The manual gives importance on communicating and sharing information. It provides an excellent example of collaboration in the process, why it is developed, the issues it covers, and its contribution to addressing the challenges of child labour in Asia.
The manual is based on recommendations made by participants in a regional survey as well as in a forum on Strengthening Information Exchange on Intolerable Form of Child Labour. These activities were organized by RWG-CL in 1999 and invited 113 organizations working in nine countries in South and Southeast Asia.
The manual responds to the expressed regional need for more efficient child labour information networking among practitioners, together with capacity building in the production and use of information about child labour.
Also it uses children’s rights as the foundation for establishing “government practice” in the production and use of child labour information.
The manual is a guide to resources that can be used for communicating about child labour in and South East Asia. It is a tool for practitioners in the child labour field who needs to get a message across to a variety of audiences in order to promote their work but who may not have a background in communication. Thus, the manual has been designed with their needs in minds, and is designed to be an easy-to-use reference tool in everyday work rather than a book to be read from cover to cover.
This manual sets out to show ways of sending messages about child labour to a variety of people, to change attitudes and improve children’s lives. It covers the production and use of information on child labour with respect to:
* raising awareness about the exploitation of working children;
* making and improving policies about child labour;
* implementing policies on child labour;
* increasing information about child work and child labour; and,
* developing and using better sources of information about children’s work.
