THE MEANINGS AND PRACTICES OF CHILD LABOUR IN OLD-FADAMA, ACCRA

ABSTRACT

Globally, children are engaged in a wide-range of activities both in the informal and the formal sectors. Child labour has been defined by the ILO as “work that impairs children’s well-being or hinders their education, development and future livelihoods”. In addition, several theories and models strive to redefine and draw the pattern clear about child labour. The main objective of the study is an assessment of the meanings and practices of child labour in Old Fadama, in Accra, Ghana, with specific focus on examining the mmeanings, practices, and causes of child labour and better provide an applicable policy to minimize if not eradicate child labour. The study adopted qualitative study approach to achieve the defined objectives. Through this approach, a purposive sampling techniques was used to sample 16 interviewees (8 adults and 8 children) engaged in the practices of child labour. Primary data was used for analysis and discussion purposes in relation to the study objectives. The qualitative analysis techniques employed was thematic content analysis to derive codes that were used to obtain the basic, organizing, and global themes and to draw the thematic network systems. Findings proved that a lot of meanings have been ascribed to child labour, these were: hardworking activity, means of survival, the physical stage/state at which children work, specific category of children working, and morally and ethically bad and worrying phenomenon/practices. Regarding the practices, child labour brings about: 1) negative and positive impacts, 2) Employment Avenues, 3) The Key Actors, 4) Working Conditions, and 5) Specific works done by boys and girls. Finally, the study demonstrated that the root causes of child labour were pull, push and other related factors which were all categorised as socio-economic. The study therefore concluded that meanings and practices of child labour in Old Fadama is socioeconomic, widespread in the street than at home, and there is no intervention existing to weld out the phenomenon in the study area. The study based on the conclusion to recommend social and economic interventions with special focus on redressing poverty and bettering or providing quality, free, and accessible educational facilities and services for the poor individuals as the prudent immediate solution to minimize child labour in Old Fadama.