- A report by the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE) released in March 2021 indicated that currently there are limited specific policy interventions targeting the informal economy in the country.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Domestic workers from various parts of the country are set to meet this Friday to celebrate their contribution to economy.
The meeting will be held at Alliance Française, Nairobi.
Youth Alive! Kenya, with support from Oxfam Kenya will be hosting the one-day conference bringing together diverse groups of women.
According to the Youth Alive! Kenya program officer Mitchelle Atieno, the conference will give the domestic workers an opportunity to also reflect on their work.
"This is an opportunity to applaud their resilience working in the extremely difficult conditions and highlight the importance of ILO Convention 189 in the policy environment within work they do," she said.
Atieno said the conference is a follow-up action from a letter written to President William Ruto during 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based violence in November 2022.
She noted that the president is yet to respond to the letter.
“We are joining the global community to ensure every woman who puts effort to ensure our economic wheels into action every day in Kenya is dignified, recognized, and protected by the government in policy and law,” Atieno said.
In July 2012, domestic workers in the country led by the Secretary General of KUDHEIHA Workers Albert Njeru organized a procession in several streets of Nairobi to ask Parliament for the ratification of Convention 189 in their country.
The main aim of the 2 procession was to acknowledge the first anniversary of the adoption of the Convention at the International Labour Conference 2011.
"Eleven years on, nothing seems to change in this regard," said Atieno.
Globally, it is believed that two billion of the world’s employed population aged 15 and older, work informally, representing 61.2 percent of global employment.
In Kenya, the informal sector in 2019 provided a livelihood to approximately 15 million people and absorbed up to 88 percent of the women workers,
According to the International Labour Organization and as of 2019, Kenya’s informal sector provide a livelihood to approximately 15 million people and absorbed up to 88 percent of the women workers.
Youth Alive! Kenya program says that the informal sector in Kenya employed roughly 15.26 million individuals in 2021.
Atieno said that the above corresponded to over 80 percent of the total number of people employed in the country mainly women and girls, many of whom are migrants.
" Many women and girls are members of disadvantaged communities and who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in respect of conditions of employment and work, and to other abuses of human rights,” she added.
A report by the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE) released in March 2021 indicated that currently, there are limited specific policy interventions targeting the informal economy in the country.
The report also indicated that the policies in place do not provide an effective development framework for informal sector businesses, thus leaving loopholes in the informal sector development agenda