This year, Verité launched the four-year Liderazgo, Organización y Colaboración para la Acción Colectiva en Temas Laborales (LOCAL) program, an initiative designed to foster locally-led collaborative strategies to address child and forced labor risks in Mexico’s agricultural sector, specifically in Chiapas and San Luis Potosí. As a foundational step, LOCAL carried out a municipal assessment, which serves as a crucial diagnostic tool, providing concrete evidence that allows local actors to analyze, prioritize, and independently construct their own strategic agendas. By equipping municipal and national stakeholders with critical information, LOCAL enables locally-driven transformation and sustainable change from within the region.
LOCAL aims to enhance municipal actors’ knowledge about child and forced labor challenges while simultaneously promoting collaborative work among local stakeholders, including businesses, civil society organizations, local government, community leaders, and workers. The project’s core interventions include developing collaborative action plans to address child and forced labor priorities and strengthening advocacy efforts at state and federal levels. This collective impact approach emphasizes a co-creation methodology where local governments, stakeholders, and community actors are active participants in diagnosing and solving complex social issues.
LOCAL is funded by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
