Closing the Child Labor and Forced Labor Evidence Gap: Impact Evaluations

Randomized controlled trial impact evaluations examining interventions on combating child labor in India, Malawi, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Rwanda

Region/Country:

Americas Costa Rica Ecuador

Global

South & Central Asia India

Sub-Saharan Africa Malawi Rwanda

Project Duration:

December 2014

December 2019

Funding and Year:

2014

: USD

4,194,395

Our impact evaluation projects use rigorous quantitative techniques to evaluate the impact of interventions on reducing child labor, forced labor and human trafficking—part of a broader ILAB effort to build rigorous evidence on what works to secure and protect the rights of children and adults. Such evaluations support our partner governments’ evidence-based policymaking efforts, and also help identify proven strategies to inform ILAB’s future investments in global programs to combat child labor and forced labor.

The Problem

With an estimated 152 million children engaged in child labor and nearly 24.9 million victims of forced labor worldwide, it is critical that scarce resources are used to support effective and efficient programs. However, gaps in the evidence base mean that more rigorous research is needed to understand how to best protect the rights of these children and adults.

Our Strategy

By conducting impact evaluations based on randomized controlled trial designs, our researchers can understand how an intervention has directly led to changes in, for example, the prevalence of child labor. Specifically, the project implemented by Impaq International will examine the effects of interventions aimed at combating child labor in India, Malawi, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Rwanda. For example, in India — where an estimated 4.3 million children age 5-14 work in the worst forms of child labor — IMPAQ International will evaluate the efficacy of the Child Friendly Villages program implemented by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an organization founded by the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kailash Satyarthi.

Grantee: IMPAQ International

Implementing Partners: Action pour le Développement du Peuple (ADEPE), and Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM), and Société Rwandaise de Thé (SORWATHE), Duterimbere, Fédération Rwandaise des Coopératives de Théiculteurs (FERWACOTHE), India: Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), Malawi: Total Land Care (TLC), Rwanda: Winrock International and its partners: Save the Children, Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO)

Contact Information:

(202) 693-4843

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)

Tags: Child Labor Impact evaluation