunga district, “children should be schooling and doing measured work targeting them to learn”. The District Education Officer of Kayunga also had a similar view. According to him, “children should go to school and do other simple work at home.” The others also expressed similar views. This simple work was defined to include washing utensils, cleaning the compound, washing laundry, fetching water, general cleaning, cooking, collecting firewood which is of reasonable size, tethering animals, taking care of the young and running errands at home.
6.7 Community perceptions of the worst forms of child labour
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There were varying perceptions of the worst forms of child labour. According to Mr. Odongo of Nakaseta/Namabuga village in Kayunga, the worst forms of child labour are “fetching water, carrying heavy jerricans and marketing of coffee by boys on bicycles.” According to the LC 1 Chairman of Lugasa West LC in Kayunga district, charcoal burning and brick-making are the worst forms of child labour. While to Musa Kintu a child labourer in Kangulumira, Kayunga district, “over digging and working for long hours e.g. on pineapple plantations and loading pineapples on lorries” are the worst forms of child labour. To to S. Muloma an Agricultural officer and Simali Ramathan an Assistant District Education Officer in Kayunga district, the worst forms of child labour are “working as houseboys and housegirls.” Other worst forms of child labour that the communities mentioned were working in stone quarries, sand quarries, herding cattle and casual labour. 6.8
Child labour situation in the communities
The communities generally were of the view that although child labour exists, it is on the decrease. According to one of the FGD participants in Kayunga, “compared to previous years, child labour is on a total decrease because of education and migration of youth aged between 15 – 24 years to nearby towns and trading centres.” To another FGD participant the situation is “not alarming as previously, as now most children are ever in school. According to the LC1 Chairman of Kisaaba village in Kayunga district, it is “not worse directly but indirectly as most of the children migrate to towns to work as housemaids, so many girls after P.7 have been taken to urban centres to work as housegirls.” Child labour was reported to affect more boys than girls and most child labour comes from villages. The communities reported that there is seasonality in child labour. In Kayunga district,it was reported to increase during harvesting of pineapples and tomatoes. Brick making was reported to be the major activity engaging child labour. Other activities engaging boys were reported to be sand
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and stone quarrying while for girls it was reported to be employment as housegirls. 6.9
Health situation in the community where the child comes from.
The communities reported that generally the health situation in the communities where these children come from is fairly good. They reported that it is easy to access government health centres. They also reported that drug shops and government hospitals are accessible. 6.10
Why children engage in child labour
Several reasons were advanced to explain why children engage in child labour. According to the Assistant District Education Officer, Kayunga district, “children want to get rid of poverty and improve their standards of living. Other problems like step mothers, orphanhood and HIV/AIDS also force children to engage in child labour.” According to the Agricultural Officer children engage in child labour due to “poverty, lack of school fees.” The Secretary for Youth in Kangulumira, Kayunga district also believes that it is “poverty and the need for getting easy cash” that makes children engage in child labour. For Kintu Musa, a child labourer in Kangulumira, Kayunga district “most parentsin this area are poor and cannot provide all the requirements we need at school. I am lucky that I work and supplement on some of the requirements I need at school.” Some children are forced to engage in child labour
because of the harsh
conditions at home in the form of mistreatment by their step mothers. According to Kamya Hasa, a child labourer in Kayunga, “she made me dig every day but could not provide me with books and other requirements. Besides my father never had a lot of money but I believe he had enough for my school requirements but my stepmother just influenced him.”
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As can be seen from the above, the communities basically identified poverty as the major cause of child labour. Also identified as causes of child labour are stepmothers and harsh conditions at home, orphanhood and HIV/AIDS. 6.11
Why people employ children
According to the communities, people employ children basically because they provide cheap labour and can be exploited due to the rampant poverty that exists. According to the LC 1 Chairman of Lugasa West in Kayunga district, people employ children “because they provide cheap labour and sometimes children can work for free.” Kintu Musa, a child labourer in Kangulumira, Kayunga district explained it thus “children take little money compared to older people and sometimes the boss may not pay and we cannot report them.” In some instances people employ children because of scarcity of labour and child labour is readily available. This was a view put forward by the LC 1 Chairman of Kisaaba village in Kayunga district. 6.12
How children should be used in labour
The communities were generally of the view that children should not be involved in labour. According to the Assistant DEO Kayunga, “children should not be involved in labour. They should only do simple work.” The Agricultural officer Kayunga also believes that “depending on age, children should be given some light work. A similar view was held by the LC 1 Chairman of Lugasa West village in Kayunga district. However, some like Kintu Musa, a child labourer in Kayunga district felt children should be involved in labour but should “only do work that doesn’t affect their health.”
6.13
Conditions under which children work.
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The communities were unanimous in their view that the children work under poor conditions. According to the Assistant DEO Kayunga district “ the children work under poor conditions where there are no written contracts, only verbal ones which are often broken by employers.” Some work under harsh conditions where they are denied food, sleep in the kitchen and so on. According to the LC 1 Chairman of Lugasa West village, Kayunga, “the conditions are so poor especially shelter and feeding in Ggalilaya where child labour is prevalent.” 6.14
Relationship between going to school and child labour
Child labour has a negative effect on a child’s schooling. It has either led to children dropping out or greatly affected their attendance. Mr. Patrick Makonzi, a key informant in Kayunga district attested to this when he said “…not going to school increases child labour.”The District Agricultural officer also expressed similar sentiments. According to the LC 1 Chairman of Kibaasa village, Kayunga, “child labour affects schooling, the more the children involve in the labour willingly they divert attention from school to business. This has led to poor performance.”In the words of the LC 1 Chairman of Lugasa West village, “the two are incompatible, however,both have teaching and learning element but child labour has affected performance.” Kintu Musa, a child labourer in Kayunga district puts it clearly when he says “The two are difficult to manage. I sometimes reach school late and when the trucks from Sudan come for pineapples, I escape from school to come and load and get some money.”
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6.15
Requirements of child labour victims
According to the Secretary for Youth of Kangulumira in Kayunga district, “income generating activities should be established for them. They should also have access to vocational training.” To Kamya Hasa, a child labourer involved in brick making,there is need for “counseling and providing the victims with vocational skills to make them get equipped with better knowledge.” There is also the need to facilitate the victims back to school according to the LC 1 Chairman of Kisaaba village in Kayunga district. 6.16
Persons working on issues of child labour in communities and what are they actually doing
In the majority of communities, the LC 1 Chairperson or the Vice Chairperson was mentioned as the person working on the issues of child labour. In a few cases, the Community Development Officer was mentioned as the person responsible. Other than following cases of abused children, the communities did not know clearly what is actually being done about child labour.
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The World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2002. Washington: The World Bank. Tanzania (2000/2001), Child labour in Tanzania UBOS:2002, Population and Housing Census, main report UBOS: 2002/03, Uganda National Household survey UBOS: 2000-2001, Demographic and Health survey UAC: Monitoring HIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, June 2004(Unpublished) UN System (2004) Common Country Assessment (CCA) of Uganda,2004,Kampala. UNDP.2002. Human Development Indicators 2002.New York:UNDP UNICEF, 2006:Excluded and Invisible: State of the Worlds Children. UNICEF.2003. The State of The Worlds Children 2003.New York, UNICEF. UNICEF:1995. Learning or Laboring: A compilation of Key Texts on Light work and Basic Education, edited by Judith Ennew, United Stated Department of Labour, Bureau of International Labour Affairs.1994,By the Sweat and toil of Children(Vols 1-vi)Washington DC. V. Forastier: 2002. Children at Work: Health and Safety Risks, Geneva,ILO. World Bank. 1995. World Development Report 1995: Workers in an integrating world (New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press). World Health Organisation,Children at Work:Special health risks.WHO Technical Report series 756.Geneva:WHO,1987.
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