A community-led model to ending child labor in Tanzania
Poverty and limited access to education often leads to children working to support their families and denying them their right to a safe childhood and proper education.
*Source: Integrated Labour Force Survey report 2020/21 (Tanzania)
JTI is addressing this issue through a dual approach of prevention and remediation, delivered via the ARISE program. Prevention aims to stop child labor before it begins, while remediation supports children already affected by it. Together, these approaches form a comprehensive strategy for safeguarding children.
In Tanzania, our community-led model empowers local leaders to take ownership of solutions that protect children, ensuring lasting change.
Prevention tackles the root causes of child labor through awareness campaigns, community engagement, and proactive monitoring, aimed at mitigating any likelihood of risks before they occur. By identifying at-risk families early and providing support before children enter the workforce, prevention protects thousands who might otherwise lose their childhood.
schools now have trained committees to monitor risk
community members have been reached through education campaigns
Remediation provides immediate and long-term solutions. It means removing children from harmful work, reintegrating them into education, and addressing underlying vulnerabilities like poverty and lack of access to schooling. Without remediation, children already caught in child labor have no pathway back to their rights.
families received start-up capital to reduce economic pressure
school desks were delivered to 36 primary schools, creating welcoming learning environments
Through the ARISE program, JTI supports a community-centric ownership model that empowers local leaders to deliver both prevention and remediation in their own communities.
In Tanzania's Tabora region, local leaders – from school committees to village heads – are not just participants: they lead. They receive training and resources, and the solutions come from them. They identify children in labor, intervene early with at-risk families, and champion education as a path to a better future.
This project has not only changed the lives of our children but has united us as a community. We now see education as the key to a brighter future for our children, and together, we can give these children a chance to learn and grow.
By 2028, this community-based approach will reach 100 percent of JTI’s contracted farming cooperatives in Tanzania. The success has prompted us to scale this dual prevention-and-remediation strategy to other leaf-growing origins globally.
Our commitment to human rights continues to evolve as we strengthen partnerships and deepen community engagement. But the principle remains: every child deserves a childhood. Every community deserves the tools to protect it.
And it’s up to all of us – as individuals, organizations and society - to make sure children’s rights are not just recognized but actively protected.