South East Asia Field Exchange Program on CDW
The South East Asia Field Exchange Program on Child Domestic Work will be held from November 5-12, 2005 in Manila, Philippines.
You may also download the Terms of Reference as a file:
Terms of Reference
Sub-Regional Field Exchange Programs for
Promoting Good Practices in Child Domestic Workers Interventions
Organised by:
Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc., as convenor of the Child Domestic Work Task Force of the Child Workers in Asia Network, in partnership with Anti-Slavery International with support from Oak Foundation and Comic Relief
Background
Child domestic workers are children (under 18 years) who work in other people’s households, doing chores typically regarded as part of the daily work of women: child care, cleaning, laundry, cooking, fetching water and fuel, food shopping, running errands, and sometimes helping out with petty trade or businesses. Where boys are employed, they more commonly work outside the house.
In most cases pay is meager, and sometimes there is none or it is withheld. Other common features include long hours, psychological isolation, and lack of free time for education, leisure, or friendship. Many child domestics are found in highly exploitative, slave-like conditions. Mostly female, these children are highly isolated, due to their invisibility behind closed doors and scatteredness, and existing regulatory mechanisms fail to protect them. Many remain losing out on educational opportunities.
There are also increasing reports of informal and semi-formal ‘placement agencies’ running businesses targeting these young girls. Recruiters – in reality, many are traffickers – go to rural areas and collect girls from poor families, and then find them jobs in towns. Thus the trade in domestic workers is becoming more organized, commercialized and takes its young workforce ever further from home.
Child domestic work is a child labor issue, a children’s rights issue, and gender issue. It is a child labor issue as it involves economic exploitation and hazardous working conditions. Many also become victims of trafficking and bondage. It is a childs rights issue because their rights as children such as education are also sacrificed because the nature and condition of the work itself is unfavorable for child development. It is a also gender issue as it relates to sexual abuse, risk of rape and abduction and family perceptions about the making girl childrens education less of a priority. Many suffer sexual abuse and exploitation, thus requiring a comprehensive set of direct services including rehabilitation and reintegration, which are beyond counseling and medical support. Cultural traditions and religious beliefs also influences the practice of domestic work in different countries.
In Southeast Asia, many challenges still remain to be effectively addressed, such as: (a) lack of real data and understanding among civil society and government on the issue of child domestics; (b) lack of awareness among child domestic workers of their rights and available services; (c) lack of direct interventions to protect and heal abused child domestics; (d) lack of flexibility in educational provision to enable access by CDWs; and (e) lack of effective legal protection and prevention mechanisms to discourage the practice.
To respond to these challenges, Anti-Slavery International and project partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean [1] are implementing a three-year project to identify what interventions are most useful to child domestic workers and which offer them the best protection from abuse and exploitation. [2] It is intended that by identifying what interventions work and don’t work, and why – we can: (1) improve the quality and scope of services currently provided to child domestic workers and to their employers, parents and other stakeholders; (2) help NGOs and others who want to intervene to consider the most appropriate and effective support they can give to child domestic workers; (3) encourage organisations to develop local service projects.
In order to fulfill these objectives Anti-Slavery International and its partners have designed a series of activities to promote and provide the tools for good practice in interventions in this sector. This involves: (1) mapping existing interventions from around the world; (2) gathering and disseminating the views and experiences of child domestic workers; (3) sharing of information and experience amongst practitioners for the benefit of others providing services or intending to intervene in this sector – through an international practitioners meeting and subsequent handbook on good practice; (4) developing region-specific training materials to build local practitioner capacity; and (5) through field exchange programmes to encourage local organisations to take action.
As follow up to the International Practitioners Meeting organised last 22-24 November 2004 in Bangkok (Thailand), several sub-regional field exchange programs will be launched. Exchange programs are effective methods of learning from people’s experiences. They bridge the gap between the reality from which lessons are learned and the decisions that implementers chose to follow. The shared reflections among organizations will be utilized to fine tune efforts across each region. The exchange process then becomes relevant when practitioners with direct experience of working with child domestic workers come together, share experiences and to define good practices in this sector.
Overall Objective of Exchange Programs
Field exchange programs are designed to generate a deeper understanding of the issues and strategies relating to sustaining interventions for child domestic workers. They provide enabling processes for visiting practitioners as well as the host organizations and its partners to reflect on their work as they immerse in different action the strategies. A crucial element of the exchange process will be to learn together with local child domestic workers within the host country, who should also positively benefit from different levels of process available during the visit.
There will be series of sub-regional exchange programs in West and East Africa, South and Central America, South Asia and South-East Asia. Local partners are responsible for preparing and implementing these field exchanges, in consultation with Anti-Slavery International.
Specific Objectives
- To explore complex issues of child domestic work to better understand the context from which country strategies have developed.
- To learn lessons, good practices and existing trends in developing interventions and implementation mechanisms for child domestics from the face-to-face interaction with program implementers, employers, children themselves and other influencers.
- To gain insights from the direct participation of child domestic workers themselves, both organized and non-organized.
- To exchange information on how codes of conduct, regulations, and legislations (both local and national) impact on the sustainability of interventions for child domestic workers.
- To facilitate a reflection process about lessons learned in working with child domestics across the region in order to deepen the understanding and application of the principles outlined in the good practices handbook.
- To build and sustain solidarity among participants and visited partners based on the development of common action plans as well as the work that can be done in their countries.
‘Interventions’ as used in this project refer to a system of activities, which form part of an integrated programme in which assessment, analysis, and action fit together, and practical programme ingredients and advocacy components complement one other. The choice of programme objectives, both overall goals and specific time-bound objectives, is critical to the selection of activities. As a good practice in the design process, child domestics themselves need to be consulted, and their own potential contribution as programme actors and monitors duly recognised. We also take into account age-appropriate intervention for the very young and adolescents, including the involvement and support to family unit in both prevention and rehabilitation. These interventions include, but are not limited to:
· Reaching to child domestics outside the household as well as within it, in the places they frequent and via community members and employers. Many child domestics make contact with centres themselves, where they are helpful and popular, passing information about them by word of mouth.
· Crisis interventions which are planned for as part of any programme of action concerning child domestic workers. Since the place of work is usually also the child’s residence, a child who runs away or is rescued from traffickers or an abusive household needs temporary shelter in a caring environment. Legal actions are also sometimes taken against abusers. Reintegration with the family is desirable, but should not be forced on the child. Successful reintegration requires counseling with parents and follow-up in the community.
· Providing services and facilitating service access are often the vital means of attracting their participation in programmes, and are highly valued by them where they meet their own aspirations. Educational services, as long as they are conducted in a child-friendly way, are universally valued, as are recreation and sports activities, skills training, health care and personal and job-related counseling. Services to support the redress of rights violation should also be given attention as protection from abuse is a high priority for child domestics.
· Enabling child domestics to improve their situation is a main programmatic strategy. Its ingredients extend from self-empowerment for child domestics through encouraging their own activities and organisations and involving them in programmatic development; to creating a different social and policy environment around domestic employment by working with household employers, opinion-leaders, and law-makers. These aim to raise child domestics’ status via laws and codes of conduct.
· Prevention of entry of children, especially children under minimum working age, to domestic employment requires as a priority work in the sending communities to reduce the supply of candidates. This includes sensitisation of parents, teachers and community leaders, efforts to retain girls in school, and support for family income-generating where appropriate. Prevention also requires alliance-building with older domestic workers, and working to bring about change in the legal and attitudinal climate.
· Institutional and capacity building, which is done as an organic process, building up skills and activities as competence and scope widen. Partnerships with government bodies, other institutions, NGOs, and international donor and rights organisations all have a role to play. Programme development and institutional development should go hand in hand.
Number of Participants
The ideal size of the visiting group would be around 15 to 20 participants to account for logistics and mobility, and to ensure enough depth of discussions. A representative from each of the five other sub-regions will also be invited. A representative of Anti-Slavery International will participate where possible and appropriate. Project evaluators and representatives from the funders may also participate.
Length of Program
Ten days including arrival and departure dates. Actual number of days devoted to program is best suited for eight days (as in the case of the Philippines to include a Sunday when organizations reach out to child domestic workers taking their day off at the park).
Over-all Program Design
Day 1
Arrival should be on or before previous day
An over-all briefing about workshop
An over-all briefing about host organization(s)
Day 2 - 9
Main Itinerary *(using a combination of participatory approaches described in the next section)
There must be a mid-evaluation session during the exchange program
Good Practices Workshop (two days
Day 10
Evaluation of Exchange Program (by participants and host)
Planning for follow-up and next steps
Day 11
Departure by participants
Evaluation and Planning by Project Partners * (may be applicable for SEA Exchange only)
It will be important to send out a detailed questionnaire among target participants about specific topics, issues, project locations, etc that they expect during the exchange program.
Participatory approaches during the field visit
There are a variety of approaches can be designed by local host partners. It will be helpful to consider special expectations of partners before finalizing the itinerary.
- Validation of Global Report on CDW Consultations to take into account particularities in each sub-region (involving children who participated in earlier consultation processes, where possible);
- Launching of “Child Domestic Workers: A handbook on good practice in programme interventions” by Maggie Black, which serves a major resource for the workshop. While English version will be available in Southeast Asia, other regions can also launch French and Spanish versions as appropriate;
- Field visits to project sites, especially to shelter centers, activity centers, schools and communities towards understanding how partners work towards integrated approach to service delivery;
- Meetings and dialogues with partners and stakeholders which are helpful in understanding the over-all situation of a particular project area as well as how partners work towards an integrated approach to service delivery;
- Courtesy meetings with local and national officials (labor department, education department, legislators, religious leaders, representatives of international institutions, etc) to understand the policy environment that enhances action on the issue;
- Small briefing sessions by visited partners and institutions (which are helpful for understanding in detail what each partner organization is doing);
- Focused group discussions with child domestics to surface sensitive issues and considering their limited time availability;
- Individual interviews with children, parents or employers to explore in depth perceptions about their everyday working lives;
- Personal interaction with child domestic workers (informal) done in parks, schools, villages or other places of natural congregation;
- Participants informally share about their organizational initiatives during bus or train trips; this is an effective sharing method but should not replace more structured discussions in workshops;
- Storytelling about experiences on working with child domestics in you own country;
- Group reflection sessions every two or three days; these are short sessions just to capture lessons learned and share commonalities/differences of practices across countries. These are important building blocks in preparation for the Good Practices Workshop;
- Good Practices Workshop, which is done during the final two days to synthesize all learning and help plan for next steps. This can also be a venue to discuss and put into action the handbook on good practice in programme interventions written for Anti-Slavery International by Maggie Black. This handbook on CDW programme interventions can serve as a resource for this workshop. It also serves as platform to discuss age-appropriate interventions for very young child domestic workers;
- Cultural and Solidarity Night to appreciate local culture and interact with other partners who were not visited because of time constraints;
- Enough leisure and relaxation, and time for shopping for souvenirs
Special Considerations for Planning
- Working with an integrated network of partners. Participants will be interested in understanding the context in which programs for child domestic workers have been developed by a number of partners at the local levels. It needs more than a single institution to effectively address the complexity of the issue. It will be interesting to learn about how institutions are working together to effectively integrate service provision to particularly vulnerable child domestic workers by existing service providers. It is also interesting to understand how “pioneer” organizations have influenced their partners to develop programs directed to these types of children, not just mixing them with other types of children. Often, there are more than two regional partners working in the country. For example, in India, the Arunodhaya and the National Domestic Workers’ Movement can host an exchange program where participants will travel across the country. This will of course have implications on the budget, but benefits can outweigh such costs.
- Participation of organized and unorganized child domestic workers. Participants will benefit from direct meetings with child domestic workers themselves. What will be important is on how facilitators can prepare children to meaningfully engage with the visitors. It should be a two-way exchange process. There should be a debriefing session among participants before meeting child domestics. Take into account language as challenge but not a hindrance to participation. Also, it will be important to see child domestic workers in action such as during park outreach, or door-to-door campaigns.
- Understanding policy context affecting child domestic workers. In some countries, time-bound programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labor are in place. The exchange program participants can benefit in understanding how child domestic workers are targeted as among the priority sectors. However, care must be taken that local partners and their networks do not have any impression that we are conducting evaluation sessions. The cultural aspects such as social traditions and religious beliefs also influence the development of policies. Finally, understanding policy context can also mean learning from specific measures that are already proposed such as the Batas Kasambahay (draft legislation to protect domestic workers, including CDWs) in the Philippines.
- Time element. Each region determines the most convenient schedule. It must be emphasized that there is no “piloting” stage for the exchange programs. Each region will design their itinerary. In addition to the participants, one representative from the different regions can be involved to link lessons learned and to creatively apply approaches in handling the exchange programs.
- Providing venues to discuss and put into action the Handbook on CDW Interventions written for Anti-Slavery International by Maggie Black. Where local translation of the handbook is already available, host organizations can use the materials as important resource.
- There will be an Evaluation and Planning by Project Partners during the SEA Exchange only. This will also serve as a training and orientation workshop for the facilitators who could be handling the field exchange programs in other sub-regions.
Follow-up and sustainability
The field exchange program has a potential to sow the seeds for far-reaching changes and more responsive and holistic programs for CDWs in the coming years. The participants are expected to come up with action plans and shall continue to make collaborative efforts as members of the Task Force on CDWs (in the case of Asia). The field exchange program is also a venue discuss, fine-tune, and advance programs on child domestic workers that aims to contribute policy changes that address the visibility and economic marginalization of the sector. Furthermore, the event will be a venue to identify areas of collaboration and sustained partnership. This field exchange would be comprehensively documented.
end
[1] Project partners are: Defensa de los Niños Internacional, for Costa Rica and Central America/Caribbean; Asociación Grupo de Trabajo Redes, for Peru and for South America; Visayan Forum Foundation, for Philippines and Asia - as Convenor of CWA Asian Regional Task Force on Child Domestic Workers; WAO Afrique, for Togo and West Africa; Kivulini, for Tanzania and East Africa.
[2] By ‘intervention’ is meant any practical activity which has an impact on the child’s situation. It refers mainly to services which are provided to child domestic workers and which are intended to improve their situation. Interventions are taken to include: crisis intervention methods; activities to improve conditions of work for older children; rehabilitation/reintegration methods; activities to prevent children from entering/continuing with domestic service; outreach and organising activities.
For confirmed participants, you may now download FORM 2 (Participant's Profile Form) by clicking the link below:
Download Form 2 - Profile.doc (size 59392)
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