After four years of articulated work, based on social dialogue, the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor has managed to design and validate an instrument to prepare local maps of vulnerability that will allow member countries to design preventive strategies to interrupt the trajectory of child labor and accelerate the reduction of the indicator in the region.

The instrument, called the Child Labor Risk Identification Model, has been applied in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru during 2017 and is in process during 2018-2019 in Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala and Jamaica, countries in which It is expected to strengthen local policies anchored in participatory planning oriented to specific goals of reducing child labor.

With this action, the Regional Initiative contributes to the territorialization process of the 2030 Agenda, by developing and applying policy tools aimed at achieving Goal 8.7. This country-focused action is complemented by a strategy to promote South-South Cooperation, which throughout this four years of work has managed to capitalize on the experience, knowledge and capacity of the countries on issues such as youth employment, hazardous work , inspection, public-private alliances, domestic work, among others. 

The platform of the Regional Initiative has also made it possible to dynamize multistakeholder work through interagency action achieved between ILO, ECLAC and FAO. For its part, the relationship with the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (CSA) has renewed and strengthened the tripartite approach to action, while the relationship with the private sector through the Global Compact has allowed add your commitment and experience in following the associated Principles. 

With civil society organizations, integrated in the Global March against Child Labor, the Regional Initiative has promoted a rapprochement to identify spaces for joint and complementary action that reinforce the commitment of the countries and that at the same time highlight the persistent challenges.

To overcome the inequality gaps in the region in a definitive way, we must not leave anyone behind. Building a better future requires us to prevent the early insertion of children into child labor, restore the rights of the 10.5 million children and adolescents who still work, especially those who perform illicit work, and protect the teen work allowed. 

In the last four years, Latin America and the Caribbean has demonstrated its potential to reach Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda on time and accompany the first generation free of child labor in the region. Let us continue to work participatively and jointly for the children and adolescents who are the future human talent that will make our region sustainable, inclusive and sustainable.

In the framework of the fourth anniversary of the Regional Initiative, the Network of Focal Points has a message to remind us that ending child labor depends on each and all of us, from our different sectors and organizations. To listen to this message, click here  (also available in English ). 

We invite you to download the latest publications of the Regional Initiative in the following links:

• Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor: What should we focus on to achieve Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals? 
• Keys to innovation. Systematization of the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor 2014-2017
• Child Labor Risk Identification Model. Methodology to design preventive strategies at the local level

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