Mica mining in Madagascar

This project is developed by Terre des Hommes Netherlands, UNICEF Netherlands and VDL based on the findings of a 2019 study commissed by Terre des Hommes and carried out by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) on child labour in mica mines in Madagascar. The project is implemented from January 2022 - December 2023 in three communities in Betroka district the south of Madagascar with the objective to contribute to the elimination of child labour in Madagascar's Mica sector. The project aims to serve as a precedent that will lead to structural positive changes in the condition of tens of thousands of children and their families across Madagascar who are negatively impacted by mica business and trade.

The project targets:

• 500 children engaged in the worst forms of child labour in mica mines and children who are at risk of ending up working in mica mines; and
• 200 families engaged in mica mining.

In close collaboration with Malagasy government actors, upstream businesses and local civil society organisations (CSOs), the project implements a multitude of interventions at different levels, including the following:

1. Removing children out of the mines and enrolling them into formal education (pre- and primary school) or life skills education;
2. Empowering children in children's clubs, and providing children with psycho-social and reintegration support;
3. Awareness raising on child labour and childrens rights in the mining communities targeting parents and other stakeholders;
4. Setting up of child protection structures at community level which includes reporting and referral mechanisms on child protection;
5. Providing families with alternative and additional livelihoods activities as well as financial literacy training with the aim of increasing household income;
6. Advocating for the expansion of the coverage of the national social protection system to mica communities;
7. Supporting the government to better monitor the Mica supply chain activities enhancing transparency of the Mica supply chain;
8. Engaging and motivating upstream private sector actors to promote  a responsible and transparent mica supply chain free of child labour;
9. Raise awareness of downstream companies  on their link to child labour in the mica supply chain and support improvements of the due diligence process in the mica supply chain of (Dutch) companies; and
10. Facilitate the validation of the Madagascar government´s National Action plan to combat child labour in mica mines.