As part of our award-winning Tackling Child Labour report in 2019, we met with several children and their families in Côte d’Ivoire. A year later, we wanted to follow up with them to see how they were getting on now.
Ezechiel was eight when we first met him. He had been identified carrying heavy loads (relative to his weight) on his parents’ farm. The simple act of explaining to his parents the risks that lifting such loads had for his spinal development made a major difference. We also discovered that, while his father cared deeply about his schooling and was supporting his education, Ezechiel didn’t have a birth certificate – which is compulsory if a child wishes to enrol in secondary school. So, to make sure that he could keep going to school in the long-term, we provided him with a birth certificate.
Since 2012, 6'277 children have received birth certificates and we have carried out over 1.1 million awareness-raising sessions with families like Ezechiel’s.
When we checked in with Ezechiel and his family, we were delighted to learn he’s still doing well. See Ezechiel’s story in our video update.