Advocating for domestic workers in Rwanda: CLADHO - IDAY International, July 2015 Ending violence and abuse addressed to domestic workers through regulations and education in Rwanda. Domestic workers’ baseline survey focusing on child domestic workers and employers in Rwanda Kigali, July 2015 Baseline survey done by CDP-Rwanda, Ltd; Commissioned by CLADHO and IDAY-International; Funded by the European Union In partnership with: and FOREWORD The partnership and support from various organizations, local authorities and individuals have been very benefic in this baseline survey of domestic workers’ socio economic, health, demographic and geographical life conditions. The survey covered all domestic workers with a focus on child domestic workers on a sample of households’ randomly selected in 15 districts also selected randomly in 30 districts of the republic of Rwanda. Those districts are: KICUKIRO, GASABO, NYARUGENGE, MUHANGA, RUHANGO, HUYE, KARONGI, RUSIZI, RUBAVU, MUSANZE, GICUMBI, KAYONZA, NYAGATARE, KIREHE and BUGESERA. We note that all the five provinces have been covered by the study. The study collected also additional information about the domestic workers’ issues, the employers of domestic workers in one hand but also from national key informants found in targeted institutions through a desk review and assessment of political and legal framework of domestic work in Rwanda in another hand. This process allowed the researcher to gather key information, challenges and needs in order to advocates for and to promote child rights against sexual abuse and gender based violence, all forms of exploitation, domestic physical violence, and finally to promote the child rights to health and education. As result, CLADHO which is an umbrella of 12 human rights civil society organizations and IDAY International in partnership with the national child council (NCC) and CESTRAR brought on board specific evidences that clearly presented in this important baseline survey very useful for future planning, programming, political, policy and legal decisions making addressing key issues related to domestic workers such as their access to education, vocational trainings recognized and valued by the Work force development authority (WDA), and finally good working environment. On behalf of CLADHO, let me use this opportunity to deeply recognize and thank the European Union our privilege donor, the IDAY international team, the research team for this baseline survey well presented and addressing sensitive human right aspect for civil society organizations and Rwandans in general. I would like also to extend sincere gratitude to representatives of the following institutions respectively: NCC, CESTRAR, I.L.O, MINIJUST, NISR, MIGEPROF, MIFOTRA, RSSB, RBC, GMO, COSILY, HAGURUKA, M&J Enterprise, INZIRA Y’AKAZI Ltd and involved Districts’ Mayors in charge of social affairs, Sectors Executive secretaries, Cells coordinators and head of villages (Imidugudu) who facilitated this baseline survey as well as the analysis of political and legal framework of domestic work in Rwanda. Finally I would like to recognize and thank all domestic workers and their employers who accepted to take part into this baseline survey which came up with clear and specific evidences, challenges and recommendations to be addressed in favor to domestic workers and to the domestic work itself. God bless You. Mr SEKANYANGE Jean Leonard ChairPerson of CLADHO Kigali-Rwanda EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Baseline survey was commissioned by CLADHO and IDAY International, in partnership with CESTRAR and NCC, in order to investigate the issues related to domestic workers’ working and living conditions with a focus on child domestic workers and employers. The results of the baseline survey were planned to be used to inform policy makers and other relevant stakeholders including civil society organizations about the situational analysis of the domestic work environment in Rwanda and raise awareness on specific issues that have to be addressed to improve the working and living conditions of the domestic workers in the country, especially in terms of education and access to their rights including social security and health insurance benefits as well as the right to be employed on the basis of a written work contract. All these were in a frame of "Ending violence and abuse addressed to domestic workers through regulations and education in Rwanda". The baseline survey started by a desk review of the existing political and legal framework that address domestic workers’ rights issues with a special focus on child domestic workers and employers and also by gathering other additional information from key informants (both government and non government informants). The study used a cross sectional design survey method both quantitative and qualitative. As of quantitative data collection, a multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to determine the sample size. Fifteen districts out of thirty were selected to be covered by the baseline survey and a proportional distribution of the number of households to be visited per villages and districts were calculated. The study population composed of male and female domestic workers was therefore calculated and randomly selected. The data Collection was done using Personal Digital assistant (PDA) machine and then exported into Access database which was translated into SPSS. For qualitative data collection, 60 Focus Group Discussions made of 8 to 12 domestic workers were organized, meaning 4 FGD per district to generate broad views on issues that face domestic workers in relation to their working and living conditions and their wishes in terms of education and improvement of their basic and social rights, including the right to be protected against sexual violence and abuse and against any other form of violence. The study considered also the international and regional context of domestic work that helped to analyze the issues and gaps that Rwanda has to address progressively to get closer to international standards in matters of domestic work regulation. The overall the survey found that there is a need of public awareness on the rights of domestic workers and that the domestic work environment in Rwanda remains informal and therefore poorly regulated. As for the quantitative findings, the study found that the majority of domestic workers who participated in the baseline survey (56%) were from large families composed of 6 to 10 people. The study revealed also that the main occupation in the domestic work environment was household servants (59.2%) followed by the occupation of baby sitters (16.1%). Regarding the education level of domestic workers, most of them have attended school (87.6%) and among them a large proportion declared to know how to read and write (86.2%). Concerning the contributing factors that pushed them to seek for the domestic work, it was found that the extreme poverty of parents and/ or the situation of being orphans either of one or two parents are the major factors that led them to seek for domestic work. The baseline survey highlighted also that the majority of the domestic workers who participated in the baseline survey needed to get more education and especially vocational training (95.3%) and preferably to be trained in a place close to homes where they live (57%) while others would like to be trained anywhere in the country. Nonetheless, among the proportion of 158 child domestic workers (6.4%) who participated in the survey, 20.4% preferred to go back in secondary school and 18.6% in primary school. With regards to the domestic workers’ remuneration, the baseline survey revealed that the mean salary of domestic workers is RWF 11,900 per month while the median salary is RWF 10,000 per month with a standard deviation equal to RWF 1,096.9; however despite the low salary they earn, most of the domestic workers were willing to contribute to their vocational training with a symbolic amount less than RWF 500 per month. The survey showed also that sexual violence and abuse against domestic workers do still exist as 8.67% of female domestic workers who have ever had sex in the last 12 months experienced forced sexual intercourse and most of them (43.1%) were forced by their boyfriends. The study revealed that most of employers of domestic workers were married (77.7%) and that the mean number of domestic workers employed was 1.55 per household. Moreover the majority of employers confirmed (73%) that they could allow a permission to their employees for several hours per week to go to be trained if necessary while 20.7% would not. The qualitative findings confirmed in general the quantitative findings related to the reasons of joining the domestic work explained above but added some other reasons like the urban life attractiveness, the will of constituting a capital to initiate later small projects and to face unemployment that is usual for unskilled persons. The survey showed as well that the majority of the domestic workers who participated in FGDs ignored both the domestic workers’ rights and the child domestic workers’ rights in particular. It was also highlighted that the terms of employment for a very large majority of domestic workers are not written. This situation could lead to some abuse either by the employer or the employee and does not promote a stable and professional employment relationship. In addition the survey revealed that the majority of the domestic workers are working for long hours every day including Saturdays and Sundays