The purpose of this report is to learn from Anti-Slavery International’s programming experiences, which focused on building grass roots civil society capacity to influence the policy and practice of duty bearers, empowering child domestic workers themselves to play a central role in tackling their situation and defining solutions to their individual and collective circumstances.
Anti-Slavery International has made some key observations:
- Raising child domestic workers’ awareness their situation, entitlements, etc. is the first step to building self-respect, confidence, and advocacy strategies that incorporate their perspectives.
- Participatory advocacy goes hand-in-hand with service provision
- Effective children’s participation in advocacy depends on extensive preparation, including child rights training and education of participatory approaches, as well as methods and purpose of advocacy.
- Engaging with employers is essential for effective and sustainable change.
- Cooperation with and between civil society institutions is also necessary for achieving considerable and lasting results.
- National policy and legislative reform is essential in underpinning and sustaining local gains in social attitudes and behavior change.
- The overall challenge to assisting child domestic workers is their sheer numbers, their isolation, and the diverse nature of their workplaces.