FCDO Partnership is Strengthening Child Rights Action Hubs and Industry Collaboration to Address Child Labour Risks

New UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) partnership to tackle child labour in high-risk supply chains in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the DRC through support for Child Rights Action Hubs and a London workshop to encourage UK business collaboration.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and The Centre for Child Rights and Business (The Centre) are partnering to support businesses to address child labour in some of the world’s highest-risk supply chains, through UK International Development funding for The Centre’s Child Rights Action Hubs.

This project is supported by UK International Development funding awarded through the Modern Slavery Fund; and will further strengthen the activities of Child Rights Action Hubs in Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

These three countries are key sourcing markets for UK businesses, yet experience from The Centre shows that child labour risks remain—particularly in informal, subcontracted and lower-tier supply chains that often sit beyond the reach of traditional audits. In all three contexts, child labour risks are highest where company leverage is weakest—making collective, locally embedded action essential.

 The project will support The Centre to strengthen and expand Child Rights Action Hubs across all three countries by:

• Mobilising more businesses in collaborative action to identify, prevent and address child labour risks in informal and lower-tier supply chains

• Preventing and remediating child labour through education support, vocational training, entrepreneurship initiatives, promotion of decent work and the creation of child-friendly spaces

• Building the capacity of local civil society organisations and industry associations working with Child Rights Action Hubs to deliver sustainable prevention and remediation

• Strengthening child protection systems, including robust identification, referral and support processes for children, families and workers

What are Child Rights Action Hubs?

Child Rights Action Hubs are collaborative, multi-stakeholder initiatives that bring together companies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to address child labour at scale in areas with high risk and concentrated sourcing by international buyers. By pooling resources and aligning action, the Action Hubs reduce duplication, strengthen local ecosystems and help companies demonstrate meaningful human rights due diligence.

The Action Hubs deliver direct remediation for affected children while driving long-term, systemic change that protects communities and stabilises supply chains. The Centre currently implements six Child Rights Action Hubs globally, supported by 45 corporate, civil society and public-sector partners.

Child Rights Workshop and Online Sessions for UK Businesses

As part of this partnership, the FCDO and The Centre hosted a closed-door, invite-only workshop in London in January, 2026, focusing on child labour risks in the textile and leather supply chains in Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as agriculture in India and the artisanal copper and cobalt mining sector in the DRC. The session brought together brands, retailers and child rights experts to examine practical, industry-level approaches to tackling child labour, and included a panel discussion and interactive workshop that pushed participants to move from theory to practice. 

We also co-organised a virtual session at this year's Sixth Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Morocco. A replay of the session, titled “Turning Commitment into Impact: Collaborative Pathways to Prevent and Remediate Child Labour in Supply Chains”, can be viewed here.