Effective models

Combating indigenous child labor through

education in Ecuador and Bolivia
By Azra Kacapor
 Statistics: Education for Indigenous 
Students in Ecuador
Attendance rate among
indigenous children is 27%
lower then the national
average

By the age 12, only 42% of

indigenous children stay in
school.

Many of those that leave go

on to pursue full-time
employment
 Barriers to Quality Education

Insufficient investment in education

 Inadequate education
infrastructure and educational
supplies
 Poor instruction
 Teacher shortages
 Inferior bilingual curricula
Barriers to Quality Education

 Multi-grade classrooms
with students of different
ages and abilities

 Unqualified and
inexperienced teachers

 No incentive to improve
instruction

 Inadequate attendance to
students’ special needs
 Intervention strategies
1. Educational opportunities:
Appropriate educational opportunities provided according to specific
educational and labor conditions of targeted child laborers and at
risk children
2. Awareness Raising:
About the effects of child labor on the right to education raised among
families, community leaders, teachers and children.

3. Institutional:
Child labor issues incorporated by local and national institutions and
indigenous organizations in their agendas

4. Community ownership
Rooting the interventions and the management of the project resources
at the local level with indigenous organizations
 Participation and empowerment
Local stakeholders understand and
participate fully in the program as a
key element of the intervention.

 Involvement of indigenous
organizations, communities and
families starting with the design of
the proposal itself.

 Participation in project management:

 Select and prioritize communities
 Validate the intervention strategies
 Select and hire teachers
 Technical and financial
administration of the project
 Project implementation structure
Participatory approach to project start up

Defining roles, responsibilities, Setting up rules and strategies

and the budgets
( e.g. the problem analyses, the selection of communities,
roles and responsibilities and basic budget allocation

Project management and coordination committees

1 delegate from 1 delegate from

1 delegate from other relevant stakeholders
indigenous organizations The bilingual directorates 1 delegate from
the project team INNFA
(provincial level)
Effects of child labor/ Type of
problem:
School drop out
Severe age gap (primary)
Severe age gap (Junior High)
Too many hours of labor:
Poor quality of education
(writing and reading in
Spanish)
Poor educational quality in
high school
Strategies
Immediate reinsertion
Accelerated Primary School Program
Accelerated Junior High Program
Academic tutoring and reinforcement
program
Teacher's training
Reforming the high school technical
curricula and school management and
operation
 Education interventions 

Accelerated Primary and Junior

High Programs:

 Goal:
Facilitate the completion of
primary and junior high school
for those Indigenous children out
of school or with school gap of 3
years or more.
 Accelerated education – leveling

ENROLLMENT PROPEDÉUTICO
LEVELING DESARROLLO
CURRICULUM
CURRICULAR
DEVELOPMENT

IV CYCLE

III CYCLE
DIAGNOSE LEVELING
PERIOD
II CYCLE

I CYCLE
 After­school support program
 This program is implemented after regular school hours by specially
trained tutors.
 It has a double purpose: Reduce the number of hours that the
children spend working and improve their reading and writing skills.
 In order to strengthen reading skills, a series of techniques based on
play and art are used

 The program includes:

 A specific curriculum, organized into three age groups: 6 to 8-year-
olds, 9 & 10, and 11 and older.
 Guides for the tutors to lead the daily sessions.
 A training program
 A model for providing follow-up and technical assistance
 After­school support program
 This program is implemented after regular school hours by
specially trained tutors.
 It has a double purpose: Reduce the number of hours that the
children spend working and improve their reading and writing
skills.
 The program includes:
 A specific curriculum, organized into three age groups: 6 to 8-
year-olds, 9 & 10, and 11 and older.
 Guides for the tutors to lead the daily sessions.
 A training program
 A model for providing follow-up and technical assistance
 Improving the quality
of technical high schools
•Definition of the desired outcomes for each graduate

• Curriculums for each specialty

• Review and improvement of the contents of each subject (individual work

with each teacher)

• Updated bibliography

• Introduction to practical training activities through field laboratories

Example: Avila Technical Agricultural High School, Amazon:

initial investment : $20.000 After 1 ½ years the school made $15.979 through the
sale of products.
 Overcoming barriers to accessing 
education
The project had to overcome
significant barriers of access
so that working or at-risk
children can enter school.
 Problems include long
distances, transportation
costs, and the difficulty in
covering costs for school
supplies and uniforms.
 Some solutions: Host
families and scholarship
programs
 Sustainability 
 Transfer of the methodology
to the State
 Diversification of funding
sources – local fundraising
 Inclusion of a focus on
corporate social
responsibility
 Achievements
 Withdrawal of over 3,600 indigenous children from
hazardous labor situations
 Retention rate to 97%
 Achievement – program focus
Program Year 1 Year 2 Total

Accelerated 290 211 501

Primary school
Accelerated 384 238 622
Junior High
After school 2216 1112 3328
support program
Scholarships 304 304
Technical 300 300
specialty
TOTAL 2890 2165 5055
Thank you