Raising awareness on child labor restrictions in the coffee industry

The workshop was attended by more than 100 delegates from central and local ministries, departments and agencies; domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the fields of coffee and children's rights.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet, Country Director of Rainforest Alliance in Vietnam, spoke at the workshop.

The program "Raising awareness to limit the use of child labor in the coffee industry in Vietnam" is implemented by Rainforest Alliance in collaboration with Vinh Hiep Company Limited and Simexco DakLak from April 2022 to December 2024, in 6 communes, including: Glar, A Dok, Dak Krong (Dak Doa district, Gia Lai province); Ea Toh, Ea Tan, Dlie Ya (Krong Nang district, Dak Lak province).

Sharing from stakeholders and representatives of beneficiary groups of the Awareness Raising Program to reduce child labor in the coffee industry in Vietnam.

The program aims to improve livelihoods and gender balance in decision-making of farming households, improve learning outcomes for children and employment opportunities for youth, support coffee businesses in addressing child labor in the supply chain, and coordinate with relevant agencies, businesses, and partners to implement child protection and child labor policies.

Delegates attending the workshop.

After nearly 3 years of implementation, the program has achieved positive results, contributing to raising community awareness of children's rights, child labor and limiting child labor in the locality such as: establishing 34 children's clubs with 519 members, quarterly activities with reading activities, cheerleading games, painting on cloth bags, planting flowers; donating 400 sets of textbooks, 2 mobile libraries to schools.

Delegates speak at the conference.

At the same time, the program has supported vocational training for 45 disadvantaged youth; trained in coffee cultivation techniques and donated livelihood models to 1,500 farmers; established 37 child protection groups with 154 members in villages and hamlets to handle potential local problems such as child abuse and violence...

On this occasion, Vinh Hiep Company Limited awarded 15 scholarships (VND 3 million/scholarship), the Organizing Committee of the workshop awarded 10 bicycles to children (in the project area) with difficult family circumstances.

Donated 10 bicycles to children (in the project area) from difficult family circumstances.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet, Country Director of Rainforest Alliance in Vietnam, said that in developing a sustainable coffee industry, in addition to economic and environmental aspects, there are also social aspects, including gender equality, limiting child labor, taking care of disadvantaged families and not destroying forests.

To achieve Rainforest Alliance certification, one of the requirements is to prohibit the use of child labor. And currently, prohibiting the use of child labor is a trend, not only in the coffee industry but also in other industries such as garment. Therefore, sustainable coffee growing areas in Vietnam need to comply with this regulation to ensure the export standards of coffee products to the international market.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202503/nang-cao-nhan-thuc-ve-han-che-su-dung-lao-dong-tre-em-trong-nganh-hang-ca-phe-b031066/