‘They say I’m lucky to have a job’. A participatory study with migrant girls who do domestic work in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa

This study was commissioned by Save the Children as a result of the outcome of a regional seminar on children on the move in May 2009. Stakeholders from the region identified a lack of information on children and exploitative labour in the southern African region. Consequently Save the Children together with the African centre for Migration Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, conducted a study on migrant girls engaging in domestic work. The specific brief for the study was to establish how and why girls move, both internally and across borders, and investigate the impact of this movement on the girls in terms of labour rights, exploitation, vulnerabilities and future prospects. A better understanding of how girls move and are made vulnerable to exploitative labour will help better inform policy and programming around the protection of girls on the move in the region. It is envisaged that this research would be used by Save the Children and the African Center for Migration and Society (as well as by any other person, organisation or government working on children on the move) to advocate for policy and legislative change both nationally and regionally in order to address the labour exploitation of girl migrants