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CONSULTANTS' NOTE
The Specialized Training on Child Labor for the Philippine Labor Inspectorate is one of the initial attempts of the Philippine IPEC Office at building the capability of key child labor players, in this case, the labor inspectorate. The program recognizes the critical role of the labor inspectorate in the overall aim to eliminate child labor, to remove children from hazardous work, and to improve the conditions under which they labor. It is, after all, the labor inspector who is uniquely positioned to enter the establishments where children are suffered to work, and to use his special authority and influence to better the future of working children.
The project, which aims to adapt the ILO Training Guide to suit the Philippine situation and the characteristics that uniquely define it, retains the basic framework, philosophy and principles of the original. The program structure suggested in the ILO Training Guide which includes three modules and two practicum periods in-between modules remains unchanged. The period of training, however, is very much collapsed due to various considerations. The adaptation attempts to ensure that training effectiveness remains just as marked, even given the reduced hours spent in the classroom and in structured field activities.
Many significant revisions are reflected in the Philippine adaptation, and these are intended to position the Guide's content and process against the backdrop of local situations and experiences. The training approaches and methodologies introduced in the Philippine program are the most critical innovations to better suit the psyche of the Filipino learner__ his learning context, differentiation, pace, expectations, responses, and expressions. In fact, as mentioned in the Foreword, the learning approaches take off even from the usual methods employed in training interventions of the Department of Labor and Employment. Inspectorate training usually focuses on the inspectors' regulatory functions, but child labor issues require more than mere knowledge of law and enforcement. It demands that the inspectors fully understand what can and must be done in situations within and outside the reach of law. In many cases, a child labor situation has no black and white, crystal-clear prescriptions for action. The capacity for introspection, creativity and innovativeness which is very much needed in helping the child is, by its very nature, oftentimes outside the realm of regulation-centered training.
This is the reason that the stylized heart has been chosen to provide a unifying graphic thread throughout this manual. Involvement in anti-child labor efforts and advocacy is more than a mechanistic, mandated, regimented call. Too much emphasis on technically__ or even politically__ correct approaches often clouds the essence of efforts for the cause of the child. It is probably about time we underscored the ethos of all interventions in the name of the child: what is in the best interest of the child, especially this hapless, helpless adult-in-the-making child laborer entrusted to our stewardship? In choosing the heart as the symbol of that ethos, we hope to repeatedly highlight the need for heart in labor inspection and anti-child labor efforts. Even the best technical expertise cannot succeed where ethos and feeling are sorely wanting, or where, as we so often observe, form is regarded as primary even over and above essence, substance, and real, meaningful contribution.
Many creative innovations are visible in the Philippine adaptation. We have tried to build on the original material, presenting it in more user-friendly, attractive and interesting ways, all the while enhancing the power of the material to effect real learning. Of foremost interest is that learning happens on three levels: the head, the heart, and the hands, so that while participants increase their knowledge and understanding of things, they are affected enough to want to use that knowledge, and are skilled enough to translate both knowledge and feeling into useful action. We have added material from psychology, medicine, literature, music, child development, and global and national anti-child labor efforts to highlight other dimensions of the child labor problem beyond its technical requirements.
The experiential approach to training is used throughout the program, with participants learning primarily by doing. Rather than usual approaches that rely heavily on lectures and one-way transfer of knowledge from an expert to an audience, participants in this program undergo a variety of learning experiences where they themselves define their own take-home benefits. Creative methods are also used for driving home key points such as the need for personalizing or owning the child labor issue; the need to shift paradigms in many situations; and the concept of stretching beyond usual capacities to ask "What else can I do? How else can I help to advance the cause of the child?"
One of the most important innovations is the design and production of visual aids. We have translated technical material found in the original into exciting visuals. Except for a very few materials such as the Observation Guide and the sectoral assessment of working situations which are found in the ILO Training Guide, we have conceived and designed the visual layouts either from the author Derrien's text, other sources, or original write-ups we have written just for this project. Some of the handouts and visuals on the development of the child and the hazards and risks encountered by working children are from Elena L. Samonte, Ph.D. and Dina V. Diaz, M.D. who have acted as our own consultants on these subjects, and as lecturers for relevant portions in the training workshops. We value their inputs, insights, and encouraging enthusiasm for the project.
This manual documents the content and process used in the implementation of the program, and includes the essential information needed to describe as adequately, comprehensively, and interestingly as possible, the substance and form of the program as adapted for the Philippines.
This Philippine adaptation is by no means complete nor static. It is in continual revision, as its context and target audience evolve alongside global and national efforts directed at eliminating child labor. Perhaps the primary contribution of the Specialized Training on Child Labor for the Philippine Labor Inspectorate is that it has started building the capability of those important human resources in whose hands children must entrust what they will become.
James S. Mante and Loree Cruz-Mante
Project Consultants
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