The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected thousands of lives across Kenya and globally. Without practically any advance notice or planning, all Kenyan schools closed down (following a mandatory directive by the government). Many institutions and organizations have laid off staff or instituted salary cuts due to the pandemic.  In some instances, employers have asked employees to work from home, with those who cannot work from home facing potential exposure to the coronavirus, reduced work hours or job loss.  As the Kenyan government continues to test, find more cases of COVID-19 and trace those who were in contact with infected persons, the number of COVID-19 cases has spiked significantly.  In March 30, 2020, there were 50 confirmed cases throughout Kenya with over two thousand under mandatory quarantine.   This necessitated the department of State to issue a global level 4 Health Advisory for COVID-19. Since then more than 20,000 cases have been identified with thousands being tested, traced and quarantined, and so far, over four hundred deaths reported.

When healthcare systems are stretched by efforts to contain outbreaks, care responsibilities are frequently “downloaded” onto women and girls, who usually bear responsibility for caring for ill family members and the elderly. The nationwide closure of schools further exacerbates the burden of unpaid care work on women and underage girls, who absorb the additional work of caring for children and other household chores. The underage girls also face a high risk of sexual violations (research has shown that children become more vulnerable to sexual violence when not in school) with limitations on finding readily available and sustainable interventions.

Domestic Workers have suffered a double tragedy as they suffer the usual stigma and now lack of jobs during this Covid-19 pandemic. CDTD has mounted digital services (calls, WhatsApp groups’ text messaging and social media) as all our field based activities have closed down due to the impact of lockdown measures. Our community based Trainers are continuously supporting domestic workers virtually, monitoring individual experiences and sharing COVID-19 resources.

CDTD’s shelter program, the Talia Agler Girls Shelter, which reaches, rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates abused and trafficked girls has seen a spike in requests for shelter and associated services. CDTD offers direct assistance to victims facing a wide array of human rights violations. Basic needs of food and shelter, medical check-ups, childcare, pregnancy care, psycho-social support, in-house tutoring, are still being provided. The shelter is in close communication with nearby health centers for support to new referrals who need testing and monitoring during quarantine as they adhere to strict hygiene procedures. Additionally, all new cases are being isolated and quarantined for a minimum of two weeks before joining other residents.

Locally, there is scarcity of resources for organizations responding directly to the pandemic.  So far, CDTD has received limited support towards its Covid-19 response, and we are faced with the threat of further downsizing our operations, which means shutting out support to very needy girls and women who rely on us for critical services. The little resources we had have already been spent supporting our front line teams, providing masks and sanitizers to our constituents and maintaining fair staff levels to help us respond during these challenging Covid-19 times.

Government Lockdown Measures and Restrictions: The measures that the Kenyan government has taken to reduce the spread of the virus have had a major impact on our service delivery. The social distancing directives have led to the total close down of all our field activities across 10 low – income neighborhoods in Nairobi, which serves over 10,000 female Domestic Workers, refugees and migrant populations in our programs. As a service driven organization, we are unable to reach out and respond to our beneficiaries efficiently.

Lack of employment: We have placed less than 10 Domestic Workers into jobs since the first social distancing directive by the government on March 2020. This leaves most of our beneficiaries under duress to provide for their families. Our primary beneficiaries, Domestic Workers (who include young refugee women casual workers), are more likely to be employed in service sectors that have been hit hardest by social distancing measures, more likely to be on insecure and zero hours contracts and more likely to be in insecure housing situations. Single women Domestic Workers and female headed households in particular (who form 70% of our beneficiaries), are less able to afford basic necessities and access jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spike in GBV cases: There has been increased concerns with the rise in GBV cases as a result of self-isolation and loss of livelihoods. Lack of structures to support home studying during the pandemic has left school going children at risk of dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancies ( a staggering 45,000 girl pregnancies aged between 10 and 19 years have been reported within the Covid-19 period across Kenya).  There’s increased demand for shelter and related services for GBV survivors.

Closure of learning institutions – With schools closed for a long period, limited resources and glaring threats of the spread of the pandemic, we cannot intervene efficiently in these issues. HomecareHub's sponsors trafficked and abused girls, young women and children in primary, high schools as well as in tertiary training institutions to ensure their safety and commitment to education.

Resource constraints: With over 60 full board shelter beneficiaries, unemployed Domestic Workers expecting support, heightened operational costs and a handful donor funds, HomecareHub’s financial resources are deeply constrained.

Constrained movement – Public transport is a serious concern for program beneficiaries’ as well as HomecareHub’s staff who have to go to work or engage in activities outside of the home due to hiked prices and the risk of contracting the virus. There is increased police brutality on those who do not observe curfew measures.