Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe (ANDY) is the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) of Ghana, affiliated to the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), representing workers in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and allied sectors. He provides strategic leadership in promoting decent work, social justice, and labour rights, particularly for workers in rural, coastal, and fishing communities.
He also serves as the Africa Regional Coordinator of the Global March Against Child Labour, where he leads continental advocacy and coordination efforts to eliminate child labour, with a strong focus on hazardous child labour in agriculture and fisheries. His work is firmly grounded in advancing the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW), including the effective abolition of child labour, freedom of association, the elimination of forced labour, and non-discrimination.
Mr. Tagoe has played a leading role in Ghana in advancing Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZs) as a sustainable, community-based approach to preventing and eliminating child labour. He is closely associated with the implementation of the ACE (Action Against Child Labour Exploitation)/JICA CLFZ Project in Ghana, which integrates trade union action, social dialogue, education access, livelihood support for adults, and strengthened community governance. This approach reinforces the principle that decent work for adults is central to eliminating child labour, in line with ILO standards.
He has also contributed to the development and promotion of the Torkor Model, a practical CLFZ intervention in fishing communities that brings together traditional authorities, parents, workers’ organisations, schools, and local government structures to sustainably withdraw children from hazardous fishing work and prevent their re-entry. The model demonstrates how the application of FPRW at community level can transform fisheries into child-labour-free and rights-respecting spaces.
Through sustained collaboration with the ILO,IUF,FAO, Ghana government and other governmental, employers’ organisations, and civil society, Mr. Tagoe continues to advocate for sustainable fisheries governance that places fundamental rights at work, child protection, and decent livelihoods at the centre of development efforts in Ghana and across Africa.