Setting standards for domestic work

International Labour Organisation says as many as 91% of female workers say they have suffered sexual abuse.

LAHORE:

“As many as 91 per cent of female domestic workers say they have suffered sexual abuse,” Munawar Sultana, senior programme officer at the International Labour Organisation, said on Saturday.

She was speaking at a consultation for the formation of Pakistan Model Competency Standards for domestic workers by ILO in collaboration with the APWA at the College of Tourism and Hotel Management (COTHM).

The consultation is part of a recently launched programme Decent Work for Domestic Workers (DW4DW) for which COTHM is providing technical expertise.  Sultana said there were 8.5 million domestic workers in Pakistan, including 264,000 child workers.

She said the aim of the consultation was to present a draft of competency standards, solicit input for improvement, get endorsements and design courses for training 1,000 women. COTHM Coordination Director Babar Sheikh said the draft covers 25 competencies (six core and 19 functional competencies).

Core competencies

Sheikh said the first core competency was collecting information and calculations relevant to domestic work. He said the unit described skills and knowledge required to understand basic information and apply mathematical concepts in a domestic work environment.

He said the second was to communicate clearly.

Sheikh said the third core competency was to maintain health and safety at work.

He said the fourth core competency was to work in a socially and culturally diverse work environment.

He said the fifth core competency is was to plan, organise and manage work. He said the sixth core competency was time management.

Participants agreed that competency based training approach could be implemented by training providers in Pakistan would result in competent workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2014.