Background

The ILO Skills Innovation Facility launched the 1st ILO Skills Challenge Innovation Call on January 29th with the topic: “Finding solutions to skills mismatch”. 473 participants from 96 different countries submitted proposals on a wide variety of solutions.

The Call was won by the Domestic Worker Centre, an initiative of the Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe (DWAZ), for a proposal to provide specialised training in required set of skills for domestic skills to improve their employability. The proposal aims at providing on-the-job training and certification for domestic workers through in five areas: cookery and baking, housekeeping, grooming and etiquette, baby care, and gardening.

A Skills Innovation Lab has been set up to accompany the DWAZ through its innovation journey. As part of the Lab’s activities, an online bootcamp took place from 16 to 20 November to provide technical advice, coaching and mentorship to empower the DWAZ to further refine its idea and implement its project.

One of the main recommendations that came out of the bootcamp was to create a competency-based curriculum for domestic workers with formal accreditation through the Zimbabwe National Qualifications Framework.

Objectives

The ILO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education in Zimbabwe, the National Manpower Advisory Council (NAMACO) and the Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe (DWAZ) is holding a “Develop a Curriculum” (DACUM) workshop, from 15 to 17 December 2020. The workshop brings together representatives of employers’ organizations, the hotel industry, TVET teachers and domestic workers. The main objectives of the workshop are:

• Introduction of project on the establishment of a Domestic Workers Training Centre;
• Development of a job profile of a Domestic Worker using the DACUM method;
• Development of a framework for the development of a Qualification Standard and Competency Based Modular Curriculum for a Domestic Worker based on the DACUM job profile.