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Reducing child labour in Guatemala through decent youth employment

A new UN report warns that that global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since the last two decades. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into child labour unless urgent mitigation measures are taken.

According to the ILO-UNICEF report namely Child labour: 2020 Global estimates, trends and the road ahead released today ( 10 June), around 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. An increase of 8 million since 2016. A further 8.9 million children will be in child labour by end of 2020 as a result of rising poverty driven by the pandemic.

More than 70 percent of all children in child labour – 112 million in total - are in agriculture, representing and increase by 4 million since 2016. These children engaging in child labour in crop production, livestock, forestry, fisheries or aquaculture, often work long hours and perform hazardous tasks.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is dedicated to eliminating child labour in agriculture.

In Guatemala FAO works with partners to reduce child labour and rural poverty by promoting education and safe youth employment in agri-food systems.

Duration 6m35s

Edit Version Clean

Video Type B Roll Video

Date 05/28/2021 5:29 PM

File size 722.66 MB

Unique ID UF2T7E

All editorial uses permitted

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Shotlist Location: Santa Avenlina, Cotzal, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

1. Aerial shot of town

2. Smoke billowing from rooftop chimney

3. Man wearing mask walking down muddy road beside houses

4. Children jumping on trampoline in the street whilst others are watching

5. Two turkeys pecking at food by the roadside

6. Wide aerial shot of man carrying a basket and walking up into the forest

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

7. Closeup of coffee beans being dropped into a small glass sitting on a weighing scale

8. Maria Cedillo Chavez dropping coffee beans into a coffee bean grinder

Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala, 15 January 2021

9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Diana Tobias, human resources coordinator, Caravela Coffee: “In 2018 we established our alliance with FAO with the objective to develop youth who have interest and passion about coffee production”.

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

10. Maria Cedillo Chavez pouring ground coffee into a glass and then switching off the coffee bean grinder

Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala, 15 January 2021

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Diana Tobias, human resources coordinator, Caravela Coffee: “And from there we selected 10 young people so they could come to Caravela Coffee to be able to train with our quality analysts. This is when we met Mariita Cedillo, as we call her affectionately”

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

11. Wide shot of Maria Cedillo Chavez organising samples of ground coffee and coffee beans on a stainless-steel worktop

12. Closeup of Maria Cedillo Chavez shaking coffee beans in a plastic container

13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “At the beginning I did not know much about coffee. I would only grow and harvest it with my family in the field, but I did not really have a wide knowledge of it and I did not even have a job, I would only stay at home”

14. Tracking backward aerial shot of man bagging up coffee beans in the forest

15. Closeup of red coffee beans in a green basket

16. Closeup of boiling water being poured into a glass of freshly grounded coffee

17. Maria Cedillo Chavez pouring boiling water into glasses of coffee samples

18. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “When this opportunity came up, I began to participate in the workshops and the training”

19. Closeup of Maria Cedillo Chavez smelling the freshly brewed coffee

20. Closeup of Maria Cedillo Chavez lifting foam off a glass of coffee with spoons

21. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “I now analyse the coffee seed in order to look for any deficiencies, to discover its flavours, one can identify which are the imperfections”

22. Closeup of Maria Cedillo Chavez sampling coffee

23. Wide shot of Maria Cedillo Chavez sampling coffee

Location: Santa Avenlina, Cotzal, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

24. Tracking forward aerial shot of green hills and house rooftops

25. Wide shot of wet road, construction taking place in the foreground

26. Wide shot of a young man walking his dog up a steep hill with an older man following him from behind

27. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Ostuma Raymundo, Representative, Maya Ixil cooperative: “The problem is that some parents can take their kids from school and take them to the fields. This is not right, the best thing to do is to provide space and time for school and in their free time they can show them how to work the land or take them to the plots but under the supervision of their parents”

28. Tracking forward aerial shot of houses

29. Wide shot of two men walking down a rugged path beside a fast-flowing river

30. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Ostuma Raymundo, Representative, Maya Ixil cooperative: “As a cooperative, we are giving an opportunity for young people to get involved in the production of coffee”

31. Slow tracking forward aerial shot of misty mountain

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

32. Closeup of Isabela picking red coffee beans from plant

33. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Isabela de la Cruz Medina, beneficiary: “My family has been growing coffee for 15 years”

34. Closeup of Isabela picking red coffee beans from plant

35. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Isabela de la Cruz Medina, beneficiary: “FAO and the Maya lxil Cooperative trained us. Thanks to them I am producing a good coffee harvest. And well, production has increased because we have been applying the practices they taught us”

36. Wide shot of Isabela shaking red coffee beans in a plastic basket

37. Isabela pouring freshly picked coffee beans into a sack

38. Wide shot of a relative of Isabela walking a donkey away which is carrying the sacks of coffee beans

Location: Santa Avenlina, Cotzal, Quiché

39. Aerial shot of the town and misty mountains

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 13 January 2021

42. A vehicle with FAO logo driving pass a road

43. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Israel Cifuentes, Thematic coordinator, FAO Ixil Guatemala: “All sectors, private, governmental, non-governmental as well as the United Nations system, must join forces in a comprehensive manner so that the actions taken walk hand in hand in reducing child labour. This will happen only if young people have access to educational opportunities, access to jobs, as well as access to entrepreneurship opportunities”

44. Isabela picking coffee beans with her family

45. Isabela walking towards the camera carrying a full basket of coffee beans

46. Wide shot of Isabela and her family sorting through baskets of coffee beans

Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala, 15 January 2021

47. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Byron Holcomb, Manager, Speciality Coffees OLAM Guatemala: “The private sector has several opportunities to eradicate child labour. Among them, here in OLAM, we have implemented what we call Coffee Kindergartens and Coffee Camps. These are 35-day programs during the height of the harvest so that children are not present in the fields so that they can be in a safe, educational space”

Location: Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 12 January 2021

48. Closeup of Maria Cedillo Chavez,

49. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “I am working as a technician with Communidades de la Tierra, another organisation. That step up in my career was thanks to FAO. I thank them for the work I have now and yes, the truth is that they are supporting us youth in the region”

50. Tracking forward aerial shot of a road in the town with kids playing on tricycles in the foreground

51. Tracking forward aerial shot of the town and the green hills in the background

52. Tracking forward aerial shot of the town

53. Tracking forward aerial shot of the town from a distance with green mountains around

Script A new UN report warns that that global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since the last two decades. The COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into child labour unless urgent mitigation measures are taken.

According to the ILO-UNICEF report namely Child labour: 2020 Global estimates, trends and the road ahead released today ( 10 June), around 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. An increase of 8 million since 2016. A further 8.9 million children will be in child labour by end of 2020 as a result of rising poverty driven by the pandemic.

More than 70 percent of all children in child labour – 112 million in total - are in agriculture, representing and increase by 4 million since 2016. These children engaging in child labour in crop production, livestock, forestry, fisheries or aquaculture, often work long hours and perform hazardous tasks.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is dedicated to eliminating child labour in agriculture.

In Guatemala FAO works with partners to reduce child labour and rural poverty by promoting education and safe youth employment in agri-food systems.

Due to low family incomes, too few livelihood alternatives and poor access to education, many families and communities employ their children in agriculture in order to meet their needs for food and income. However, they often face challenges in accessing decent employment opportunities.

In Guatemala, many of rural youth aged 14-17 who are above the minimum age for employment are often engaged in hazardous work.

Child labour violates the rights of children and is defined as work that is inappropriate for a child’s age, affects children’s education, or is likely to harm their health, safety or morals.

To address child labour, FAO works with government and private sectors in the Ixil region of Guatemala to promote safe and decent youth employment through quality education and training in coffee production.

Through the Nueva Generación Cafetalera (the New Coffee Generation) project, youth learn the production process from roasting, tasting and brewing coffee.

Among the partners of the project is Caravela Coffee.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Diana Tobias, human resources coordinator, Caravela Coffee: “In 2018 we established our alliance with FAO with the objective to develop youth who have interest and passion about coffee production. And from there we selected 10 young people so they could come to Caravela Coffee to be able to train with our quality analysts. This is when we met Mariita Cedillo, as we call her affectionately”.

Maria Cedillo Chavez is one of the 282 young people, of whom 60% are women, involved in The Nueva Generación Cafetalera (NGC) project in Ixil region. They are mainly children of small scale coffee producers aged between 14 and 29.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “At the beginning I did not know much about coffee. I would only grow and harvest it with my family in the field, but I did not really have a wide knowledge of it and I did not even have a job, I would only stay at home. When this opportunity came up, I began to participate in the workshops and the training”.

Many children coming from extremely poor families are used as workforce by the families to survive, but, being out of school, they are likely to remain poor. FAO and partners such as Maya Ixil cooperative are working to address this problem.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Ostuma Raymundo, Representative, Maya Ixil cooperative: “The problem is that some parents can take their kids from school and take them to the fields. This is not right, the best thing to do is to provide space and time for school and in their free time they can show them how to work the land or take them to the plots but under the supervision of their parents. As a cooperative, we are giving an opportunity for young people to get involved in the production of coffee”.

A particular attention is given to girls and female youth that are even a more vulnerable group because of higher barriers to enter the labour market due to double burden of domestic chores, and less access to education. FAO is working against discriminations in agriculture by promoting girls’ participation in decent youth employment programmes.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Isabela de la Cruz Medina, beneficiary: “FAO and the Maya lxil Cooperative trained us. Thanks to them I am producing a good coffee harvest. And well, production has increased because we have been applying the practices they taught us”.

FAO has partnered with the government and private actors to improve children’s condition. With national institutions, FAO has worked to design and implement a legislation able to ensure safe working conditions for rural youth. The collaboration with the private sector has been focused on investing and implementing on sustainable coffee production models.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Israel Cifuentes, Thematic coordinator, FAO Ixil Guatemala: “All sectors, private, governmental, non-governmental as well as the United Nations system, must join forces in a comprehensive manner so that the actions taken walk hand in hand in reducing child labour. This will happen only if young people have access to educational opportunities, access to jobs, as well as access to entrepreneurship opportunities”.

In this context, private companies like the agri-food company OLAM Group committed to support child labour-free supply chains.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Byron Holcomb, Manager, Speciality Coffees OLAM Guatemala: “The private sector has several opportunities to eradicate child labour. Among them, here in OLAM, we have implemented what we call Coffee Kindergartens and Coffee Camps. These are 35-day programs during the height of the harvest so that children are not present in the fields so that they can be in a safe, educational space”

Fighting child labour is possible by promoting decent youth employment and food security. Maria Cedillo Chavez is an example of all this, today she is working as a technician for an organization analysing the coffee seed in order to discover the variety of flavours and spot deficiencies, or imperfections.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Cedillo Chavez, beneficiary: “I am working as a technician with Communidades de la Tierra, another organisation. That step up in my career was thanks to FAO. I thank them for the work I have now and yes, the truth is that they are supporting us youth in the region”.

Not all work carried out by children is considered child labour. Some activities may help children acquire important livelihood skills and contribute to their survival and food security. However, much of the work children do in agriculture is not age-appropriate.

Child labour perpetuates a cycle of poverty for the children involved, their families and communities. 2021 is the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, declared by the UN General Assembly and led by ILO. FAO works with its partners to address the root causes of child labour. This includes, in particular, the ILO, IFAD, IUF and IFPRI/CGIAR through the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture and a wide range of different actors in agriculture. FAO is also a member of the Global Coordination Group of the Alliance 8.7.

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