Kenya is set to conduct Child Labour Survey this year after 15 years. This was deliberated in a meeting attended by the Principal Secretary for labour and skills Development, Hon Geoffrey Kaituko, Delegation from the European Union in Kenya, representatives from the International Labour Organization (ILO), officers from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and representatives from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

 

The last Child Labour Analytical Report was developed in June 2008 from the data generated under the Kenya Integrated Household Survey of 2005/06. The report indicated then that 1.01 million children were in child labour.

 

These figures are likely to have gone higher mainly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe drought being experienced in the region. 

In Kenya, it is estimated that 90 per cent of children involved in child labour live in rural areas, mainly working on family land or in family units of tea, coffee, sugarcane, sisal, tobacco, and rice plantations, as well as in fishing and the production of miraa (khat). This kind of work deprives the children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and in most instances, it is harmful to their physical and mental development.

 

Conducting the Child Labour Survey is one of the key priorities and the Survey is expected to produce accurate and reliable data on child labour in the country, its forms, prevalence across counties and current initiatives or programmes addressing child labour. The data will be disaggregated by various factors including disability. This will inform planning and implementation of programmes to ensure more accurate targeting hence improving outcomes.