BUDDYING UP WITH CHILD VENDORS

​​In partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Samoa Victim Support will official launch the Buddy up Program with Child Vendors on Monday, 21st January 2019 at the Campus of Hope, Tuanaimato.
 
The Program aims at addressing the child vendor problem in Samoa where the vendors as young as 5 years old are exposed to maltreatment and/or exploitation from working on the streets.
 
While the majority of children are preparing for the beginning of another school year, the child vendors continued to work on the streets as employers for their families.
 
As such, the youth members under the SVSG (Juniors) sub-group will buddy up with a child vendor to influence some form of mentality change towards working on the streets.  More than 30 child vendors have been registered to take part in the Buddy up program, with buddies drawn from close to 10 church youth groups registered with the SVSG (Juniors).
 
Part of the program will include the child vendors visiting some of the workplaces around town to give them an idea of what safety in the world of work relates to.  According to the International Labour Organisation, “Child labour is a violation of fundamental human rights and has been shown to hinder children’s development, pontentially leading to lifelong physical or psychological damage.”
 
The expected outcomes of the program include improving self-esteem of the child vendors and their progress through the Hot Soup Skill Building program coordinated by SVSG; and/or the enrolment of some of the child vendors in the mainstream education.