2023 IOE International Elimination of Child Labour Changemaker Award Winner

The Central American Sugar Association is the winner of this year's IOE Changemaker competition for their Annual Campaign for the Prevention Child Labour in the Central American Sugar Sector.

The annual I Take Care of You (Yo Te Cuido) campaign, organised by the Central American Sugar Association (AICA), is recognised for its outstanding work to eliminate child labour by the IOE Changemaker Award jury. The jury was deeply impressed by the campaign’s guiding purpose to prevent child labour in the Central American sugar sector, through training and awareness-raising activities with producers and surrounding communities in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. IOE employer member organisations in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are affiliated with AICA and supporting this campaign across the region.

Central America faces an array of economic and geopolitical challenges from food insecurity to natural disasters and the effects of climate change to the ongoing negative economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has reported a global increase in child labour since the pandemic with Central America significantly impacted.

As a result and as part of government and business commitment to the Durban Call to Action adopted at the V Global Conference on Elimination of Child Labour in 2022, AICA relaunched its regional campaign to reverse this worrisome rise in child labour. The I Take Care of You campaign strives to increase awareness regarding child and adolescent labor, along with the associated protective legislation. It also advocates for the significance of nurturing children and ensuring their right to education is fulfilled.

IOE Senior Advisor Rita Yip, announcing the winner during the 14^th Annual Meeting of the ILO’s Child Labour Platform, said “We are proud to award this year’s prize to AICA. AICA’s campaign, with support from IOE members in the region, is making serious strides into eliminating child labour within the sector. It is also an important source of inspiration for other regional and national sectoral bodies to engage in preventing and eradicating this unacceptable practice.”