November 2017 – Representatives from eight countries were in Santa Cruz do Sul on Thursday, November 23, to have a good grasp of the actions of the Growing Up Right Institute. The activity brought together representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and of the Ministry of Labor, and is an initiative of the South Brazil Cooperation Program-ILO.

The delegation has been in Rio Grande do Sul since November 19 for visits whose targets consist of contributing towards decent work in developing countries involved with the production of cotton, through the systematization of Brazilian experiences, in an effort to adapt and share them with other interested countries, in areas that include the fight against poverty, efforts towards productive inclusion, prevention and eradication of child, adolescent and forced labor, job formalization, promotion of young employees, fight against discrimination and gender, racial and ethnic equality, and social dialogue.

Although coming from a different sector, the visit to the Institute was suggested by the fiscal auditor of the Regional Superintend Office for Labor and Employment in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (SRTE/RS), Denise Natalina Brambilla Gonzalez, who came to know about the initiative through the Rio Grande do Sul Learning Forum, coordinated by her.

In all, about 40 professionals connected with child labor inspection areas in Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Mozambique, Mali, Tanzania, Jamaica and Myanmar visited the locality of Boa Vista, in the interior of Santa Cruz do Sul, and knew the young apprentices of the last group in operation of the pilot phase of the Rural Professional Learning Program, at the Guilherme Simonis Fundamental State School.

In the afternoon, the group met at the curing-barn stand of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), entity responsible for the initiative of the Institute. With the help of interpreters, the main results of the Institute were delineated to the visitors. The Institute was created in 2015 and is already yielding fruitful results.

Marinalva Dantas, head of the Division of Child Labor Eradication and Adolescent Worker Protection, summarized the activities of the Institute as a path to be walked. “We are amazed at what we saw. The program conducted by the Growing Up Right Institute will set an example for other sectors in Brazil, and for at least seven other countries  present here now”, she said.

The main example consists in the protagonism of the young who stay in the rural setting, getting prepared to look after the farm without being affected by any health grievance. This feeling of responsibility over their parents’ farm is also a revolution. It is our dream to see the countryside people getting well prepared. Nobody had ever found this path but the Institute shows that it is achievable. It sets an example not only to Brazil, but to seven other countries. We are all pleased to come to grips with our capacity to do something different. The young are remunerated, thus increasing family income, and this is stimulating.

Fernanda Barreto Ribeiro, coordinator of the South-South Program at the ILO, explained that the agenda of the Brazil Group is an immersion into work inspection, with its focus on child labor, health and safety in the workplace and at learning. “We came here to know about the work conducted by the Institute, how these adolescents are hired by the companies of the tobacco sector and we are pleased with what we saw. We were very impressed with the innovation of the Learning Program, especially for its characteristic as a model in which learning takes place in a protected manner addressing matters related to  farm management. It is a very interesting initiative because it arouses young people’s interest in the countryside”, she says.

According to the president of the Institute, Iro Schünke, the Growing Up Right Institute is the result of an experience of the tobacco sector regarding the problem of child labor. “Since 1998 we have been addressing this question with our associate companies through the Future Is Now, a program aimed at fighting child labor. In 2011, this program began to be called Growing Up Right, equally focused on adolescents, and began to progress so fast that in 2015 it was transformed into an Institute, with the adhesion of other people involved with agriculture, education and child and adolescent rights”, he explained.     

The coordinator of the Institute, Nádia Fengler Solf, spoke about the structure of the Institute and the Rural Professional Learning Program. “The Institute is the result of partnerships. Our structure does not go beyond an office in Santa Cruz do Sul. We rely on structures offered by our partners, state and municipal schools, and on a team of social educators who assist the young with their education, classroom dynamic guidelines, rural management, community, technical and study visits, besides seminars”, she explained.

The young that take part in the Program are hired on the grounds of the Learning Law, but they do not work. They take part in activities during the opposite shift of their normal classes, five days a week. At the end of the 920 hours, after about one year, they are certified in “Multipurpose Agriculture Entrepreneurship – Rural Management”. The fifth and last group of the pilot program will graduate on December 7.  Other four groups graduated in 2017. For 2018, the continuity of the program comprises 7 municipalities: Boqueirão do Leão, Candelária, Santa Cruz do Sul, Sinimbu, Vale do Sol, Venâncio Aires and Vera Cruz.

Consultant Dr. Ana Paula Motta Costa, spoke about the conflict of the question of child labor in the rural setting. “Our experience suggests that child labor in the countryside should be fought with awareness and cultural change. However, while these initiatives are a good start, alone they have proved ineffective. There is need for alternatives that make sense for the reality of the people involved”, she argued. Ana also spoke about the challenges for the implementation of the activities. “From transport and food for the young, we had to find partnerships to solve one-off questions inherent to each locality”, she comments.

Targets of the Growing Up Right Institute

• Fight against child labor on tobacco farming;
• Alternatives for adolescents, girls and boys;
• Professionalization with the generation of income;
• Development of skills and potentialities;
• Life projects in the rural setting;
• Succession with sustainability.

Curricula hubs of the Rural Professional Learning Program

• Studies and analyses of the rural holdings;
• Diagnosis of the municipality and region with studies of the local productive arrangements;
• Mapping of local partnerships and strategic alliances;
• Development of group works involving families and communities;
• Creation and studies on the viability of the development of a product.

Photos: Junio Nunes