International consultancy services On developing East African Regional Competency standards in Domestic .

Domestic work is an important source of employment, representing 2.3 percent of total employment worldwide (WEIGO statistical brief #32). There are 76.7 million domestic workers globally majority of whom are women at 76.2 percent. For Women domestic work contributes 4.2 percent of their global employment. Out of 76.7 Million domestic workers, 9.6 million domestic workers are found in Africa. , representing 12.7% of the global figure. Of the 9.6 million domestic workers, 8.7 million (11.5% of the global figures) are in Sub-Saharan Africa. By share of Wage Employment, Domestic work contributes to 7.3 percent of all employees in Africa. .[1].

The demand for domestic workers continues to grow in different regions of the world including in Africa. The demand is driven by among other things: demographic changes, aging population, and growing need of the long-term care. For this reason, domestic work continues to be among the top sectors employing migrant workers within the region and beyond. The huge workforce in domestic work is likely being sustained by continued income inequality within and between countries, as well as unequal access to education and care services. As a job-intensive sector that meets essential and growing household needs for direct and indirect care services, domestic work will continue to be major source of wage employment for many[2].

Domestic work in the East African Community
Recent mapping report on Labour Migration in East Africa by the East Africa Employers’ Organization (EAEO, 2022)[3] show existing domestic workers mobility within the region from Uganda and Tanzania into Kenya. Though official data on the share of employment in domestic work in the sub-region is not readily available, individual country figures indicate significant number of people employed in or working as domestic workers. Taking example from 3 EAC countries (Kenya Uganda and Tanzania), reports indicate that there are 2 million domestic workers in Kenya as contained Analysis of working conditions and wages of domestic workers in Kenya. For Tanzania, the last reported data in 2014 indicated that there were nearly 1 million domestic workers in the United Republic of Tanzania[4]. The contribution of domestic work to wage employment has increased five folds in the less than 10 years from 0.2 percent in 2014 to 5.5 percent in 2021 signifying the growth and significance of the sector in wage employment for mainland Tanzania. For Uganda, 11.5 percent of all respondents in the Uganda National Labour Force Survey (2021) identified private household as their place of work. Other not representative data contained in various reports indicate prevalence of child domestic workers (about half a million)[5] and 24% of the surveyed population (N 4724) were found to be children in a survey conducted by IDAY [6] The survey also found that more than 80% of domestic workers did not go beyond primary school. Reports also indicate existence of domestic work as a key economic sector in Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and South Sudan but official data was not readily available. In Rwanda, recent Rwanda labour force survey 2021 shows that domestic work is among the top five economic activities of employed persons (pg9) accounting for 4.1 percent of total employment in the country (pg6)

Similarly, domestic work is the priority occupation for labour migration in the subregion. The EAC region is source of domestic migrant workers towards the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC), Lebanon and Jordan. Reports from Uganda indicates that about, 2000 domestic workers are migrating to the GCC each month[7]. Reports from Kenya indicates that by2022 there were 80,000 domestic workers working Saudi Arabia alone[8]. Within the region, data is scant but various reports indicate prevalent intraregional migration of domestic workers within the EAC. The bulk of migrant domestic workers in the region migrate through irregular channels . They are also considered low-skilled with no to little education or training. The context provided is a a testimony to the position and scope of domestic work in wage employment creation for the region.

Characterization of the sector and occupation
The ILO Domestic Workers Convention (C189) defines domestic work as e “work performed in or for a private household or households” and domestic workers as “any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship”. They provide direct and indirect care services, and as such are key members of the care economy. Their work may include tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing, and ironing clothes, taking care of children, or elderly or sick members of a family, gardening, guarding the house, driving for the family, and even taking care of household pets. A domestic worker may work on full-time or part-time basis; may be employed by a single household or through or by a service provider; may be residing in the household of the employer (live-in worker) or may be living in his or her own residence (live-out). A domestic worker may be working in a country of which she/he is not a national, thus referred to as a migrant domestic worker.

According to the latest ILO assessment report Making decent work a reality for domestic workers, 81. 2 percent of domestic work employment is informal, meaning that there continue to be huge decent work deficits in the domestic work sector. These deficits include lack of formal contract, social security coverage, exclusion from or gaps in minimum wage coverage, lack of unionization and long working hours beyond the approved standards by the international and national laws. Domestic work is also characterized as low skills occupation due lack of access to quality, and well-organized training programmes. Many countries have not institutionalized domestic work into their TVET training delivery systems. Though many countries are putting legal frameworks for improving working conditions for domestic workers in place, but implementation is lacking and/or loopholes still exist that need to be filled to effectively benefit the target groups. Migrant domestic workers are more vulnerable and face adverse working conditions.

Why skills development for domestic workers
As indicated, the perception of domestic work as generally a low-skilled occupation where women are overrepresented, and the overarching non-recognition of women’s work often make domestic work undervalued. However, skills training and professionalization of domestic work can support to increase the value of domestic work services and contribute to the formalization of domestic work. Household employers may be willing to hire the services of domestic workers more formally and pay them more decently based on the services provided. Also, skills training may increase the confidence of domestic workers to view their occupation as a profession like any other and therefore increase their service delivery standards; bargaining capacity, seek better terms aligned to the established laws such as better pay, time off and social security benefits. Furthermore, skills training may also increase domestic worker’s employability and their professional or career mobility either horizontally or vertically including into other sectors and to managerial or supervisory roles within the same occupation respectively.

Justification for the Regional competency standards for domestic workers
Competency standards are a set of benchmarks that define the skills, knowledge, and attributes people need to perform a work role. They are developed in consultation with industry, to ensure they reflect the needs of the workplace. Competency standards form the basis upon which training, and assessment can be implemented to a standard that the industry recognises and trusts. Competency standards are primarily used to develop and implement training, to assess the outcomes of training, and to assess the level of a person’s existing skills and competencies. Regional Model Competency Standards (RMCS) are designed to be used as a basis for developing national standards and as a regional reference point. The RMCS will benefit those countries that are in the process of developing competency standards or reviewing existing national competency standards. As the RMCS provide a basis for developing national competency standards, countries can avoid the duplication of effort in developing standards from scratch providing a regional reference for the competency standards. It can also facilitate mutual recognition of skills and workers in the domestic work sector within the EAC region. RMCS will be developed based on country practices as well as other practices beyond the region for comparability purposes.

The policy and legal framework in the EAC
In accordance with Article 104 of the Treaty for establishment of the EAC, Partner States agreed to adopt measures to achieve the free movement of persons, labour, and services and to ensure the enjoyment of the right of establishment and residence of their citizens within the Community. The EAC Common Market Protocol (CMP) guarantees both the free movement of persons and workers under Articles 7(1) where the Partner States allow free movement of persons who are citizens of the other Partner States, within their territories and 10(1) on the freedom of movement of workers.

The free movement of workers entitles a worker to: apply for employment and accept offers of employment actually made; move freely within the territories of the Partner States for the purpose of employment; conclude contracts and take up employment in accordance with the contracts, national laws and administrative actions, without any discrimination; stay in the territory of a Partner State for the purpose of employment in accordance with the national laws and administrative procedures governing the employment of workers of that Partner State; enjoy the freedom of association and collective bargaining for better working conditions in accordance with the national laws of the host Partner State; and enjoy the rights and benefits of social security as accorded to the workers of the host Partner State; and have the right to be accompanied by a spouse and a child.

In Article 102 of the EAC Treaty, the Partner States are fostering cooperation in education and training within the community. Under Article 102 (b) the Partner States are harmonizing curricular, examination, certification and accreditation of education and training institutions through joint action of the relevant national bodies. To further facilitate free movement of labour in the Community, pursuant to Article 11 (b) of the Protocol the Partner States are concluding regulations which will govern the mutual recognition of academic qualifications and experience. This harmonization of education curricular and structures is crucial for regional integration and implementation of the EAC Common Market protocol.

In this regard, developing regional competency standards for domestic work will contribute to the aspiration of the EAC treaty and enhance cooperation within Partner States in their effort to develop well trained human resource for regional labour markets and beyond. These standards will also make it easier for mutual recognition of skills and portability of skills. It will aid member states to benchmark when developing their own national competency standards.

Current practices
Detailed information of how each EAC Partner States train or develop the skills of domestic workers at national level, is scant. However, there is some information from some countries, which may give some examples of the current practices. A recent Feasibility study on Recognition Mechanisms for Selected Occupational Profiles of Migrant Workers in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa reveals huge variations in occupational standards and how countries organize training for their domestic workers including duration of training coverage and scope. Due to that variation, it is impractical for establishing and implementing a skills recognition mechanism for domestic workers more so when still in some countries domestic work is not an integral part of TVET programmes offered in the country. The main recommendation from the study is for member states experiencing mobility of workers amongst themselves to agree on harmonised occupational and competency standards. It is for this reason that the ILO, through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office(FCDO)-funded Better Regional Migration Management (BRMM) project and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)-funded Labour, Employment and Mobility actions of the AU-ILO-IOM Programme on Labour Migration Governance for development and integration in Africa (JLMP-Lead)in collaboration with the EAC wish to develop regional competency standards for domestic work occupation.

Objectives
To provide technical guidance and lead the development of the east African regional competency standards in domestic work through the expert focus group.

The consultancy firm will have the following specific tasks and linked deliverable.

Core function

Task

Deliverable

Inception report

prepare a brief but concise inception report that details the envisaged methods and workplan

Inception report

Capacity building of the expert

Hold a methodology workshop with EAC, expert group and ILO; orientation using the ILO’s model competency standards and Competency standards for ASEAN region

Agreed road map, data collection sheet /checklist

Mapping exercise

analyse current practices (including, design approach and scope) and policy and or legal frameworks on training domestic workers in the EAC partner states. The mapping will also extend for comparability with practices outside the region focusing on countries with best practices. The Mapping exercise shall be limited to review of secondary data that will be complemented by country reports to be complied by select team of experts from all 7 partner states

a summary report on mapping of training practices for domestic work with example drawn from partner states and sampled countries for comparison which include:

a. Existing trends and practices with regards to domestic work, training programmes, occupational profiles and or standards, curricular, levels of training scope and duration, institutional arrangement coordinating this training etc. Related policy and legal frameworks

b. General labour market trends in domestic work showing demand, skills shortages and scope of functions/roles domestic workers perform.

c. The harmonised proposal for a comprehensive scope, roles and functions of a domestic work that will inform the development of the competency standards.

policy and or legal frameworks related to skills development for domestic work in the 7 partner states.

Provide Technical guidance and facilitation of Drafting workshop

formulate all workshop methodologies to

a. Reviewing and validating country reports submitted by country experts.

b. Determine and drafting the functional areas.

c. Draft the competency standards.

d. Validate the draft competency standards with the technical expert group as well as during country level validations.

Consolidate the validated documents

Final Draft competency standards for DW submitted to the EAC for adoption.

Draft implementation and monitoring strategy