Facing high population growth and extreme poverty, domestic work in Tanzania offers the opportunity for children with little education to enter paid employment. This report describes an evaluation and analysis of the impact of the drafting, and prospective adoption, of local bylaws designed to protect the rights of such Child Domestic Workers (CDWs) in the districts of Ilemela and Nyamagana in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. This project, led by Anti-SIavery International and it’s in-country partner the Tanzanian Child Domestic Workers Association (TCDWC), sought to implement a legal framework to ensure that the rights of CDWs were promoted and protected at the local level, in accordance with the Tanzanian Law of the Child Act (2009). This evaluation shows that the grassroots approach taken to the drafting and approval of the bylaws has had beneficial outputs and outcomes in both project and non-project wards within the two project districts. Six thousand two hundred and eighty six CDWs were registered, almost a third of whom (32.4 per cent) had agreed work contracts. This achievement begins to address the pressing concerns about CDW visibility in Tanzania and stands in stark contrast to the complete absence of CDW visibility in the comparison ward, Magu. There is also clear evidence of an increase in the reported cases of abuse against CDWs in ‘project’ versus ‘non-project’ wards; a discernible shift in CDW, employer and local community attitudes; and greater willingness by community members to intervene where CDWs face discrimination or abuse.

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