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Eliminating child labour requires an integrated approach, combining a supply chain approach with an area-based approach. The Work: No Child’s Business (WNCB) Alliance aims to address and prevent child labour by supporting companies to eliminate child labour in their supply chains, and by engaging all relevant stakeholders in the sourcing and production areas to tackle the root causes of child labour and realise sustainable change for children and their families.  

Eliminating child labour in the supply chain 

With the supply chain approach, we encourage and support companies to do due diligence in line with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  

Child labour is one of the risks companies are expected to identify, cease, mitigate and prevent throughout their supply chains, as per these guidelines. As child labour is often prevalent in the deeper tiers of the supply chain, where also informal and home-based work is carried out, importing companies face challenges identifying and addressing child labour.  

Collaboration with other companies, supply chain partners and stakeholders that are in direct contact with workers, their families and the communities is key to successfully conduct due diligence on child labour. This will ensure that companies’ actions are embedded in an enabling environment.  

Link with the area-based approach 

The area-based approach aims to tackle the root causes of child labour and invest in viable alternatives. Engagement with governments to strengthen child protection systems, provide public services incl. accessible and quality education for all children, and create opportunities for youth and livelihood support is key. Also, changing norms and mobilising all stakeholders – children, parents, teachers, community leaders, local government and local companies/employers – are crucial strategies of the area-based approach, especially when used towards creating a child labour free zone, to realize children’s rights.   

Integration of approaches 

Working with an integration of the approaches enables us to target all children in a community, also those children who are working in the deeper tiers of supply chains, and beyond. Moreover, this prevents children to move from one sector to another and/or to enter more hidden or worst forms of child labour. With an integrated approach we support children not only to get out of child labour but also to be mainstreamed into the formal education system as a viable alternative offering better perspectives of entering decent employment when they have the appropriate age.  

Join forces with WNCB and take the following steps 

1) Join our call to action to realise tangible changes towards eliminating child labour

The only way to turn the tables and realise tangible changes towards eliminating child labour in the coming years is to join forces. It is our strong believe that to combat child labour the international community – governments and the private sector – have a role to play. In our call to action we urge governments and companies to take action. Join our call to action and emphasize the urgency to work together in eliminating child labour.

2) Endorse the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBPs) and ensure that your company operates in line with these principles. 

3) Explore how to work with partners to implement this in your own supply chains. Contact us for more information.

We also invite you to join our international campaign ‎‎#TogetherAgainstChildLabour. See here for more information.