New Beginnings

The countdown is on to my arrival in Cairo (Sept. 17th), and with each passing day the anticipation increases. I have had the opportunity to volunteer and study abroad before, (including a ten month stint in Ghana while in university), yet, this is my first time living and working on my own, and in this part of the world. So, although I'm trying not to come with many expectations for the internship or the next seven months, I'm looking forward to a new flavour of life in Egypt and the work I'll be doing with Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), Partners in Technology Exchange (PTE), and the Egyptian Association for Community Initiatives and Development (EACID).

Speaking of work, perhaps you'd appreciate hearing a bit about the project context and position itself. Let me begin with a disclaimer: I'm still deepening in my understanding of the project and won't fully grasp my role within the team until I'm there, so forgive me if I don't do them justice yet.

Officially, I'll be a Child Rights Research Associate Intern with the "Promoting and Protecting the Interests of Children who Work" or PPIC-Work project. The Project is a collaborative venture between MEDA, PTE, and EACID, merging Micro-Finance strategies with rights based programming to support children at the margins of society. Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), PPIC-Work is now in the latter stages of its programming, expanding from its Aswan base to the metropolis of Cairo. While in Egypt my energy will be focused on the new Cairo "Learning through Work" component: exploring and documenting apprenticeship skills children gain from employment in four technical trades; assisting with broader project activities, monitoring, and evaluation; serving as a liaison between Canadian and Egyptian partners; and perhaps connecting with the MEDA tour in November!

Working with children who are working is an interesting ethical issue to navigate from a child rights and micro-finance perspective. While some people and institutions believe that no children below the age of 14 should work, MEDA, PTE, and EACID suggest that given the complex cultural and economic systems involved, it can be both a) appropriate and b) necessary for children to work. In Egypt, working children are said to provide an average of 25% of a family's income... a vital income for impoverished families struggling to make ends meet. Also, in some ways it is culturally acceptable for children to work - as a result of weak formal education systems and complex family issues children may enter into informal apprenticeship systems that will get them on their career path as opposed to going to a technical training school for this. However, there are huge conditionalities to MEDA/PTE/EACID's acceptance of children's work: children should NOT be abused or exploited, forced to perform dangerous work (eg. carry heavy loads, work with fire, operate unsafe machinery etc), or hindered from accessing formal education. In other words they're right on board with the ILO convention on the worst forms of child labour. Furthermore, MEDA/PTE/EACID/ believe that a child's participation in the labour force should contribute to their development of valuable professional and life skills. (In other words it's not cool if they're never promoted beyond the errand-running or tea-serving level in the office hierarchy).

So now, you might be asking "This philosophy is all well and good but how exactly does PPIC-Work support children's interests?". Well, our MFIs partner with micro-enterprises in technical trades, providing them with loans with strings attached... they must be committed to improving the work environment for their child workers. Of course, the loans must also benefit the business owners; they may go towards an investment in new technology, as seed capital for a family to start their own business (which 'coincidently' allows the children more flexible work hours and increased opportunities for school), or simply allow them to purchase more inputs for their business - as long as they also invest in their workers. Essentially, the rights framework is embedded within economic programming, providing positive incentives for change (or, engineering social impacts, if you will). I think it's brilliant!