The Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe (DWAZ) is a membership based network of Zimbabwean domestic workers in Zimbabwe and outside. The plight of domestic workers is one which has received very little attention and intervention. That no custom tailored interventions had been developed and implemented in the domestic work sector stands evidence to the marginalization and exclusion of this important group of workers across the globe. ILO estimates that in 2015, the total number of domestic workers was around 67.1 million worldwide.
Domestic work itself accounts for 1.7 per cent of total employment worldwide and some 3.6 per cent of all wage employment. According to the same ILO report, throughout the African region 5.2 million domestic workers are employed of whom 3.8 million are women and 1.4 million men. We are motivated to make a sustainable difference doing everything we can to respond to and try to address the myriad of challenges facing domestic workers in Zimbabwe.
Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe is rapidly growing and expanding membership based organization for Zimbabwean domestic workers in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana. DWAZ was founded in 2017 with the agenda of standing with and for domestic workers and shine a light on various concerns and issues which have affected domestic workers and the domestic work sector for a very long time. The motivation for the founding of DWAZ came as a realization that domestic work has had weak representation in policy issues and domestic workers themselves have been invisible in the public space and policy platforms. They are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, thus the need to form an organized and coherent platform to enable interaction and dialogue from which to harness and catapult efforts to raise the voice of domestic workers.
We are driven by the need and desire to sustainably and positively impact on the personal and professional lives of domestic workers as well as domestic work as a profession, through meticulously crafted strategic and inclusive interventions. We are focus on issues relating to representation, poverty reduction, elimination of vulnerability and all forms of exploitation, violence or abuse, raising awareness and advocacy efforts, improving access to employment, knowledge, capacity building and skills development, with the ultimate vision of recognition and formalization of domestic work, fair terms and conditions of work, remuneration and access to social services.