Lack of employment has greatly contributed towards girls and women living in urban informal settlements and rural areas engaging in transactional sex and contracting HIV. Over 600,000 women in Nairobi(Mostly in the 17 slums) are jobless and are are pushed to engage in vices such us transactional sex or crime to make ends meet.In extreme cases some women exchange sex for basic things such as sanitary pads

Our intervention is based on the following 3 key result areas.

To achieve the expected results, we have divided the program into three main result areas.

• Result Area 1 – Recruit, train women and provide them with employment.
• Result Area 2 – Promote HIV prevention and reproductive health among the beneficiaries
• Result Area 3 – Enhance savings, financial inclusion and sustainability.

1.1 Result Area 1 – Recruit, train women and provide them with employment

1.1.1 Recruit and vetting

We shall vet and recruit vulnerable young women from the informal settlements and poor rural homesteads where poverty levels are very high. Recruitment and vetting will involve local administration, County government, religious leaders and opinion leaders. Recruitment will involve pre-screening, security checks, referencing and accessing the girls’ vulnerability

1.1.2 To conduct an integrated one-month training

In the one-month training, we will use our established nanny curriculum which will equip the women with various skills that will see them get jobs either as professional childcare givers, house-helps, office cleaners, tea girls or waiters in restaurants.

We will train the women in batches of 60 students every month. During the training, we will make accommodation arrangements for 60 women.

After the training, the women will get job placements in the Blue Collar Industry which includes nannies,house-helps,cleaners,tea-girls,waiters and messengers.

1.1.3 Ensure successful completion of the integrated training and graduation of the women

We will see that all women complete their training and graduate. In doing so, the women will do weekly Assessment tests and a final general exam that will make sure they take the training seriously.

The classes will be active and each student will be expected to take part in group work with an expected team result. The women will find the training enjoyable and our experience has shown that this leads to a high class attendance rate.

The issuance of certificates and that assurance of a decent job after the training are motivating factors that will see all the girls finish their training.

1.1.4 Conduct job placement of the trained women

We maintain a detailed personal profile of trained women. The profile is used for the job search and placements.

Our Job placement process ensures that the employer gets a worker that fit his/her needs and also that the workers gets a decent job and with good working conditions.

The following are the steps of the Job placement process for use in placing the trained women in employment:

• Step 1: The Mother Goose Agency receives the profiles of the women who have successfully completed their training
• Step 2: Employers fill an online inquiry form available on the Mother Goose Website. We receive the inquiry form with details of the employer’s requirements.
• Step 3: We match the employer’s requirements with the profiles of our graduate. Successful matching is critical to a successful and long working relationship with the domestic workers enjoying permanent work contracts with favorable conditions.
• Step 4: We interview the potential employee and once satisfied we organize another interview to be conducted by the employer in the presence of our officer. During the interview, the parties get to know each other and talk about their expectations.
• Step 5: Signing of a Probation Contract is done following a successful interview. The employer and the employee agree on a work contract that meets Kenyan legal standards on labour. The Probation period is 3 months. The Work Contract is executed if both parties are satisfied and want to continue with the agreement after the probation period. During the probation period, we supports the worker with advice and continuous mentorship.If any issue arises, then we mediate to get a workable solution.

Under The Mother Goose Agency, working women can be guaranteed of the following benefits:

• We will manage and offer continuous support and mentorship to the women during their working life.
• We will ensure that they earn at least the government recommended minimum salary which is currently set at Kshs 12, 926.55 as contained in the The Regulation of Wages (GENERAL) (AMENDMENT) Order, 2017. However, we always strive to push employers to pay more than the recommended minimum.
• We will receive the monthly salary payment on behalf of the employed women, deduct the NHIF and pay the monthly net salary through their bank accounts.
• We ensure that our placed workers enjoy good working conditions, without long working hours and a weekend day off plus yearly paid leave and sick leave.
• In the event of a breach of contract by the employer or an infringement on the workers’ rights, we endeavor to assist the women with advice on labour laws, negotiation and in a worst case scenario, we link the women with an advocate.
• We maintain profiles and performance records of all the workers we have trained and placed. Every year, we reward the best worker. We have found this to be a motivating factor that leads to high productivity.

1.2 Result Area 2 – Promote HIV prevention and reproductive health among beneficiaries.

Research has shown that women earning a decent wage are less likely to engage in transactional sex. They are also able to make better choices as regards sexual partners. Ensuring that our students get decent jobs promotes HIV prevention.

To promote reproductive health, we will ensure all the women we train enroll with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). Once enrolled, they can access the NHIF’s Linda Mama program in addition to other health services run offered by the NHIF.

Prior to commencement of training we will make sure that every woman is registered under the NHIF and NSSF.We will procure the NHIF registration forms from the NHIF offices and hand them out to every student during admission day. The women will fill in all the NHIF forms and we will then submit the same to NHIF offices.

After the first month of working, all the working women will be expected to have received their NHIF cards. The Mother Goose Nanny Agency will deduct the NHIF contributions from the salaries remitted by the Employers and make the NHIF payments on behalf of the Girls. A clear record of monthly NHIF payment of each working Girl will be maintained.

1.3 Result Area 3 – Enhance savings, financial inclusion and sustainability

The Mother Goose Nanny Agency maintains an employee database system. We will maintain a record of all salary earned, deductions, saving, advances and so forth, etc. We already have an internal savings scheme that is open to all employed domestic workers. We will introduce the savings scheme to all the trained women and encourage them save at least ten percent of their monthly income.

Additionally, we will ensure all working women register with NSSF and ensure regular monthly contributions are made to the scheme. By putting aside money via NSSF, they will have secured their financial stability upon retiring.

We shall also organize periodic seminars on financial literacy to educate all our graduates on investment vehicles such as M-Akiba Government bond, shares, fixed accounts and the like.

We will also assist our graduates to form savings groups (chamas).

2 Evaluation

At the end of one month project, The Mother Goose Nanny School Kenya will have the following successful outcomes:

• At the end of the training, over 90 percent of the enrolled women complete the training, graduate and receive their certificates.
• One month following the training, all the trained women have a permanent decent job that pays the minimum recommended salary in Kenya.
• All the working women have bank accounts at a leading financial institution in Kenya.
• All working women are registered with NHIF and NSSF.
• The Mother Goose will have successfully empowered the women economically and helped reduce the incidence of transactional sex and HIV/AIDS.