Our hotspots

Ethiopia: Child domestic work

We work with anti-slavery organisations, communities, child domestic workers and their employers and recruiters and transporters, to protect child domestic workers in Ethiopia from harm and end their exploitative treatment.

Key information

Hotspot launch: 2021
Lives impacted: 2,538
Focus areas: Child domestic work

Identification and protection services

Access to education

What we do

Child domestic work (CDW) is a range of household chores and care work performed by children within the homes of employers or guardians. Too often CDWs are exploited and working in very difficult situations, which make them vulnerable to violence and depression. They work long hours, with no access to education, and isolated in their employer’s home, with limited connection and social interactions.

The Freedom Fund supports local partners to improve identification and protection systems, to better identify and monitor child domestic workers at risk and reduce the worst forms of exploitation. It also provides comprehensive shelter services and reunification of children with their families. Through interface meetings between employers and CDWs, reflection and dialogues with employers and recruiters, community campaigns, empowering law enforcement units, advocacy and lobbying initiatives, the Freedom Fund seeks to shift the perception and treatment of CDWs in Ethiopia.

Learn about child domestic work

Our impact

2,538 Live impacted

4,904 Children accessing social and legal services

254 At-risk children in school

42 Legal cases assisted

19 Convictions secured

See our impact

The effects of a behaviour change campaign on employers of child domestic workers in Ethiopia

The Freedom Fund piloted a norms and behaviour change campaign in Addis Ababa in 2022, aimed at the employers of CDWs, using a combination of media approaches to spark discussion and social change around two themes: reducing CDW working hours and increasing their access to education. It included a series of dramatized television shorts, physical media such as posters, and social media stories.

The full report includes evidence-based recommendations for future norms and behaviour change campaigns relating to CDW treatment, including continued use of TV and social media as the most important venues for messaging to the target audience in Addis Ababa.

Download now Read the summary

Download now Read the summary

Our approach

Protection from abuse and exploitation

We establish codes of conduct for employers and utilise local legal structures to hold them to account. We support the formal prosecution of abusive employers and traffickers. We also engage informal recruiters as allies, to ensure the legal working age is respected, when placing CDWs.

Identification and assessment

We develop community structures to identify and assess CDWs, then establish referral and coordination mechanisms between transport workers, shelters, police, and government officials. We also improve shelter capacity to provide rescued children with comprehensive services.

Improving working conditions

We negotiate with employers for CDWs’ reduced working hours and better conditions; provide CDWs with access to learning and education opportunities and set up safe spaces to break the isolation of CDWs working in the home. We also empower employers with the required knowledge and attitude towards perception to CDWs.

Changing perceptions and norms

We engage employers and community members through media campaigns and discussions; television mini-series; and utilise innovative approaches with children of employers, to change attitudes and behaviours towards CDWs.

Our team

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Ethiopia: Child domestic work

Key information