The Advocacy Project (AP) is seeking $7,000 to help our Nepali partner CONCERN provide a year of education to 50 local children who work in brick factories. Some are as young as 5 years old. By enrolling them in school, we will protect these children from a life of danger, abuse and risk. CONCERN is a prominent advocate for child rights in Nepal and will manage the funds very effectively. Specific costs will cover: admission fees ($15); shoes & uniform ($35); stationery ($40); and exams ($50).
As many as 60,000 children work in the brick industry in Nepal. They help their parents make a living but at a terrible cost. Not only is the work illegal, it is also extremely dangerous. To make matters worse, the children are denied their right to an education: instead of studying, they spend their day turning ("flipping"), stacking and carrying bricks, as shown in the video above. Many parents want to see their children in school, but are too poor to cover the costs.
This project will address the crisis of child labor by enrolling 50 extremely vulnerable children in five schools at a cost of $140 per child. Your donations will make it happen by paying for school books, stationery, uniforms, and exam fees. CONCERN's field officers will then follow up with the children regularly to make sure that they are doing well at school. At the same time, CONCERN will urge owners of the brick factories to improve living conditions for all working families.
This is the third year that CONCERN has tested this model and supported the education of these 50 children - and with each year the chance of them falling back into work is reduced. Once they complete school, they will be qualified to choose a better job to rescue their families from poverty. If CONCERN can succeed with this pilot project, it plans to campaign for the total elimination of child labor from seven large factories and step up pressure on the owners to fulfill their obligations.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).