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OYEUX NOEL A TOUS LES ENFANTS ET TOUTES LES MAMANS DU MONDE ENTIER

Le continent africain et le travail des enfants

L'Afrique est le continent le plus touché par le travail des enfants, avec 41 % d'enfants de 5 à 14 ans au travail, soit 80 millions. C'est le pourcentage le plus élevé au monde. L'Afrique accumule un retard énorme au niveau de son développement. Si rien n'est fait ce chiffre devrait atteindre les 100 millions en 2015 !

De nombreuses raisons explique ce phénomène :

La pauvreté, "raison majeure et omniprésente" qui limite beaucoup les possibilités économiques et professionnelles dans les zones rurales et pousse les familles à recourir à tous les moyens d'accroître leurs maigres revenus.

Un accès à l'éducation insuffisant car les enfants sont arrachés plus fréquemment à la protection de leur famille parce qu'ils cherchent à s'instruire.

Ignorance, de la part des enfants et de leurs familles, des risques encourus.
La migration des adultes des villages vers les bidonvilles expose les enfants à de plus grands risques.
Une forte demande des employeurs qui veulent une main d'oeuvre bon marché et soumise, particulièrement dans le secteur informel.
La porosité des frontières.

Le désir des jeunes eux-mêmes qui veulent voyager et explorer.
Un engagement politique, une législation et des mécanismes judiciaires insuffisants face au trafic des enfants.

Le sida est un autre facteur aggravant dont il faut tenir compte dans de nombreux pays d'Afrique. Vu le grand nombre de chefs de familles morts du sida, les familles s'enfoncent de plus en plus dans la pauvreté et les responsabilités sont de plus en plus lourdes pour les survivants, particulièrement les enfants.

C'est le Nigeria qui arrive en tête. C'est le pays le plus peuplé du continent africain. Selon l'Unicef, il compterait 12 millions d'enfants au travail.
En Afrique du Sud, 400 000 enfants pauvres, non scolarisés issus des "township" (bidonvilles), seraient au travail (source : Réseau contre le travail des enfants).
En Égypte les chiffres varient entre ½ millions (chiffres officiels) et 2 millions d'enfants travailleurs (selon des études locales).

En Afrique, les enfants travaillent d'abord pour nourrir leur famille :
travaux agricoles
cuisine
corvées d'eau
travail domestique (concerne 37% des fillettes africaines)

L'exode rural vient accentué le phénomène car pour beaucoup partir en ville est devenu une nécessité vitale.

C'est ainsi que l'on trouve en ville des centaines de milliers d'enfants cireurs de chaussures, vendeurs ambulants, placiers dans les parkings (parking boys), chiffonnier (zabaleen) collecte des ordures....

Une tradition africaine bien ancrée consiste à placer les filles et certains garçons comme domestiques en ville (Les "boys" et les "petites bonnes"). Ce phénomène est bien sûr accentué par la pauvreté des familles qui voient là un moyen relativement "simple" de faire rentrer de l'argent. Les enfants se retrouvent alors confrontés à des situations diverses allant des employés de maison relativement bien traités, aux fillettes durement exploitées et/ou victimes d'abus sexuels.

En Afrique subsaharienne, au Maghreb et en Égypte des millions d'enfants travaillent en tant qu'apprentis chez les forgerons ou les potiers, dans les ateliers textiles, les tanneries, les fabriques d'articles de cuir.

Au Maroc, 5 000 à 10 000 enfants de 8 à 14 ans produisent des tapis.

L'agriculture est également une grande pourvoyeuse du travail des enfants :
vergers d'Afrique du Sud
plantations de vanille de Madagascar
champs de jasmin d'Égypte
grandes cultures d'Afrique subsaharienne.

Les enfants sont recrutés sur place mais des trafics existent. C'est ainsi que les enfants sont échangés à travers le Togo, le Nigeria, la Côte d'Ivoire, le Gabon et le Cameroun.

Selon les conclusions des études, quelque 284.000 enfants travailleraient dans des conditions dangereuses dans des exploitations de cacaoyers en Afrique occidentale, pour la plupart familiales, et notamment 200.000 en Côte d'Ivoire.

Le travail dangereux des enfants comprend, entre autres, la pulvérisation d'insecticides et le débroussaillage à l'aide de machettes. Il semble aussi que la traite de personnes touche de nombreux enfants, jusqu'à 2.500, employés dans la culture des cacaoyers en Côte d'Ivoire et au Nigeria.

Au Cameroun, en Côte d'Ivoire, au Ghana et au Nigeria, des chercheurs nationaux se sont livrés à plusieurs études avec l'appui de l'USAID et du ministère américain du travail, de l'industrie chocolatière, du Programme international sur l'élimination du travail des enfants (IPEC) de l'Organisation internationale du travail (OIT) et des gouvernements d'Afrique occidentale. Les chercheurs ont interrogé plus de 4.800 agriculteurs, des travailleurs adultes et adolescents et des chefs de file des collectivités. La Côte d'Ivoire, le Nigeria, le Cameroun et le Ghana produisent les deux tiers du cacao mondial, la Côte d'Ivoire étant à elle seule responsable de 40 % de la production mondiale de cacao. Non seulement ces enfants accomplissent des tâches dangereuses, mais les chances d'une éducation leur échappent. Ils sont perdants sur tous les plans.

Enfin, on trouve des enfants travailleurs également dans le secteur minier (mines d'or de Côte d'Ivoire et du Burkina Faso, les mines de chrome du Zimbabwe et les gisements de diamants de la République Démocratique du Congo (ex Zaïre)). Au Burkina Faso on peut voir des enfants à peine âgés de 8 ans creuser dans des mines d'or. C'est ainsi qu'ils se retrouvent dans des puits pouvant atteindre 60 mètres de profondeur où les risques d'éboulements sont omniprésents. Qu'ils soient au fond des mines où à l'extérieur, ces jeunes enfants travaillent durant des heures à la chaleur et dans la poussière pour des pépites d'or qui ne font que passer dans leurs mains.

CAMPAIN: " EDUCATION FOR GIRLS "

All children have the right to education. They acquire knowledge and skills they need to realize their potential and protect themselves from various hazards. And better quality of life education brings results across a company with enormous advantages. That is why education is essential to the development of each country. However, girls are too often excluded. If this continues to make progress for our societies will never be realized.

The NGO will launch its companion MACC "the education of girls" to intensify efforts for global priority is to educate every child.

The campaign seeks to educate girls in the countries of West Africa and Central beginning with Senegal. This campaign aims to reduce the illiteracy rate in its areas mentioned and addressed to partners such as governments and donors who make policy and resource decisions regarding the education of girls.

In Senegal, the primary school enrollment rate increased from 60% in 1991 to 82.5% in 2005. However, the proportion of children completing primary school level as students progress more slowly. The conditions of enrollment in secondary and vocational education are also limited. Among the first African countries to implement a sectoral program for development of education, Senegal has seen its approved strategy as part of the International Initiative "Education for All - Fast Track".

Why is girls' education important?


There are several compelling benefits associated with girls’ education, which include the reduction of child and maternal mortality, improvement of child nutrition and health, lower fertility rates, enhancement of women’s domestic role and their political participation, improvement of the economic productivity and growth, and protection of girls from HIV/AIDS, abuse and exploitation. Girls’ education yields some of the highest returns of all development investments, yielding both private and social benefits that accrue to individuals, families, and society at large by

Reducing women’s fertility rates. Women with formal education are much more likely to use reliable family planning methods, delay marriage and childbearing, and have fewer and healthier babies than women with no formal education. It is estimated that one year of female schooling reduces fertility by 10 percent. The effect is particularly pronounced for secondary schooling.

Lowering infant and child mortality rates. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care, ensure their children are immunized, be better informed about their children's nutritional requirements, and adopt improved sanitation practices. As a result, their infants and children have higher survival rates and tend to be healthier and better nourished.

Lowering maternal mortality rates. Women with formal education tend to have better knowledge about health care practices, are less likely to become pregnant at a very young age, tend to have fewer, better-spaced pregnancies, and seek pre- and post-natal care. It is estimated that an additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths.

Protecting against HIV/AIDS infection. Girls’ education ranks among the most powerful tools for reducing girls’ vulnerability. It slows and reduces the spread of HIV/AIDS by contributing to female economic independence, delayed marriage, family planning, and work outside the home, as well as conveying greater information about the disease and how to prevent it.

Increasing women’s labor force participation rates and earnings. Education has been proven to increase income for wage earners and increase productivity for employers, yielding benefits for the community and society.

Creating intergenerational education benefits. Mothers’ education is a significant variable affecting children’s education attainment and opportunities. A mother with a few years of formal education is considerably more likely to send her children to school. In many countries each additional year of formal education completed by a mother translates into her children remaining in school for an additional one-third to one-half year.

Procedure

The system of 'child sponsorship'raises 70% of the NGO's income. Benefactors donate money to the NGO, and can correspond with the child they sponsor by mail,or by telephone thus creating a personal bond between donor and child. Each benefactor is linked to an individual child in Senegal where the campain is starting and where MACC works.

The sponsorship system is meant to ensure that the sponsors can see what their money is going toward, and know that it is properly spent, as they get direct feedback from the children who benefit from MACC's projects. Sponsorship aims to raise awareness about, as well as funds for, the communities MACC works with.

Internationally, all money that is donated to MACC is split within the 70:30 rule: that is, at least 70% goes to MACC's development objectives, and 30% is spent on fundraising (primarily obtaining new sponsors) and administration.

Each fundraising office, or National Organisation, operates independently using different fundraising methods within each country of operation, and some are more effective than others in generating funds. National Office operate in Senegal.

Child Sponsorship

Join Mother And Child Care (M.A.C.C) now and sponsor a girl between 05 and 11 years old.

Mother and Child Care in Africa

Africa, the second largest as well as the second most populous continent of the world just after Asia, is really a land of many hidden treasure. A land, which is very close to the rawness of the nature, Africa promises a lot. With a land area of 30,221,532 square km, the continent has a population of over 900.000.000. The continent, is widely regarded to be the origin of humans. Even, till today, Africa has so many tribes who are still very far from the moder world. The Mother and Child Care in Africa has a great role to play on the overall health of the nation. As the continent is consist of different types of caste and tribe, the Mother and Child Care Programs in Africa need to be very exhaustive as some of them need thorough training and information on mother and child health, whereas some may need special care. Some may again need proper guidance to achieve better health of mother and child. There are several aspects of Mother and Child Care in Africa. In order to understand the overall health status of the continent, one needs to concentrate on a few of them.
Challenges of Mother and Child Care in Africa

Africa, sometimes called as the continent of the dark, has several issues relating to not only the health of the mother and child, but also to a major part of the overall population. There are several challenges of Mother and Child Care in Africa starting from the nutritional problems to the threats from the deadly AIDS. There are also several health problems that cause from the poverty as well. The governments of several African countries are continuously working towards the betterment of the Mother and Child Care in Africa.

Nutritional Status

From the nutritional point of view, the level of lactase in the play a pivotal role in the Mother and Child Care in Africa. There are several subgroups of population available in Africa, two of which are lactose-tolerant Nilotic shepherds, and lactose-intolerant Bantu peasants of the high plateaus. The first category retain lactase activity during their adult lives whereas, the other subgroup, like most population on the earth, show no lactase activity after five or six years of age. Therefore, these subgroups should have different nutritional care.


Lack of Proper Nutrition
Due to the poverty, a number of mothers cannot have proper food and hence they lack of proper nutrition. As a result, it goes to their children as well. Children become the prey of several diseases that cause due to the lack of nutrition.This is one of the major issues that the Mother and Child Care System in Africa has to deal with.

AIDS and other Diseases

AIDS is one of the greatest threats to the continent of Africa. Many people are infected with this deadly viris in this contitnent. From many infected mother, the children are getting infected with this virus. One of the major goals of the Mother and Child Care in Africa is also to fight with this.