Factors Influencing Decisions to Use Child Labour: A Case Study of Poor Households in Badakhshan

Focusing on Badakhshan Province, this is the second case study in a three-part series examining household decision-making on the use of child labour in urban and rural Afghanistan. The research focuses on factors beyond poverty—such as debt, social relations, educational opportunities and gender roles—that lead some poor households to use child labour while others do not. The study is based on in-depth interviews with the households of ten village children that explore the forms of child labour in a rural setting and the processes that households use to decide which of their children will work and what activities they will perform.