Teaming up with CCR CSR to improve child rights and advocacy in homes and small workshops

As of 2008, the ILO and UNICEF estimated 215 million children working full-time across the globe. Only one in five of these children was being compensated, with most working informally as part of the family. Child labor is rampant across the garment industry and several factors make it more common in home-based, subcontracted work than it is in factories. Child labor is concentrated in developing economies with 60% of all child labor taking place in Asia and 23% in sub-Saharan Africa – regions in which informal labor is also more common. In the home, work-life and family life mix freely, often blurring the boundaries of what can should be considered labor and what should not.

Historically, home-based work has been highly invisible due to its informal, dispersed, and hidden nature, making it difficult to monitor, identify, and remediate. With multiple subcontractors positioned across the supply chain, dispersing accountability, training programs for mitigating child labor can neglect to engage key players.  Nest’s Standards for Homes and Small workshops have worked to address many of these issues by including targeted questions and assessment observations for identifying risk factors. But Nest seeks to go further in reducing child labor in all its forms within home-based and small workshop production systems by calling on the experts of CCR CSR.

CCR CSR has been a pioneer in advising major corporations and organizations on children’s rights since 2009  – helping businesses embrace sustainability strategies, programs and projects that permanently improve the lives of children across the globe. Nest is currently raising funds to support our partnership whose first stages will focus on optimization of Nest’s Standards, followed by training programs for brands, artisans, and Nest staff to both prevent child labor and remediate towards better advocacy and protection for children in homes.

If you have interest in learning more or supporting this work, please contact Ashia Sheikh Dearwester at [email protected].