Child Exploitation

What Are the Main Causes and Solutions to Child Labor Exploitation?

Child exploitation
What is child exploitation
Child sexual exploitation
Child labor exploitation

The main causes of child labor exploitation are linked to poverty. Three billion people worldwide live on less than $2.50 per day.1 When a family can’t afford to put meals on the table and provide for their basic everyday needs, they look for help wherever they can find it.

Many families are promised education for their children, nutritious meals, pay and other benefits by unscrupulous individuals seeking to exploit them. Since most parents want these things for their children, they are enticed to send their child away. In reality, those children often work in dangerous environments, receive little or no pay and have irregular meals. Other children are kidnapped, and parents don’t know where their child has gone or if they will ever return.

GFA World provides care for those who are relegated to the lowest positions in life. We care for the “least of these“ and seek “to take the love of Christ to people who have never heard His name before.” Here are some of the ways we do so:

  • Poverty alleviation – Poverty is typically the root of child labor, so we help relieve financial pressures from the poorest of families. With this assistance for the family, children are more likely to stay in school and away from child labor.
  • Literacy and Vocational Education – The ability to read and write, especially in adults, can improve a person’s income-generating potential. Illiterate people lack the skills to rise above a subsistence-level existence. GFA World provides literacy classes and vocational training for adults and youth. Income-generating gifts—sewing machines, fishing nets and rickshaws, to name a few—are also life-changing.
  • Farm Animals – A gift of an animal can drastically change the income level of a family. Chickens, goats and cattle produce items that can be sold, such as eggs, milk and meat. It’s a way for a family to increase their income to better provide for their families.
  • Child Sponsorship – This program provides community-wide solutions to families such as education support, nutritious food, access to clean water, basic healthcare and more. When these items are provided for the family, it helps keep children in school and away from child labor.

Join us in saving children from exploitation by supporting these GFA programs.

Learn more about child exploitation

1 “11 Facts About Global Poverty.” Do Something. Accessed 1 February 2022. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty.