Persistent poverty, debt, climate change, natural disasters and other push factors lead families to brick factories, where they too often become trapped in cycles of debt and exploitation that do not spare children from back-breaking labor. Through a decade of sustained engagement with brick factory laborers, World Education has emerged as a leader in Nepal in combating exploitation in brick factories and has developed a proven, holistic model for expanding economic opportunity for financially insecure communities. The Building Better Futures initiative built on past interventions that demonstrated substantial impact in reducing vulnerability to exploitative labor. World Education’s multidimensional strategy focused on imparting education, diversifying livelihoods and building the capacities of communities to be resilient in the face of financial shocks and natural disasters.

Building Better Futures targeted the most affected districts and communities where data showed concentrations of families bringing children to the factories: the Kathmandu Valley, Sarlahi, Ramechhap and Kavre. World Education’s tailored “home and away” strategy supported economically insecure families both in their home communities and in the factories, both during the brick production season and when factories closed.
World Education’s holistic approach employed interventions in six complementary areas that together mitigated the negative consequences of brick work and built families’ resilience to avoid exploitation: (a) improved education; (b) financial literacy and services; (c) improved alternative livelihoods; (d) safer work environments; (e) meeting needs of unaccompanied teenagers; and (f) advocacy and capacity building. In target communities, World Education and NGO partners supported families who work in the brick industry by strengthening and expanding microfinance services to accommodate seasonal migrant workers and by diversifying their livelihood options.