Child Domestic Workers - Project Rhoda:

The challenge: 29 000 children in Manila are child domestic workers which can enlist them to a life of servitude and poverty.
Very little has practically been done about this as the children often are better off working than starving. There needs to be a balance between the children earning their keep and developing their skills for the future. The trouble is discovering where the children are, and persuading the families that employ them that it's in their legal and moral obligation to look after these children.

The Big idea: Research started in 2004 pointed to the obvious benefit of using the local parish priest or pastor's detailed knowledge about what families had children working for them as a starting point for a change process. This knowledge combined with the moral authority of these clergy provided an opportunity to provide the children access to schools and extra-curricular activities.

The Big solution: Project Rhoda was established in 2005 in Manila to proto-type this approach and found 27 churches willing to work on this. Within a short time these churches provided services to 400 children. 3 Project Rhoda staff provided the mobilization of clergy and the subsequent access to relevant services useful to the children. These services were mostly provided by either government schools or a network of non-profit programs. UNICEF has fully funded the initiative in 2006-7 and it looks likely to be expanded across SE Asia in 2008.

 

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