To combat child labor in Madagascar’s mica mining sector, Pact focuses on families

If anything is true about child labor in the mining sector, it is that the phenomenon is both extremely harmful and deeply complex. 

Pact has worked to address child labor in mining for more than a decade in communities across the globe. When we launched the Madagascar Shines project in 2022, to reduce child labor in the country’s mica mining sector, we knew we there would be many challenges to overcome. 

An estimated 10,000 children are currently working alongside their families in unsafe conditions in Madagascar’s informal mica industry – a consequence of poverty. With funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, Pact is focusing on the southern Anôsy region, where the problem is acute. We are taking a comprehensive approach that centers on families and building an environment around them that enables them to leave child labor behind. This includes addressing economic drivers, building household resilience and improving coordination and capacity for child protection among government and non-governmental stakeholders. 

We began with a series of assessments to thoroughly understand child labor in Madagascar’s mica mining sector, which helps provide to global consumers a mineral used in products from makeup to cement to electric cables. What we learned has directly informed our strategy. We assessed 34 active mica mining sites across the mining communities of Ranopiso, Behara, Tranomaro and Maromby, which include more than 5,000 miners and 2,000 households with children.

We learned that families use mica mining mainly to meet their basic needs, though many say it is not enough, and that access to infrastructure, especially education and health, is limited. While many communities have primary schools, there is little beyond that, and many families cannot afford school fees and school materials. Approximately 55% of children are out of school, and 42% are in primary school, while only 3% are attending secondary school.

About child labor specifically, we found that approximately 36% of children work in mica mining, conducting mica sorting, collecting products, digging holes and transporting mica. More than half of people surveyed indicated that children are working to supplement family income or support family needs. 

Our findings revealed that the most prevalent dangers of working in mines include landslides, burial, physical injuries from falling into holes, respiratory infections, suffocation, ocular infections and blindness due to mica particles. These unsafe conditions, along with negative interactions and a lack of educational opportunities during children’s early years, can lead to irreversible harm.

Yet in terms of attitudes toward child labor, 11% of respondents said that child labor helps children to gain new skills, and 57% indicated that children should work, while 43% disagreed with this.

As for tackling the problem, these were among our most important findings:

• Mica artisanal miners are vulnerable individuals with low levels of education and poor financial literacy, practicing unsafe mining methods and using mining as a main source of income. Miner households, and those that influence them such as community leaders and local authorities, must be the primary focus of strategies to combat child labor.
   
• Private sector engagement in the fight against child labor is critical, yet not straightforward. There is limited awareness of due diligence requirements, including child labor-free mines, throughout the mica supply chain. Yet some exporters are willing to address child labor issues. It is key to encourage companies to adopt and implement policies for responsible sourcing including Corporate Social Responsibility activities benefiting the local community.
   
• The government of Madagascar has begun efforts to improve the mining industry, including updating the Mining Code to consider child labor, and the design of a joint work plan to address child labor issues in mica in the Anôsy region. Existing organizations and mechanisms that work to combat child labor need to be strengthened and require additional resources to fulfill their mission.

With these findings in mind, we designed a set of holistic interventions that are increasing immediate and long-term resilience in vulnerable households by connecting children with educational services and adults with support to improve their livelihoods. 

Pact is also promoting the formalization of Madagascar’s mica sector, supporting civil society organizations and the media to improve public awareness around the issue of child labor in mining, and building the capacity of government officials to coordinate child protection measures in the mica supply chain and lead collective action against child labor, including establishing a code of conduct for mica mining. 

Although we are working with many stakeholders, families – children and their caregivers – are the key to any success. We are focusing on women miners, as evidence has shown that income made by women directly benefits families. We are using our WORTH community banking program to help women gain savings, income and new skills, and to reach them with key information about positive parenting, the importance of education and the harms of child labor. 

Supporting women also means providing childcare, an intervention we are paying special attention to. We are working to promote two childcare concepts for mining communities: community early childhood development (ECD) centers, to be managed in collaboration with local authorities and the private sector, and child care options at mica processing centers, to be developed in partnership with mica exporters that commit to being child-friendly and to contributing to child care for their employees. Women miners have told us of the relief they would feel knowing their children have a safe place to go, with access to nutrition, play and a place to sleep when tired. 

So far, parents of 265 children in four mining communities have agreed to enroll their children in childcare centers, and six mica processing centers have committed to undertake pre-feasibility analyses for the implementation of day care centers.

Our other results to date include about 500 children who are now out of mining and supported with direct educational services, and approximately 1,500 children from mica communities maintained in school. Approximately 200 women from mica households are now members of WORTH groups. We are also making progress in collaborating with an array of relevant government and industry stakeholders. 

While combating child labor in mining is complex, we know from experience that it is possible. We are confident that in bringing partners together to support families in Madagascar’s mica mining communities, we can make a dramatic reduction in child labor while improving livelihoods for miners.