The Department of Labor and Employment implements the Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP) as contribution to the achievement of the vision of the Philippine Program Against Child Labor of a child-labor-free Philippines. The DOLE CLPEP aims to prevent children from engaging in child labor and remove children from child labor through the following strategies:

• Social and Behavioral Change Campaign Against Child Labor through regular conduct of diverse advocacy activities

• Enforcement of Child Labor Laws through administration and enforcement of labor standards, rescue of child laborers, and issuance of working child permit

• Access to Social Protection through profiling of child laborers and provision of services to child laborers and their families

• Monitoring of Child Laborers through field visits to track the status of and provide further assistance to profiled child laborers

• Strengthening of Partnerships and Inter-Agency Collaboration through the National Council Against Child Labor and Regional Councils Against Child Labor; convergence with partners, and capacity-building activities

• Knowledge Management through the Batang Malaya Child Labor Knowledge Sharing System website

The Strategic Helpdesks for Information, Education, Livelihood and other Developmental Interventions (SHIELD) Against Child Labor Project is a project that aims to withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor through the provision of holistic and immediate interventions at the community level. 

This project utilizes multi-layered strategies to help eliminate child labor, particularly its worst forms and those in the blanket ban (below 15 years old).

Specifically, the project seeks to:

1. Identify child laborers in the community and ensure evidenced-based case management through an operational Child Labor Local Registry (CLLR) System
2. Improve access of child laborers and their families to appropriate services
3. Increase awareness and capacities of child laborers, their families and duty-bearers on addressing child labor.

Target clients of the project include children engaged in worst forms of child labor, family of child laborers, local government units, local stakeholders, and employers including financers, hacienderos, and contractors.

DSWD SHIELD Storybook

DSWD SHIELD Primer

DSWD SHIELD Briefer

DSWD SHIELD FAQs

DSWD SHIELD MC 11-2022 Implementation GuidelinesPaSACLtop

Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit is an audit system used to assess LGU performance in delivering child-friendly policies, program, and services. One of the indicators in the audit is the management of reported cases of children in need of special protection which include children engaged in child labor.

DILG-CLFGA-JMC-2019-01-Revised-CLFGA-and-

DILG is continuously strengthening and monitoring the functionality of the local councils for the protection of children. These councils are organized at the provincial, city, municipal, and barangay levels to serve as an umbrella organization for all children’s concerns.

The Building Capacity, Awareness, Advocacy and Programs (BuildCA2P) of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Project aims to combat child labor in crop agriculture (banana, corn, coconut, and rice) in partnership with Ateneo de Davao University and Probe Media Foundation Inc. The project areas are Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, and North Cotabato.

The objective of the BuildCA2P is to improve the capacity of  CSOs to : (1) identify and document accurate, independent, and objective information on the nature and scope of child labor and/or forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work in a sector or supply chain; (2) raise awareness for the protection of workers from child labor and/or forced labor abuses, and violations of acceptable conditions of work; and (3) implement initiatives to address child labor and/or forced labor and violations of acceptable conditions of work.

The Project Against Child Exploitation (Project ACE) supports capacity-building efforts of the Philippine government to address the worst forms of child labor, including online social exploitation of children (OSEC). 

The objectives of Project ACE are: (1) improve enforcement of the legal framework and policies pertaining to the worst forms of child labor, including OSEC, and violations of acceptable conditions of work; (2) improve assistance services for victims of worst forms of child labor and/or OSEC; and (3) strengthen partnerships to accelerate progress in addressing the worst forms of child labor, including OSEC, and violations of acceptable conditions of work.

Project ACE spreads over Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao but with a strong emphasis on two (2) cities – Quezon City and Cagayan de Oro City.