Critical Evaluation of Oxfam’s Approach to Child Labour
Assessment Criteria:
• Briefly outline and evaluate the approaches, and any policy initiatives, to child labour/slavery/trafficking adopted by your chosen organisation.
• Demonstrate awareness of the conceptual and theoretical debates surrounding child labour and an understanding of how your organisation’s approach fits within the wider context of development.
• Provide a critical and reflective account that demonstrates an understanding of the both key theoretical and policy debates surrounding child labour/human trafficking and the extent to which such debates are multifaceted and contested. Offer recommendations for positive change.
Aim of report:
Imagine that you are working for a business, public sector department, civil society or Non-Governmental Organisation.
You have been asked to write a briefing report that clearly summarises your organisation/business’s ideological and policy approach to EITHER child labour OR human trafficking/forced labour in relation to wider academic and policy debates in the field.
Organisations can be:
Multilateral institutions - ILO or World Bank
• Governments or departments such as DFID
• Global NGOs like Oxfam or Save the Children, Amnesty International
• Governments, EU or other
• Multinational business that works in an industry that might be linked to either child or forced/trafficked labour e.g. agricultural, manufacturing, retail or service industries (clothing, textiles, carpets, coffee, cocoa, mining and extractive, sex trade etc.)
Structure:
1.Introduction:
-a brief introduction to your organization; what does it do?
• Introduction to the issues or problems that will be raised in the briefing e.g. child labour or human trafficking/forced labour – what’s the big picture or local/global context here?
• an outline of the organisation’s approach to the issue if it has one (maybe your report wants to convince managers that child or forced labour is a problem for the organization and there is a need for policy or action?)
• outline of how the issue will be tackled within the report
2.Context: research / concepts key facts and statistics on the issue
• current situation
• the wider context (why is this important?) – you may introduce key academic ideas or themes here.
• brief introduction to key literature and academic work on the topic that you will explore in your critical analysis/discussion
3. Critical analysis of organisation approach / Discussion
4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• summarise the findings of the report – what are the key points/issues that need to be explored by decision-makers? What should be done? How does this link to the academic research or debates you’ve highlighted?
• Provide recommendations and advice
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF OXFAM’S APPROACH TO CHILD LABOUR
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction. 3 2. Context: Research/ Concepts. 3 2.1 Key Facts and Statistics on Child Labor (Current Situation) 3 2.2 The Wider Context 6 2.3 Key Literature and Academic Work on Child Labour 7 3. Critical Analysis and Discussion of Oxfam Approach. 8 3.1 Best Interest of the Child. 8 3.2 Zero Tolerance of Child Exploitation. 8 3.3 Shared Responsibility. 8 3.4 Risk Management Approach. 9 3.5 Responsibilities of Different People. 9 3.6 Critical Challenges to Oxfam in Eradicating Child Labor 10 4. Conclusion and Recommendations. 11 4.1 Summaries of the Findings of the Report 11 4.2 Recommendations. 12
Critical Evaluation of Oxfam’s Approach to Child Labour
Introduction
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations fighting poverty and injustice worldwide. In addition to its work with partners, Oxfam also operates several initiatives and programs directly. Oxfam is committed to combating human trafficking and exploitation (Oxfam 2022). It works with partners worldwide to identify and support victims and prevent child labor and forced child labor from happening in the first place. It also advocates for strong laws and effective enforcement to protect trafficking victims and work to raise awareness of the issue. In 2009, an estimated 21.8 million children were in forced labor, trafficked, or servitude. Currently, 63 million girls and 97 million children are in child labor. The average child labor force is one in 10 children worldwide. The highest number of child laborers is in India (5.8 million), Bangladesh (5 million), and Pakistan (3.4 million), which are alarming statistics (ILO 2022a). Oxfam has issued a child safeguard policy that works in a child’s best interests; the company has set a zero-tolerance policy for child abuse and exploitation. It believes in safeguarding children under shared responsibility and protecting vulnerable populations (Oxfam 2019). The report discusses in-depth the child labor issues tackled within the report and how Oxfam can further strengthen its child labor policies to reduce child labor practices worldwide.
Context: Research/ Concepts
The section describes crucial facts and statistics on the issue, the current situation, the broader context, and the introduction of essential literature in critical analysis and discussion.
Key Facts and Statistics on Child Labor (Current Situation)
Worldwide, over 160 million children and 1 out of 10 children worldwide are in forced labor. 50% of childr...
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