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This article is framed by the tension between a substantial universalising framework of global instruments on workers’ rights and child labour on one hand, and their outsourced implementation through the social policy enclaves of transnational corporations on the other hand. It uses the concept of ‘social policy enclaves’ to explore this tension and how it might be resolved to the benefit of children who work in African agriculture. To do this, the article steps back from dominant discourses around child labour, and examines how a re-framing of children’s involvement in African agriculture, from labour to work, might enhance understanding of the forms, prevalence, drivers and dynamics of their involvement in work that is harmful. A deeper understanding of these issues should help to inform a revitalised universal approach to social policy in respect to children’s work.