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The U.S. Department of Labour has announced a $4 million grant to support the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s work to implement a technical assistance project in West Africa. The announcement on Tuesday came during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC.

The ILO will work with the government of Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to catalyse regional, national, and local action to address child labour in agriculture sectors and communities, U.S. Department of Labour said in a statement it sent to Financial Nigeria.  

The ILO and UNICEF currently estimate that more children are working in child labour in Africa than in the rest of the world combined. In the West Africa region covered by ECOWAS, at least 23 percent of all children are estimated to be used as child labour. The project is part of the department’s continued effort to address unacceptable labour practices where evidence indicates they are most prevalent.
    
Administered by the department’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs, the project includes technical assistance to ECOWAS in support of its regional plan of action to address child labour.

Project work in Nigeria will support the government’s efforts to improve the legislative, enforcement, and policy environment on child labour issues and promote local efforts to address child labour in cocoa-producing communities.