In March 2026, the Alliance 8.7 Action Group on Agriculture (AGA) organized its first consultations with Pathfinder Countries, bringing together 21 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. This milestone marked a renewed effort to accelerate action against child labour in agriculture.
Established under the Alliance 8.7 and steered by the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA), the AGA supports countries in translating global commitments into concrete action tailored to the agricultural sector. The consultations identified the following pillars to structure and guide the work of the Group:
- Policy support and capacity development
- Knowledge generation and dissemination
- Stakeholder engagement and collaboration
At the same time, participants highlighted key global policy entry points, including the 2022 Durban Call to Action and the 2026 Marrakesh Framework for Action, as important avenues for advancing action.
Why investments in agriculture matter?
Agriculture accounts for 61 percent of all children aged 5–17 engaged in child labour (ILO-UNICEF 2025). Persistent structural challenges such as informality, family-based production systems, vulnerability to shocks, and limited access to social protection continue to drive child labour in the sector. The AGA responds to these realities and intends to support countries in addressing the root causes of child labour in the agriculture sector through integrated solutions.
What are the main challenges?
Despite different national contexts, participants identified a common set of barriers:
- Limited financial resources and fragmented funding
- Lack of reliable, disaggregated data on child labour in agriculture
- Weak coordination between labour and agriculture institutions
- Gaps in technical capacity and awareness, especially at the local level
- Insufficient engagement of agricultural actors
These constraints continue to hinder the effective integration of the agricultural dimension into national strategies to address child labour.
What kind of support do countries need?
A strong message from Pathfinder Countries was the need to move beyond high-level guidance towards practical, actionable solutions. In particular, countries called for:
- Operational models and good practices for integrated approaches across agriculture, education, social protection and livelihoods
- Better tools for collecting and analyzing data
- Guidance on preventing hazardous work in agriculture
- Tailored approaches for specific subsectors and rural contexts
- More opportunities for peer learning and exchange
- Stronger social dialogue and multi-stakeholder coordination
Participants emphasized that sharing real experiences across countries is one of the most effective ways to turn commitments into action.
Learning from country experiences
Pathfinder Countries shared concrete examples of progress, illustrating diverse approaches to tackling child labour in agriculture. These included integrated rural policies linking education, health and social protection, stronger labour inspection and regulatory mechanisms in agricultural value chains, and the development of child labour monitoring and risk-mapping systems.
While approaches vary, these experiences highlighted the importance of coordination across sectors, sustained public investment, and engagement with agricultural actors.
Looking ahead: from dialogue to action
With renewed momentum and clear demand from countries, AGA will focus on broadening country engagement, fostering coordination between labour and agriculture stakeholders, expanding access to practical resources, and promoting continued knowledge exchange.