Fund against Child Labour - FBK

Consult our advisors

Do you ask yourself if child labour takes place in your production chain? And if you do, do you ask yourself how to approach this? Consult our advisors; they are happy to help you and offer advice. Send an email to our FBK advisors with your ideas.

For whom?

FBK helps Dutch entrepreneurs who want to:

• research the leading causes of child labour in their production chains;
• take actions to prevent child labour at a local level;
• take measures to prevent child labour in their businesses.

Conditions

Approved projects had to meet the following conditions:

• You applied for a subsidy for activities aimed at combatting child labour.
• You carry out these activities in a partnership within 4 years.
• FBK accepts applications for countries on the List of recipients of Official Development Assistance (pdf).
• You can find all the details of the FBK administrative rules and our project criteria in the unofficial translation of the Government Gazette (see the pdf file below).
• Your project follows the international guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct (RBC).

Partnership

One of the conditions to apply was that your company finds partners. Your company must have partnered with:

• other companies in the same sector;
• other organisations, such as NGOs or sector organisations;
• local parties, such as local authorities, schools, children and parents.

Your partnership consists of at least the following:

• 1 Dutch company
• 1 NGO, and
• 1 local company.

Only a Dutch company or NGO could apply for a subsidy.

Frequently asked questions

For more information on FBK, see our frequently asked questions.

Responsible Business Conduct (RBC)

Your project must follow the international Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) guidelines. We take RBC into account when assessing your funding application. We ask you to:

• follow OECD guidelines;
• show how you conduct your operations following these OECD guidelines;
• carry out a proper risk analysis of social and environmental risks;
• state the measures to prevent and reduce these risks.

During the project, you must report on RBC risks and state the measures you are taking or plan to take to prevent and reduce these risks.

Dutch companies must complete an RBC self-assessment as part of the application process. The Dutch government uses this scan to check whether a company is aware of and follows the OECD guidelines. This assessment is a requirement for approval of your project.

On our website, you can read more about RBC and due diligence.

SEAH conditions

To be eligible for subsidies, SEAH conditions apply. RVO expects you to have your own integrity policy as well as procedures to implement this policy. In addition, you are required to report any incidents of (sexual) misconduct or abuse of power during RVO-funded projects. For further details, please visit Sexual misconduct and abuse of power | RVO.nl.

Background

Worldwide, 160 million children are participating in labour. We use the term child labour for children who are too young to work, do work too hard or dangerous for them, and keep them from going to school. A lack of education can block the development of children and society. Child labour is a result of poverty and an important cause.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals state that child labour should be eliminated by 2025. With FBK, your business can help achieve this goal by ending child labour. The infographic Ending Child Labour: How Do We Get There? (see below) shows how FBK contributes to SDG 8.7, ending all forms of child labour by 2025. See our long read on child labour for more information.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency commissions FBK on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

Publications

Mid-term reviews

Project administration

The lead party must report on the progress of the project periodically. In the subsidy decision, you can find the reporting moments. Use the following forms:

Projects from 2018: project A and proposal project B

Projects from 2018: project B

FBK in practice

Looking for inspiration?

Have a look at other Fund against Child Labour subsidised projects.