• The more teachers worked at the FCFS , the less worried parents were about their children ’ s safety and the more satisfied they were with the FCFS .
The spillover effect of the program is not entirely conclusive ; however we could observe that retention significantly increased for non -‐ participants compared to the baseline . This might not only be due to the FCFS ; however , in two of the participating factories with the larger program , managers and workers stated in interviews that the general atmosphere in the factory improved since setting up FCFS . On the other hand , we understood that in some factories non -‐ participants were not well informed of the program , and thus were not aware of the positive changes in their factory and the potential benefits they could receive . Furthermore , we need to consider that the impact assessment was carried out less than 4
months after the program began – a rather short period to observe a lasting impact and a significant spillover effect .
5.2 Challenges
5.2.1 Duration of FCFS
“ I was always worried about my kid ’ s safety during the summer vacation , as every year I heard about accidents involving children such as children drowning in ponds or dying from electric shocks . I always remind my child not to eat unknown mushroom types from the hill and to not go swimming in the pond without adult supervision . FCFS has four teachers to look after my five -‐ year -‐ old son . I feel much more at ease now and can focus on my work .” -‐ A father
When we asked parents what the biggest challenges they face are , the number one challenge for parents in both the baseline and the final evaluation turned out to be “ looking after my children ”. This confirms our assumption that parents , especially migrant parents , have a strong need for childcare support . Although FCFS enabled families to live together during the summer months whilst simultaneously reducing compliance risks associated with children entering production areas , parents still face the struggles of being separated from their children throughout the rest of the year or the challenge of providing childcare solutions when FCFS is closed . The two small sized factories decided to run the FCFS as a continuous , yearlong program , but in the two larger sized factories where most beneficiaries are , the pilot program only covered the summer months as planned .
In the future , one challenge for us to address will be how to scale it up to cover more workers . Another challenge is how to extend the service beyond the summer . We ’ ve noticed that some parents seem to be helpless when they have to work and their children are not of school age yet , and this problem exists not only during the summer vacation . Now we have asked the production management to see how many workers would need such help ."
-‐ A general manager from a participating factory
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