Continuing community engagement 

To build a sustainable, supportive community, we need to continue to work with local partners and schools. They are closest to the community and can continue to engage the community in child protection using our network’s communication materials, reports and workshops. 

We need to involve key teachers and social workers to support Child Protection Committees and get their help to raise awareness in schools and communities. They and other partners and stakeholders can also help to keep child labour issues on the agenda of local government authorities. 

Strengthen access to quality education 

To continue to build a quality and friendly learning environment that is accessible to all children, we need to continue to involve schools and the Ministry of Education and Training in the elimination of child labour. We can contribute to the existing national programme on ‘Happy Schools’ (child-friendly learning environments) by sharing our experiences from our programme areas and the guidelines we have developed with other areas and provinces. Linking and learning can also be facilitated through more exchange visits between project areas, including workshops on child friendly learning environments. 

Further engagement with governments 

Schools play an important role in preventing child labour and supporting child labourers and those at risk of child labour. The education sector needs government support to maintain this important role. Increased advocacy and support for the Ministry of Education and Training is therefore needed. With our partners’ expertise and input, the Ministry of Education can support the sector more effectively. Among other things, there is a need to focus on capacity building for school counsellors. Ideally, a training programme on school counselling should be developed and rolled out nationally via online training.

There is still no legal definition of child labour and limited capacity to identify and monitor cases. This leads to underreporting of child labour cases. To address this, we need to continue to support and advocate for the government to develop a list of child labour indicators for identification, followed by capacity building. To increase the reporting of child labour cases, we also need to standardise communication and training materials for local partners on this issue.

Expand working with private sector

Ongoing work is needed by first-tier companies to engage with other tiers throughout the supply chain. We need to work with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to standardise the training curriculum on child labour prevention, remediation and responsible business practices. Child labour prevention and remediation policies should be set up in factories and cascaded down supply chains. This will require greater collaboration with organisations such as the Vietnam Association of Protection of Children’s Rights. 

We also need to broaden the partnership to more diverse stakeholders. This will help to ensure that children’s rights are properly respected and protected in business practices. With these stakeholders, national and international companies, we can share our good practices and achievements over the past years and the materials we have developed. 

Strengthen child protection system with stronger focus on the left-behind children

In Dong Thap, there are already many children left behind and at risk of child labour due to high migration rates. This number is increasing. We need to continue to strengthen child protection systems, with a greater focus on monitoring and supporting the children who are left behind. This would help prevent children from dropping out of school and becoming child labourers.