Supported by OXFAM 

In Bangladesh, particularly in rural area, women and girls are more vulnerable and unemployed in comparison its male counterpart regardless of educational attainment because of acute poverty, dowry, divorce, family debts, gender violence against women etc. As a result, every year a significant number of women and girls migrate from rural area to urban area particularly in Dhaka city for hunting a suitable job as well as better livelihood. But in reality, very few options are available for them to provide themselves and their family. In course of time, most of them turn to domestic workers. 

A key challenge of domestic workers in Bangladesh is their exclusion from the legal protections provided by the Labour Act.  As a result, they face significant barriers in finding decent work, are vulnerable to routine exploitation and abuse, lack fair and healthy work conditions, have no access to social protection and are among the lowest paid labourers in the country. Women domestic workers represent 17% of the total labour force over the age of fifteen and, instead of guaranteeing the ability of girls and women to work as domestic workers with dignity and free of violence, governments have systematically denied them key labour protections extended to other workers.

It could be mentioned here that more than 10.5 million people are employed as domestic workers in Bangladesh, out of which approximately 90% are women, and these women experience various forms of violence and insecurity. As documented by news portals and human rights organizations, domestic workers are routinely subjected to violence. As per the report of Ain o Salish Kenda (ASK), only in the first six months of 2019, there have been 15 reported cases of violence against domestic workers, of which 8 were cases of rape. According to Securing Rights partner, the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), at least 277 domestic workers have died due to violence on the part of their employers from 2008 to 2013. In addition,

â–ª         47% have experienced physical abuse and face the threat of being expelled from work;

â–ª         63% are forced to do work/jobs beyond their physical abilities;

â–ª         17% have experienced sexual harassment;

â–ª         40% perceive their workplace as insecure; and

â–ª         68% of women domestic workers report being frustrated with their current circumstances.

In order to improve the situation of domestic workers through ensuring their rights entitlement and developing an institutional mechanism for providing decent work to domestic workers, OXFAM-Bangladesh designed an integrated project Securing Rights of women Domestic workers in Bangladesh.

Oxfam in Bangladesh initiated a project titled “Securing Rights of Women Domestic Workers in Bangladesh (SRDW)”. The SRDW project aims to improve the well-being of women domestic workers by enabling them to access their rights to engage in “decent work” as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Funded by Global Affairs Canada, this four-year project (2019-2022) will work with 16,000 women domestic workers

The project is aligned with Oxfam's guiding principles of women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and grounded in the feminist principles through which Oxfam Canada facilitates its development assistance.

Project Goal:

Increased well-being of women domestic workers (DW) in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Project Objectives:

• Strengthened agency of women domestic workers to claim and defend their rights in relation to decent employment
• Improved social norms on DW rights, including increased recognition of DW as formal profession, promoted by policymakers, government and employers and the wider society

Project Area:

Dhaka City

Project Duration:

March 2019- March 2023 

Engagement of CAMPE:

The project is designed in a integrated manner, where 6 organizations e.g. CAMPE, BILS, UCEP, Nari Maitree, Red Orange and Hellotask has been implementing this project. In these endeavor, CAMPE is responsible to carry-out following major activities:

• Develop gender-sensitive competency-based standards for domestic workers;
• Design, testing and adoption of standards;
• Develop training package and materials (DWG: Rights and life Skills; DWN: Organizational Development);
• Development of education/training modules on life-skills, participation and leadership, rights & SGBV;
• Provide technical/financial assistance provided to build the capacity of support service providers;
• Lobby and arrange inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholder meetings related to policy implementation;
• Form Regional level consultative forum to conduct regional research on domestic workers and protected workers’ rights
• Organize awareness-raising events on domestic workers’ rights during key days) 

Expected Outcome/Results of the Project

• Strengthened agency of women domestic workers to claim and defend their rights in relation to decent employment and
• Improved social norms on DW rights, including increased recognition of DW as formal profession, promoted by policymakers, government and employers and the wider society.

Auditor's Report