WHAT WE DO?
What Do We Do?
With their participation, we defend all the rights of those who are of legal age to work in domestic service, as well as working to prevent the those under the minimum age allowed by Peruvian Law from being inserted into this occupation.
We encourage the state and civil society to become allies for the true inclusion of those who are marginalized by working in domestic service, making respect for all their rights a reality
We develop a model to motivate people and institutions to engage and replicate fair practices for those working in domestic service.
We label the domestic service work of adult women in Peru as a dignified activity that contributes to the development of the country.
La Casa de Panchita is the name of AGTR’s institutional venue, created in 1998. It is a meeting point where child domestic labourers and domestic workers can go whenever they want and as long as they want. It is open from Sunday to Thursday, from 9am to 6pm.
At La Casa de Panchita we foster domestic worker’s self-esteem, the implementation of their rights and the compliance with their duties. We promote their empowerment and improve their autonomy for them to enable them to take better decisions in all aspects of their lives. Moreover, children and adolescents in child domestic labor (CDL) take part in Sunday sessions, during which they are provided with balanced nutrition and their scholar education is improved through playful activities. They also participate in recreational and cultural excursions meant to improve their knowledge of Lima’s history and heritage.
Most activities are free: learning reinforcement and access to a library with scholar textbooks and computers; english classes; legal counselling concerning labor issues, sexual counselling, emotional assistance; workshops (on self-esteem, rights and duties, dance, theatre, art, singing, cooking, handcrafting and more).
Panchita’s house is a symbol in the imagination of domestic workers who are not going to come here, but they know that it exists, and that we are here for them.
Home efficient care is a three-workshop model that provides home workers with tools to better negotiate with employers and achieve better working conditions.
The methodology of these trainings has been developed by AGTR and improved over 30 years. It is composed of an initial interview, in which the domestic worker, with the support of a social worker, creates their professional profile, and three workshops: The first, on self-esteem and valuation of domestic work, lays the foundation for the domestic worker to learn to value their experience and skills, overcoming interiorized social stereotypes. The second, on employer relationship management and conflict resolution, prepares the domestic worker for job interviews (the time when they lay the foundation for the future work relationship) and facing possible problems at work, the main reason for dismissal or resignation. The third, on the Home Workers Act (Law 31047), provides beneficiaries with the necessary knowledge about their rights and duties, so that they themselves claim them and, instead, comply with part.
AGTR and LCPSAC offer a labor intermediation service for the resolution of incidents and labor disputes between employers and domestic workers, especially in regards to the calculation of labor benefits and resolving doubts about the correct application of the regulation to avoid the termination of labor relations and to promote continuity of work and formality in the domestic service work sector. The service will be aimed especially at the beneficiaries of the project and its employers, but will be open to the general public.
We carried out advocacy initiatives for the adaptation of domestic labor standards, following the Government’s ratification of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Women Workers and Domestic Workers (ILO Convention 189) in 2018. These initiatives are carried out mainly at the negotiating tables of the Congress of the Republic, the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE), and the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations(MIMP). In addition, AGTR participates in the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labor (CPETI) and the National Initiative for the Rights of the Child (GIN) Group to promote the inclusion of domestic child labor in public policies.
AGTR receives volunteers from European, American and Peruvian universities and institutions who choose AGTR to carry out their professional pursuits. Existing partnerships will be strengthened and new agreements will be sought. Fund-raising will be present among the tasks of volunteers, especially with regard to the expansion of the organization’s networks of contacts and potential donors. AGTR will continue to develop new proposals for official development assistance (ODA) funding, online fundraising campaigns and organizing fundraising events. The last two strategies cite increasing the awareness of Lima and Peruvian society as an additional objective, in which support for civil society organizations is very limited. Improving AGTR’s collection capacity will also help ensure the sustainability of this project.
The Van de Panchita is the mobile unit of the Association Working Group Networks (AGTR), which travels through markets and fairs in districts on the outskirts of Lima, to provide information to women who are interested in working in domestic service and to promote decent work in this sector. AGTR communicators inform domestic workers – and the interested public – about Law 31047 (Domestic Workers Act), and encourage them to visit the Panchita SAC House, where they can train and access the employment agency’s services. This innovative contact and motivation strategy is carried out twice a week (usually on Wednesdays and Thursdays) from mid-September 2017 and will continue for at least three years. The project will directly benefit 3.600 adult women, who will know about their labor rights and benefits, be able to access a training program in domestic service work and have the opportunity to obtain employment with a written contract and recognition of social benefits according to law.
The Panchita Van route is communicated through AGTR social networks and the weekly radio program “No somos invisibles”, which is broadcast every Monday at 9pm on the No Somos Invisibles Facebook page.
