Samenvatting

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America and the Northern Hemisphere. The country is in this bad position due to military conflicts in the past, corrupt and dubious politics in the past and present, a weak economy, and bad quality education and low school enrolment rates. The accumulation of all these factors caused 48.3% of the population to live below poverty line. Regrettably, this poverty led to the existence of child labour. Child labour is in violation with the rights of a child and undermines social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.

On the municipal market of Masaya are approximately 200 child labourers active. In order to find out what aspects should be included in a project aiming to decrease child labour on the market, a situation analysis was conducted. This analysis went from country level (macro), to city level (meso), to target group analysis (micro). Additionally, national and international NGO's were analysed according to their successfulness, strategies, and applicability.

The research led to the following conclusion: A future project should either focus on improvement of the economic aspects while targeting the adult family members of the child labourer, or should focus on education while targeting the child labourers themselves. Critical success factors a project should include are:
 A thorough investigation into the scale and characteristics of the external environment as the availability of correct information is very limited.
 Motivation of the children and making them aware of the importance of education.
 Improvement of the financial situation of a family so the family can afford to pay their expenses without the necessity of child labours, by means of offering micro credit or the rewarding of stipends.
 Awareness among the employers and/or family of the child labourers on the bad influences of child labour and the necessity of education.
 New investigations need to be executed by members of the community in order to obtain accurate information and encourage participation in projects.