An Account of Children's Employment in Songwe District Council

In Tanzania, there are several initiatives to establish a framework for safeguarding children's employment. The recent one is launching the Employment and Labour Relation Act (general) regulations of 2017 that specify conditions under which children may be employed. Despite such provisions, millions of children in Tanzania are employed in, for instance, artisanal and small-scale mining and other economic activities. Additionally, extant studies are yet to exhaust examining the implementation of the General Regulation 2017. Thus, this study used the implementation of the Employment and Labour Relations Act (general) regulations of 2017 to analyse children's employment in small-scale mining in the Songwe District Council. The study employed a qualitative approach. Seventeen respondents were interviewed and participated in focused group discussions derived from purposive and convenient sampling techniques. Findings show that irrespective of child labour provisions under the Employment and Labour Relation Act (general) regulations of 2017, children did not have resting time; they worked beyond the time given; they lifted too heavy objects; they were not paid wages as stipulated and worked without specified contracts. Drawing from the findings, the government needs to continuously monitor and guarantee the Act's provisions to ensure they are fully enforced in protecting the life and dignity of young Tanzanians working throughout the country. Additionally, communities need to be educated to enhance the Act's enforcement. Further artisanal and small-scale mining studies may employ more data collection sources to transcend this study's theoretical generalisation to the generalisation of findings.