Child labour among pastoralist communities

Book excerpt: This study provides in-depth insights about the status of children working in pastoral communities, engaging in livestock-related activities in the Karamoja subregion of Uganda: it provides key analysis in terms of the prevalence, extent and causes while highlighting policy gaps to address child labour in this specific subsector and community’s social organization. Evidence from this study reveals that children in Karamoja start engaging in unpaid work aged as young as 5 years for unpaid family work, and less than 10 years for paid tasks. The results also show that children are highly exposed to risky activities and at least two of the top five tasks performed by boys and girls are ranked as being very risky. Parents in Karamoja subregion have poor birth records which exacerbate child labour. Given the close association between child labour and education, the study also obtained information regarding school attendance. Lastly, based on these findings with surveyed households, the study identifies key policy implications and recommendations.