Children’s perspectives on their working lives and on public action against child labour in Burkina Faso

Since the end of 1990’s, there has been a growing interest to combat child labour in Burkina Faso. State actors as well as civil society organisations have started to engage themselves to urgently combat the worst forms of child labour. The 2006 National Statistical Survey found that 41.1 % of children aged 5 to 17 years were economically active. Compared to other West African countries, Burkina Faso is said to have the highest rate of children involved in hazardous work, which is one working child out of two. In this context of renewed interest regarding child labour, working children have their say. Based on a qualitative survey, this paper is focused on the perspectives of children working in two of the eleven hazardous sectors of activity identified by the 2009 National Decree: a stone quarry located in the capital Ouagadougou and an artisanal gold mine in a northern rural area.

The paper aims to better understand the experience and opinions of children at work, to describe what work means to them, the role and the benefits of work in their lives and the difficulties they encounter. The focus is also on what children (and their families) think about public action against child labour and what are their aspirations regarding the current interventions. The analysis shows that if economic reasons lead children to work in in these two sectors of activity, this not the only determinant. The wish of a large number of children (and their parents) to find other less difficult work reopens the debate on children’s right to work. The results of this study reveal that there is a need to better understand how working children and their fmailies negotiate everyday life within the socio-cultural and economic context of Burkina Faso.