Addis Ababa
Freedom Fund
Summary The Freedom Fund (freedomfund.org) is a global non-profit organisation that identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate human trafficking and exploitation. The Freedom Fund seeks a research partner to evaluate a program focused on ending the exploitation of child domestic workers in Ethiopia. The research will examine the norms and behaviours of families in Ethiopia and measure potential changes in positively influencing employers’ (and household members’) attitudes toward, and treatment of, child domestic workers in Addis Ababa. Reflective of child safeguarding standards, the evaluation should incorporate innovative child-led approaches (such as PhotoVoice or other participatory methods) to qualitatively assess both the baseline impact of domestic work on children and their employers, including other children in the family, and an endline implementation to assess the impact of the campaign on families in the community. Applicants are invited to propose appropriate evaluation designs; longitudinal methods would be considered. Domestic work is one of the most common forms of paid work among girls in Ethiopia (Erulkar et al., 2010). Child domestic work can contribute to a child’s development and is not inherently harmful. However, in reality, many child domestic workers experience subjugation, intimidation, and an obligation to provide services to private households. Very often the child worker is considered ‘under the care’ of a relative which takes away any form of employer responsibility. The lack of the relationship’s formality undermines the child’s rights and leaves the relationship open to abuse and exploitation. The Freedom Fund aims to influence the behaviours of employers to ultimately reduce the risk of exploitation and abuse of child domestic workers. The program seeks to innovatively engage both employers and their children so that they understand household responsibilities towards child domestic workers, the needs and rights of child domestic workers and the circumstances in which children should not be working. The Freedom Fund anticipates this project to commence in April, with fieldwork for the baseline assessment taking place in July and August 2022 and an endline assessment in 2024 (though longitudinal designs may offer alternate timelines). The exact time frame will depend on when ethical approval is granted for the research. Timelines and research activities are adaptable in response to covid-19 and other unforeseeable disruptions.Introduction to the Freedom Fund and its work in Ethiopia The Freedom Fund is a global non-profit organisation that identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent. We work with frontline organisations to help protect vulnerable populations, liberate, and reintegrate those enslaved and prosecute those responsible. Through our innovative hotspot model, we convene strategically aligned networks of anti-slavery NGOs in high prevalence areas of Ethiopia, Brazil, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand to multiply the capacity, impact and influence of frontline partners. In Ethiopia, our hotspot program was first launched in July 2015 and has invested USD 8.5 million to combat the domestic servitude of Ethiopian women and girls migrating to the Middle East. Our head office is based in London, but the Freedom Fund is also a registered organisation (NGO) in Ethiopia. Until 2021, the Ethiopia program aimed at generating improved understanding and practises of safer migration, at providing socio-economic support to those most likely to migrate, at strengthening governance structures and systems for safer migration and supporting migrant workers, while promoting learning and good practices. Since 2015, the hotspot program in Ethiopia has improved the lives of more than 141,000 victims of trafficking and vulnerable women and girls, partnering with eleven local NGOs in Addis Ababa and Amhara working to reduce the risk of, and support those affected by, trafficking and exploitation. Last year, the Freedom Fund expanded its work from cross-border migration into internal migration, focusing on exploitation and servitude amongst child domestic workers (CDWs), with the aim of measurably reducing the prevalence of domestic servitude amongst girls in Addis Ababa as well as improving the migration outcomes of Ethiopian women and girls in the Middle East. The Freedom Fund has a strong interest in directly including girls’ voices in our evaluations using participatory research methods. The present program by the Freedom Fund and its partners aims to improve CDWs’ working conditions and reduce domestic servitude of Ethiopian girls by: influencing the attitudes and behaviour of key stakeholders, such as employers, recruiters, and transporters; building civil society organisation capacity to incentivise government responsiveness and improve the legislative framework, including mechanisms for children’s participation in advocacy; and improving the quality of services provided to at risk CDWs and survivors, especially access to education and vocational training. The CDW program’s main objective is to uphold the rights of CDWs and substantially and measurably reduce the prevalence of domestic servitude amongst girls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Budget A fee of approximately USD 45,000 has been made available for this research. Budgets will be reviewed with respect to the strength of the proposal in meeting the project objectives in a cost-effective manner - we do not simply prioritise the lowest budget. This is a fixed price contractFor more details and application click the below link: ChildDomesticWorkersEthiopia_2022.pdf