Child Labor in Ghana Essays

Child Labor in Ghana Essays Child Labor in Ghana Essay Child Labor in Ghana Essay Project Description and Learning Outcome: According to the statistics of International Labor Organization, there are 250 million children aged 5 to 14 (Todaro Smith, 2009, p. 379) are working in developing countries, and many of them were enslaved or bonded laborers. Of these 250 million child labors, 126. 3 million are doing jobs that are classified as difficult, dangerous and suitable. (Child Labour in Africa, 2006) Africa has the highest rate of child labor in the world, which is 41%. (Todaro Smith, 2009, p. 79) While child labor has been declining in Asia and Latin America, economic decline, war, famine and HIV/AIDS have combined to prevent this in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has 49. 3 million children are working and have the greatest incidence of economically active children: 26. 4 percent of children ages 5 to 14 in the region are at work. Also in Africa, an estimated 50,000 children are in prostitution and pornography. Some 120,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to have been coerced into taking up arms as child soldiers, or military porters, messengers, cooks or sex slaves in Africa. Child Labour in Africa, 2006) Children works at earlier age in Ghana and farm labor predominates. According to Bhalotra in a report published by the OECD, â€Å"work on the household farm engages 41% of boys and 44% of girls aged 10-14, while household enterprise work involves 2. 5% of boys and 3. 6% of girls. † (Bhalotra, 2003) This research will discuss the causes of child labor in Ghana and the effect it will have on the child, the family and the economy. The International Labor Organization (ILO) is in forefront in combating child labor worldwide. It has several poverty reduction programs in Africa. This project will be done in 4 phases as follows: Phase1: Introduction We will briefly discuss the general theory of child labor, what are the causes of child labor and general situation of child labor in Ghana and its effects, as well as our objective in this research project. Phase 2: Description of project, and project results In this phase, we will tackle the main issues involving child labor in Ghana, as well as researching the ways on how the government of Ghana is handling the situation, as well as the support coming from international organizations such as ILO. We use extensively research database of the Centennial library, as well as Toronto Public Library. We also researched on books that are available in the library and online reports published by reputable organizations such as the World Bank, ILO, OECD and several academic journals. Phase 3: Analysis We will analyze the problem and causes of child labor in Ghana, as well as the effect it will have on the child, the family and the economy based on the research materials on hand, and arrive at possible solutions on how to help eradicate child labor in Ghana and how these can contribute to the work of ILO. Phase 4: Conclusion We will then have our conclusion based on the possible solutions for child labor in Ghana. Reference Bhalotra, S. (2003). Child Labour in Africa. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 4. OECD Publishing. doi: 10. 1787/582055427126 Child Labour in Africa. (2006). Retrieved November 14, 2010, from International Labour Organization: ilo. org/declaration/info/factsheets/langen/docNameWCMS_DECL_FS_38_EN/index. htm Todaro, M. P. , Smith, S. C. (2009). Economic Development (10th ed. ). Boston: Pearson Addison-Wesley.