A Nairobi lobby group is calling for the proper recognition of childcare workers in the country.
Uthabiti Africa, an organisation that accelerates early childhood care and development in Africa, said that childcare workers like nannies play a vital role in the lives of Kenyan children and parents.
A study Uthabiti did between 2019 and 2020 found that women comprise of 91.1 per cent of the childcare workforce in Kenya.
“These women play a key role in driving the economy by making sure women and men can work and contribute to local economies while assured of the safety and comfort of their children,” the lobby said.
The majority of working women in Kenya depend on childcare providers to take care of their children leaving them with the responsibility for the child’s physical, emotional, and social development.
For women especially in the informal settlements, they said, lack of childcare services can make it impossible for them to work, making childcare providers crucial to the economy.
“Childcare services include providing care and supervision to a child in a controlled environment such as a day or night care, home care or at an institutional-based play-centre popularly referred to as creches,” they explain.
Uthabiti said that the childcare workforce also includes individuals offering services, and operating and running childcare facilities.
Despite this important role they play, childcare work is naturally categorised in the lowest socio-economic stratum of society.
Uthabiti said that providers who work in informal spaces, especially, face various challenges in their quest to deliver quality and affordable childcare.
From the experiences shared by childcare entrepreneurs in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu, Uthabiti found that a number of challenges hold childcare providers back.
“Women in the childcare sector continue to suffer in silence as they have no definite support systems to address issues rampant in the sector such as Gender-Based Violence, sexual assault, refusal of payment by employers, human trafficking, underpayment and overall psychological abuse,” they revealed.
Additionally, they said, there is little room for career advancement in the childcare workforce due to inadequate skills and opportunities for capacity building as very few facilities train on the same.
“There also is no formal curricula and training structure for childcare courses. Mostly, childcare courses are offered by private institutions other than public colleges and universities,” Uthabiti said.
Many workers lack access to financial and economic empowerment thus making the pursuit of formal training almost impossible.
“In the illustration, if one is employed as a house help, the system is not clear on options available for career advancement,” they said.
Uthabiti said that more awareness needs to be raised about the critical role played by childcare givers and solutions designed on a basis to solve the problems in the sector.
“In the work environment and society in general, there is a need for a mindset shift towards the attitudes given to caregivers,” they said.
They said that forums such as the just-concluded National Policy Conference on Early Childhood Care, Education and Development (ECCED) need to be elevated.
“Childcare stakeholders need to come together, and individually identify the role they play to ensure that the childcare workforce among other key sectors such as education and healthcare are streamlined to address the needs of the child,” they concluded.
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