Visayan Forum Foundation Inc.

The Kasambahay Program: Empowering the Domestic Worker

Despite economic growth, child domestic labour continues to be an issue in the Philippines. It is a symptom of a range of underlying causal factors and a violation of not just one but a series of rights. Unchecked and unregulated “delivery systems” allow children to be trafficked, for domestic or other types of exploitative work, from source areas all over the country to destination areas within national borders or internationally. Once with employers or family members, their rights continue to be systematically violated making them one of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups of child labourers.

VF has pioneered actions on child domestic labour in the Philippines since it started working on the issue in 1995. VF is the only organization with a high level of sector-specific expertise on child domestic work in the Philippines. In fact, it was VFFI who coined the term “kasambahay,” a contraction of “kasama sa bahay” which literally means, companions or partners at home. The term, which is now commonly used in the Philippines, recognizes the important role of domestic workers in a private household and should therefore be treated not as slaves but as partners at home.

In 1995, VF also formed and organized SUMAPI, a self-help organization of Filipino domestic workers. It is VF’s pioneering strategy that provided space for the members to participate meaningfully in designing and implementing activities for their fellow domestic workers. Today, SUMAPI has grown into a network of at least 8,000 domestic workers scattered across the Philippines.

Contact with SUMAPI was instrumental in breaking CDW’s sense of isolation. VF and SUMAPI also provided them with the necessary support to handle or remove themselves from exploitative situations. Through membership and the training opportunities provided by VF and SUMAPI, CDWs were able to transform their own lives, build their own skills and raise their own levels of awareness so that they in turn became resource people for others in the same situation. The two organizations also helped them to engage in advocating for their rights

Through VF’s domestic work program, this marginalized group is able to participate in actions that affect their lives, to influence key decision makers and to begin to demand the access to services that they are entitled to. It has also worked with a number of institutions to put forward its noble cause for the sector.

From 2004 to 2006, the International Labour Organization- International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC) Manila partnered with VF in implementing a project within the Philippine Time-Bound Program (PTBP) for the elimination of the worst form of child labor. This is a key program in the overarching National Program Against Child Labor (NAPCL). It is the only partner of the ILO- IPEC that was approved to work in all eight areas: Manila, Bulacan, Iloilo, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Camarines Norte, Cebu, and Davao, and at the national level. It also worked in partnership with ILO for the DOMWORK Project (Mobilizing Action for the Protection of Domestic Workers against Forced Labour and Trafficking in Southeast Asia).

Its Domestic Work Program’s three interrelated objectives: a) to provide services for child domestic workers; b) to mobilize and train stakeholders; and c) to campaign for new policies and advocate social changes, contribute to the empowerment of the domestic work sector.

VF’s strong partnership with the ILO has contributed to the recognition given to child domestic work as an urgent development challenge.

To date, VF and its local partners have reached out to and assisted 7,635 child domestic workers through temporary shelter, trainings, legal assistance, educational support and other forms of intervention. There were 1,668 highly-at-risk children who were also assisted and prevented from sliding into the sector.

Improved access to formal and informal education has also been achieved. Drop-out rates have been significantly reduced. Flexible education systems and creating supportive educational environment have also contributed to CDWs staying in school.

Today, there are more partners focusing on CDWs. From 2004-2007, VF has trained 1,800 multi-sectoral partners which include members of the academe, government agencies like the Departmetn of Education, Department of Labor and Employment, faith-based group, law enforcers, direct service provider, and barangay leaders. Trainings focused on organizing techniques, service linkages, rights-based approaches, and maximizing advocacy opportunities,.

VFFI was also instrumental in convening domestic workers and social partners for the first National Domestic Workers Summit on September 21-23, 2005 in Manila where the Ten Point Decent Work Agenda for the sector and a Social Compact among partners were crafted. The executive branch echoed the call for greater recognition of the domestic worker when on April 24, 2006 the Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued a Presidential Proclamation 1051, setting aside April 30^th as a special day for the domestic work sector.

VFFI, together with SUMAPI, were involved in liaising with the schools and educational institutions to create the necessary partnerships with 55 schools that covered all the sites, 42 of which have established flexible schooling initiatives and support mechanisms for CDWs while the remaining 15 have helped in providing tutorial services to students.

VF’s project has also led to significant policy changes in protecting and promoting CDW rights, primarily at a local level, as a result of the outstanding advocacy initiatives undertaken by VF and SUMAPI. There are five local ordinances enacted. This led to the development of kasambahay registration programmes that serve as a benchmark in their localities to benefit CDWs and their employers. The registration of CDWs in every barangay (community) serves as the key component for local government to make invisible CDWs visible.

At the national level, the campaign for the passage of a Magna Carta for Domestic Workers (“Batas Kasambahay”) is already gaining approval. This proposed legislation is the core of VF’s legislative reform agenda for the sector. While there are already measures that encompass kasambahay concerns, there is still no bill like the Batas Kasambahay that provides appropriate measures to address the specific vulnerabilities of domestic work and to recognize the sector’s importance and contribution to nation-building.

VF has effectively mobilized support for this piece of legislation that promises to uplift the conditions of the invisible, scattered and often neglected sector of Philippine society. One notable achievement of VFFI in this advocacy is gathering the one million signatures that call for the passage of this bill. A national survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations, a prominent social research institution in the Philippines, showed that a strong majority of Filipinos, roughly 9 out of 10, support the passage of the Domestic Workers bill.

At the international front, VF’s advocacy with international partners has also put forward the cause of the domestic work sector. The International Domestic Workers Convention that VFFI has been lobbying with partners has finally gained international attention as the Governing Body of ILO is set to discuss the decent work of domestic workers in the 99^th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) scheduled in June 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ILC session is expected to discuss the standard setting for the work conditions of the domestic workers and the development of ILO instruments which could take the form of a new convention, supplemented by recommendations.

Campaign for Domestic Worker's Rights