Children’s Well-Being and Work in Sub-Saharan Africa

This policy brief examines how work impacts children’s opportunities to learn, their physical health, as well as their subjective well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on research presented by Young Lives and Save the Children at an East African Regional Symposium on Child Labour/Child Work, an assortment of key findings are presented. Among the findings, different definitions of children’s work from leading NGO’s are presented and compared – from UNCRC, ACRWC, and Save the Children.

Promoting children’s well-being and development requires an integrated approach to both the social as well as the economic context.  Although work is found to have both positive and negative impacts on children’s well-being, the challenge of balancing work and school, and of protecting children’s rights demands closer attention and policy development.