This US DoL-funded programme aimed to reduce child labour through education-focused pilots targeting 10,000 children in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana. Under a subcontract with the AIR, Khulisa was responsible for design and implementation of five pilot national programmes in three South African provinces addressing access to basic education for previously working children and children at risk of entering the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL), a regional conference and overall project monitoring and evaluation of all activities regionally for the four-year project span. This project benefited working children and children at risk of working through formal and non-formal education interventions and other support services.

The pilot projects in South Africa focused on at-risk children. In Gauteng, the project targeted girls who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). In North-West the target group was teen mothers. In Mpumalanga, the focus was reducing child labour on farms and supporting OVC.

Khulisa was also responsible for:

  • Design and implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework for the RECLISA project in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, to be transferable for future projects.
  • Development of a training module addressing child labour & trafficking and relevant legislation for the SAPS, revision of the Adopt a Cop school-police programme manual aligned with their Social Crime Prevention Youth Desk and provision of training for a peer-support programme and psycho-social support services to trafficked children.
  • Development of Child Labour curriculum aligned with the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) to be implemented as part of the Life Orientation Learning Area for schools. This SAQA-accredited curriculum covers child labour, trafficking, substance abuse and risk factors for trafficking and exploitation.
  • Development and population of a database of trafficking resources. The database includes government departments, international agencies, welfare organisations and shelters. Making such information available to anyone dealing with trafficked people in any capacity is the first step towards a national referral mechanism. Khulisa is currently negotiating with partners regarding the hosting of the database.

More information about RECLISA can be found on the project website.