MY Voice Child Rights Action Hub: Overall Achievements in 2024

As an implementing partner of the MY Voice project, The Centre has been actively working to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders and communities engaged in the palm oil sector in Malaysia through the Child Rights Action Hub (Action Hub). Here are the milestones we have achieved so far:

Panel members and attendees at the Child Rights Action Hub launch

The Child Rights Action Hub, part of the MY Voice initiative, was inaugurated in Malaysia on June 12, 2024, coinciding with World Day Against Child Labour. 

This Action Hub aims to create a sustainable, community-based system for preventing and addressing child labour, always prioritising children's best interests. It fosters collaborative efforts that unite brands, retailers, and local plantations in tackling child labour risks within their palm oil supply chains, reaching even the most remote areas. A network of local remediation service providers and case managers bolsters the Action Hub.

In alignment with MY Voice's objective of establishing accessible remediation services, we have trained 36 individuals to become community focal points (CFPs). These participants hail from various alternative learning centres within palm oil plantations, such as Humana Child Aid Society, Etania Schools of Sabah, and Komunitas Sahabat. CFPs are tasked with identifying violations of children's rights, particularly suspected instances of child labour, and they work alongside third-party service providers to follow up on these cases. They also play a crucial role in raising awareness about children's rights within their communities. 

Participants in training

CFPs are chosen from community members closely connected to the workers, including schoolteachers, social workers, and community leaders. We specifically invited several community-based organisations and alternative learning centres in Sabah to participate in the training, given their independence from supply chain operations and genuine interest in becoming CFPs. These individuals maintain strong relationships with the children working in the palm oil plantations. We have successfully trained 36 community focal points under the MY Voice Action Hub. 

“I came for this training because, as a teacher, the community can rely on us and seek our support when there is a child rights violation!” said one of the CFP participants.

To ensure the continuity of child labour prevention and remediation efforts in the community, we also organised a Training-of-Trainers session for the Community Focal Points in collaboration with Komunitas Sahabat. This training aimed to equip participants with the skills and knowledge needed to independently conduct child labour prevention and remediation training within their target communities throughout the MY Voice implementation period. We trained a total of 31 trainers as part of this initiative.

Community focal Point training in progress

This year, we have made significant strides in training our case managers and have officially signed a service agreement with our local partner, Humana Child Aid Society (Humana). This collaboration is especially vital as many children residing on palm oil plantations come from undocumented migrant families and lack legal status. Their access to primary education is often hindered due to their legal circumstances or the distance of schools from the plantations. Humana is addressing this challenge by establishing alternative learning centres in plantations and rural areas of Sabah that provide educational opportunities for underprivileged children. 

Together with Humana, we have been training their teachers to serve as child rights focal points and child labour case managers. Since these teachers have close interactions with the children, they are uniquely positioned to pinpoint issues at the grassroots level. When adequately trained and executed, the case manager initiative can serve as a low-barrier remediation service for child labour cases.

Participants in the training deliver examples of concepts learned from the training.

“This training has given us (Humana’s teachers) an even greater responsibility to remediate the situation when a child is already in child labour, addressing the question of what to do when a child is found in such circumstances,” said Supri, a coordinator for Humana.

"I hope that with the knowledge I have gained from this training, I can help parents pay attention to the importance of their child's education. Children need to be encouraged to study and kept out of work," added Suriyani, a teacher from Humana.

To date, 41 candidates have been trained as case managers and majority scored well. They will receive orientation in the first quarter of 2025, officially marking their status as case managers.

Participants from Sawit Kinabalu

We hosted four awareness sessions focused on child labour prevention and remediation to strengthen the Action Hub's outreach to key palm oil supply chain stakeholders. These sessions involved participants from Wilmar International, Sawit Kinabalu participants, and other key stakeholders in Sabah's palm oil industry.

“I have gained a new understanding of the remediation programme, ideas on who to refer to for any child labour issues, and learned about managing young people in the workplace,” said a participant.

Participants from Wilmar International

The primary outcomes from these knowledge-sharing sessions included insights into requirements and standards, strategies for risk mitigation, corrective measures, and the identification of actionable next steps. 74 participants, representing approximately 52 palm oil estates, mills, and related business operations, attended these sessions. Wilmar International and Sawit Kinabalu facilitated participation from the Sabah region and provided the venues for training.

The action plans developed by the participants included implementing child labour remediation programmes and formulating internal policies and procedures to prevent child labour while improving recruitment practices.

MY Voice’s booth at the UN RBHR Forum

On the international stage, we participated in the UN RBHR Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, where we co-hosted a side session on access to remedy and children’s rights in the lower tiers of the supply chain. We also had a booth over the course of the four-day event, allowing us to share more information and discuss the MY Voice project with representatives from business and civil society. Finally, we met with the Indonesian embassy to discuss enhancing our collaboration, especially concerning migrant communities in palm oil plantations.

The Child Rights Action Hub, part of the MY Voice initiative, has engaged with Komunitas Sahabat TKI (KST), an Indonesian migrant workers organisation in Sabah to conduct a training of trainers on child labour prevention and remediation (CLPR) training, aimed at help enhance the community’s capacity to prevent and address child labour within the plantations.  The training held on 12-13 October in Tawau was attended by 31 representatives. A representative from the Indonesian consulate of Tawau, Mr Iskandar, gave a keynote speech encouraging MY Voice’s effort to uphold child rights.

"This training has been incredibly useful. I’ve learned so much about children’s rights, such as the legal working age, what is permissible, and what is not. If I were to describe the experience in one word, it would be ‘extraordinary’. This exposure is completely new to me. I hope to pass on this knowledge to other teachers and children in our school and parents, as they too lack awareness about child rights and the associated risks,” said Ibu Wahidah, a teacher from TKI.

MY Voice trainers with participants from Komunitas Sahabat TKI

Labour inspector training

This year, The Centre, along with MY Voice project partners, delivered two training sessions on child labour prevention and remediation to 44 Labour Department officers in each session.

Labour officers in training

In collaboration with MY Voice project partners, we also conducted two training sessions on inspection and interview skills to help identify child labour and forced labour during audits. Each session was attended by approximately 45 officers from the Labour Department.

Upholding child rights and child protection is only possible through commitment from all stakeholders. Parents, communities, government, employers, international palm oil companies, and others all play an important role in establishing an industry-wide social compliance system that effectively prevents and remediates child labour. Additionally, investing in training teachers, who are the central welfare officers to these children, is one step in setting them up for a safe and healthy life.

If you or your business in the palm oil sector are interested in participating in this initiative and getting our support to address the risk of child labour in your premises and supply chain, the MY Voice initiative can help. Reach out via email. Together, we can create a brighter future and bring positive changes to the children in these communities.