JAGISTS

There is nothing more comforting for workers than to know that their children and elderly relatives are being properly cared for.
In Europe, care, especially for young children and the elderly, is one of the fastest growing sectors.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the care services sector has the potential to create about 300 million new jobs globally. It, therefore, called for more investment in this sector.

The global body in a report on care at work, highlighted the benefits of investing in care services and policies to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality and support care for children and the elderly.
The new report, titled, ‘Care at Work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work,’ also highlighted the need for balancing a job with care that is essential for societies and economies to thrive and of narrowing significant gaps in care services.

Maternity Protection and Work Family Specialist of the ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI), Laura Addati, in the report, revealed that paid care work is an important source of employment, especially for women.
She said the care workforce represents more than eight per cent of total employment of 12 million workers.

With its potential on job creation, she raised the need to strengthen social dialogue and consultation process to develop a better system and mechanism in the important agenda.

Taking a look at the sector in Nigeria, operators urged the Federal Government to beam its light on the care service, stating that legislation is required to ensure adherence to standards, as well as regulate the conduct of care providers.

The Chief Executive Officer, Arrowshot Care Solutions, Dapo Olugbodi, who noted that the care economy is growing as the demand for childcare and care for the elderly is increasing in all regions, said his organisation is prepared to work with the Nigerian government on providing adequate legislation for the care industry in Nigeria.
According to him, there are 15 fundamentals standard of care that should be adhered to by professionals in the care industry.
He urged operators in the industry to focus on strong adherence to ethical standards in the discharge of their duties.
He said these owe mainly to the duties care industry deal with human lives and as a result, strong focus on professionalism should be the standard.

Olugbodi explained that adequate training and exposure of care providers to global standards in care industry were crucial factors to instill public confidence in the industry.
He stated that it had become imperative for the government to institute proper structural framework in the care service industry to save it from unprofessionalism and quacks.
This, according to him, is to ensure that proper standards are maintained in line with best global practices.
Noting that care service is a professional service aimed at providing adequate care for the elderly, adequate training of care service providers, Olugbodi said, was paramount.

He said Arrowshot care solution is poised to raise the standard by providing holistic training for the care providers.
“It should be emphasised that the training is in line with global requirements. The training for our staff is provided by a United Kingdom (UK) based care company.
“There is the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in UK, which is empowered to monitor the care sector. There is the Care ACT, which regulates how to provide care for people. The basis of it is to give individuals independence. The care industry is regulated to large extent. We will be working with the Nigerian government to bring about legislations. There should be standard and legislation for the care industry in Nigeria,” he said.

The Arrowshot boss, who said the care economy is growing as the demand for childcare and care for the elderly is increasing in all regions, he said the sector will create a great number of jobs in the coming years.
“However, care work across the world remains characterised by a void of benefits and protections, low wages or non-compensation, and exposure to physical, mental and in some cases, sexual harm.
“It is clear that new solutions to care are needed on two fronts in regards to the nature and provision of care policies and services and the terms and conditions of care work,” he added.

The Guardian gathered that investing in the care sector can boost employment of women and men, increases Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is essential to overcoming entrenched discrimination against women at workplace and in society.
Studies have also revealed that work in the care sector remains significantly undervalued and characterised by poor pay and working conditions.
Women do more than three-quarter of unpaid care work.   This is equivalent to 13 per cent of global GDP, or $10 trillion per year.

In six emerging economies, an investment of two per cent of GDP in care would create over 42 million jobs.

Care jobs are often low-paid, physically and emotionally demanding with high workloads carried out with insecure conditions, inadequate training and poor career prospects, and in some extreme cases in conditions of near slavery.

While care workers are often badly paid, care is expensive for those who have to pay for it out of their own pocket.