Luminous Teen

Luminous Teen is an impact initiative intended to ensure a certain degree of Financial Independence for Youth (people ages 15-24), by creating earning opportunities and fostering workplace skills, with a vision to help eliminate Child Labor by 2025. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimation, approximately 5 million children in Bangladesh are full-time workers. UNICEF says, "Roughly 160 million children were subjected to child labor at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19. This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide." Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals calls for an end to child labor in all its forms by 2025. In the 2017 World Report on Child Labour, ILO has identified six policy areas to respond to child labor, focusing on education and social protection for children while ensuring decent work opportunities for adults in their families. However, ILO explicitly says on their website that simply maintaining the current rate of progress would leave 121 million children still engaged in child labor by the critical target year of 2025. “Luminous Teen is the winner in the Partnership Category in Hack for Earth 2021, representing one of the most urgent Sustainable Development Goals that has a potential impact on all of the other 16 SDG’s. Out of hundreds of competing solutions the Jury chose Luminous Teen as the most innovative and promising of them all - this says a great deal. I am certain Luminous Teen has the potential to scale and deliver real value, and the foundation will support this ambitious solution in every way possible." - Ann Molin Founder & Secretary General Hack for Earth Foundation