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Promoting Workers’ Rights and Gender Equality at Work in Africa - Final evaluation

eval_number:

3619

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/3619

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Programme implementation

category:

Organizational issues

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comments:

The targeted users of this lesson learned are ILO, the implementing partners as well as the respective constituents and companies.

challenges:

Business owners, regardless of gender, were primarily interested in having a successful business, indicating that a strong business case to invest into childcare would likely be persuasive. For the implementing team it was thus essential to make business owners understand the challenges women workers phase and how addressing these challenges could benefit their business.

success:

Reasons that spoke for investing into the childcare centres included: • Offering childcare helped companies to retain skilled employees, especially women. • Companies that provide childcare support saw lower staff turnover rates and less workplace absences. • Workers could focus on their work, enhancing their productivity at the workplace. These findings mirror a recent UNICEF (2021) study on employer supported childcare in Rwanda’s tea sector which found that investing in childcare benefits businesses by enhancing employee recruitment and retention, especially for women. This can lead to higher productivity and reduced absenteeism. Providing childcare also improves company reputation and aligns with corporate social responsibility goals. Additionally, it helps companies comply with regulations, strengthens community relations, and can lead to cost savings by reducing turnover. Overall, employer-supported childcare contributes to a more stable and productive workforce and supports economic growth by enabling greater female workforce participation.

context:

The project was implemented in Ethiopia and aimed at improving equality at work, aiming to enhance gender equality in the garment and textiles sector. It necessitated the openness of private sector companies to engage with the project team, making infrastructure adjustments, and shoulder the cost for maintaining the childcare centres. An important precondition to consider was that the garment and textiles sector faces high staff fluctuation, as women tend to maternity care, decreasing productivity.

description:

Making the business case for Care@Work and the provision of child-care centres was essential for single business owners to engage and commit to investments. In Ethiopia, the project collaborated with four garment and textile companies, selected from a pool of 12 that underwent a “factory assessment” to design relevant care solutions. One of the solutions was setting-up childcare centres at the companies. To test the feasibility and suitability in different company settings, four companies were selected with different sizes and staff numbers. These companies, located in various parts of Addis Ababa, have staff sizes ranging from 50 to 600 workers, most of whom are women. From the onset, the project team followed an approach to highlighting the business case to owners, namely that the setting-up of in-company childcare centres creates a positive return on investment. The approach contributed to motivate business owners to engage – and it should also motivate them to maintain these centres going forward, contributing to sustainability.

administrative_issues:

ILO 2024: Workplace Daycare centers ensure mothers enter the workforce and continue working (link) UNICF 2021: Business-Case for Employer Supported Childcare (download) UNICEF 2022: A Child Care Centre lifts the burden of mothers absorbed in childcare and work (link)

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/2297355

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location:

country:

Africa - regional

region:

Africa

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eval_title:

Promoting Workers’ Rights and Gender Equality at Work in Africa - Final evaluation