ILO and TAML collaborate to advance children’s rights in Malawi

Through the new programme, TAML will promote best practice tea estate policies and codes of conduct through inclusive business models with smallholder farmers on child labour, engage with smallholder farmers for improved compliance throughout the tea supply chain, and support its members with monitoring and capacity building services.

Article | 02 February 2021
Lilongwe, 1 February 2021 -- The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Tea Association of Malawi (TAML) have signed an action programme to mobilise Malawi’s tea industry to advance business respect of, and support for, children’s rights.The new action programme will see TAML lead a range of initiatives that will catalyse action on the part of tea estates as well as smallholder farmers for the benefit of children and their families in tea-growing communities in Malawi’s southern Thyolo and Mulanje districts.

Through the new programme, TAML will promote best practice tea estate policies and codes of conduct through inclusive business models with smallholder farmers on child labour, engage with smallholder farmers for improved compliance throughout the tea supply chain, and support its members with monitoring and capacity building services.

TAML will also scale-up industry-wide action, including by catalysing a tea industry taskforce and by facilitating more and better Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investments to address the root causes of child labour, such as through support to education for children and improved livelihoods for tea-producing households.

“We are proud to have commenced this new action programme with the ILO which supports the Tea Association’s ongoing commitment to promoting responsible business conduct across our industry. This new programme will enable us to scale-up our support to companies in the tea sector to invest in more sustainable and responsible supply chains. At the end of the day, enterprises that invest in the workers and communities upon which they rely will be more productive and more profitable, which is in the interests not only of our industry, but of our country as a whole”, said Beyani Munthali, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TAML.

“The Tea Association of Malawi is committed to the total elimination of child labour throughout the tea industry in Malawi. Currently, all tea estates observe 18 years as the minimum age for entry into employment on any tea estate for fieldwork and 21 years as the minimum age for employment in all tea factories, including the handling of chemicals and machinery. Some of our members are also taking voluntary actions to invest in primary schools that provide free education to the children of employees, dependents, and surrounding communities, with further support in the form of scholarships, bursaries and stipends”, added Mr. Munthali.

The action programme, valued at more than MWK 120 million (almost USD $160,000) has been agreed under the ILO’s Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Supply Chains in Africa (ACCEL Africa) project with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands.
Through this action programme, we are pleased to be supporting TAML to strengthen the capacity of Malawi’s tea industry to improve compliance regarding child labour
“Through this action programme, we are pleased to be supporting TAML to strengthen the capacity of Malawi’s tea industry to improve compliance regarding child labour”, said Mr. George Okutho, Director of the ILO Country Office for Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.

Child labour is widespread in Malawi. The most recent National Child Labour Survey (NCLS 2015) shows that 38 percent of children aged 5 – 17 are involved in child labour, the majority of whom are working in the agriculture sector, and approximately half of whom are engaged in hazardous child labour.

The tea sector is Malawi’s largest formal sector employer, with an estimated workforce of 53,000 during peak season. Tea is Malawi’s second-largest export after tobacco, accounting for around 7 percent of Malawi’s exports, valued at more than MWK 70,000 million in 2017, according to the 2019 edition of ‘Malawi in Figures’ published by the Government of Malawi. The National Export Strategy (NES) identifies tea as a priority sector.

The Tea Association of Malawi (TAML), established in 1936, is the apex association for employers in Malawi’s tea sector. TAML’s overall objective is to promote and protect the domestic and foreign tea trade carried out in Malawi.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency founded in 1919 that brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 countries to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men. Malawi has been a member of the ILO since 1965.

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