The Role of Mentoring in Child Labor Trafficking Prevention in Ghana

Abstract

There are 152 million children in the world who are victims of child labor, while 73 million are involved in hazardous labor. Almost half of child labor (72.1 million) is found in Africa. Moreover, 1 in 5 children in Africa (19.6%) is a child laborer, whilst prevalence in other regions such as Arab States, Asia, and Europe is between 3% and 7% (ILO, 2017). This dissertation evaluates the implementation of a community-based paid group mentoring (MCBC) intervention in West Africa to address the problem. The implementation outcome suggests the project contributed to increased school attendance (1.5 days), school engagement and participation (MD =6.57), and an associated decrease in child labor trafficking involvement six months after implementation. Paired samples t-test between mentees' average attendance pre-and during-intervention showed a significant effect (t(110)=15.54; p<0.001; 95%CI: 1.39 to 1.80). It also discusses various limitations, implications, and future directions for the study.