Child labour and street children in Bamako, Mali

We were recently asked by someone returning from a holiday in Mali whether we could do anything about the condition of young children working unprotected in the recycling centre in Bamako (welding and reusing metal over charcoal fires in the heat).

We are aware that especially in Bamako the situation for many children is very bad. Fast growing urbanisation has led to a rapid growing population, most of the people are very poor and settle down in the outskirts of the town where some sort of "slums" are created. These people try to survive somehow and in such cases the children are forced to beg and to work in order to prevent the whole family from starving. The number of street children is rising constantly. It's a very sad fact but under these circumstances these poor families cannot fulfill their parental responsibilities anymore.

At present we are trying to help these children in three ways:

(1) children with no viable family or extended family we care for in our Children's Villages where they get a mother and a new permanent family.

(2) where the child's family is viable but in imminent danger of collapse we run family strengthening programs. These are specifically for families who are struggling to give their children a childhood. In total today these help 995 children; 350 in FSP Socoura, 185 in FSP Kita and 460 FSP in Sanankoroba). These are run in partnership with the local community and the supported families, and all 995 children are vaccinated and can go to school, with the aim to give these children the chance of education and some quality of life.

3) In so far as we think it helps we do low key lobbying jointly with others. SOS Mali is member of the "Coalition Malienne de défense des droits de l'Enfant" (COMADE; Coalition for protecting the children's rights) and this coalition comprises more than 60 NGOs who care for children. COMADE is a "guarding organ" who fights against violence of the children's rights. It is also lobbying at the government that children's rights are protected and it organises seminars for raising awareness on this topic.

Because of this sad situation in Bamako, we planned to start an FSP there (exact location: Sabalibougou) but due to the financial crisis (especially the echange rate problems) we had no money was available to realise this FSP in 2009. Therefore the FSP Sabalibougou is postponed to 2010. In addition, we would like to extent the FSP to other districts in Bamako in order to ensure schooling and the protection of the children's rights.

As already mentioned above, there are associations in Mali who fight against child labour and who fight for the children's rights but unfortunately the number of street children is growing too fast.