Bangladesh

In Bangladesh CLARISSA research focused on WFCL in the leather sector. Geographically we focused on three locations: Hazaribagh which is the traditional centre of leather production in the centre of Dhaka; Hemayetpur, which is where formal leather processing was relocated to in 2017, and where there is a growing informal economy springing up; and Bhairab which is the heart of the leather shoe trade, characterised by some forms of modern slavery, where children work unpaid, and centred almost entirely on domestic markets.

13 Participatory Action Research groups of children and business owners were formed in Bangladesh, each of which spent between 12- and 18-months generating evidence and trialling and learning from actions to reduce WFCL and its impact. In addition to Action Research, extensive participatory and qualitative research inquiries took place in Bangladesh, examining the lived experience of child labourers and the businesses in which they work. We also ran a universal and unconditional social protection cash plus transfer innovation in North Gojmohol, Dhaka, across 1,500 households.

In Bangladesh, CLARISSA has uncovered the fragmented and precarious nature of leather manufacturing and production in the informal economy and the risks or pressures small (informal) business owners face (due to their position in the supply chain), which might lead to them hiring children. We have generated evidence on the strategies that business owners employ to navigate financial risk and loss – which include hiring children, and evidence on the ways in which business owners hire children, including when children are sent by parents or when children show up at the factory asking for work. Our social protection innovation has shown that social protection programmes are most effective in reducing child labour when transfers are regular and adequate and accompanied by a strong plus element (family case work and community mobilisation support.