The majority of working children participate in agriculture and related occupations in villages. Realizing that most working children were migrants from villages, CWC has established a presence in rural areas throughout Karnataka with the aim of gaining insight into children's situations, and identifying a preventative course of action. CWC's strategy is to reduce child labor by improving life in rural areas, thus eliminating the causes of migration to cities.

In both urban and rural areas, a distinction can be made between child "work" (enabling) and child "labor" (disabling). This distinction can change from one geographic area to another for the same type of work, depending on the local circumstances. For example, children in one area may have a river where they can leave livestock for the day while they attend school. But this luxury may not exist for children in another area.