News Releases
ARISE: New Decade of Action
Switzerland | 10 June 2021
ARISE, which stands for ‘Achieving Reduction of Child Labor in Support of Education’, was launched back in 2011 as a joint initiative of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Winrock International, and JTI. For over a decade, we have joined forces to build a program that relentlessly addresses child labor in specific tobacco-growing areas. It has been developed with the involvement of national governments, social partners, and tobacco-growing communities.
Eliminating child labor in our tobacco-growing communities is the ultimate objective of ARISE. The program strategy is threefold:
1. To raise awareness about the causes and effects of child labor and build programs that provide children with access to education.
2. To help improve the socio-economic situation and quality of life in communities where child labor occurs.
3. To support and promote national, legal, and regulatory frameworks that help eliminate child labor.
ARISE engages with farmers and their families, working with them to find long-term solutions. We partner with teachers, communities, and lawmakers to create shifts in thinking, behavior, and legal frameworks. We believe that a future without child labor is possible.
At the outset of this new ‘Decade of Action’, we have reviewed the ARISE program and are now transitioning it from a centrally driven, global scheme to a series of even more local, flexible initiatives to fight child labor. ARISE will be fully embedded in JTI’s leaf supply chain. Moving forward, teams in origin markets will have full ownership and responsibility for managing projects by using local partners to better meet the needs on the ground.
Arise in Numbers
ARISE aims to end child labor in communities where JTI sources tobacco leaf. We work with those directly affected and with others who have the power to change things. Our initiatives are developed and delivered in collaboration with tobacco-growing communities, social partners and governments.
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