A Home in Jazza Centre: Rethinking Domestic Work with Dignity and Scale

In Nairobi, Kenya, the story of domestic work is often one of invisibility, long hours, low pay, and few protections. But Susan, a mother of eight and a former domestic worker, tells a different story.

“I tell my client, I have a home here in Nairobi. And if you mistreat me, I’ll go back to Jazza and they’ll find me another job.”

This is how Susan describes her renewed sense of agency. After enduring a difficult separation, she found her way to Jazza Centre. Today, she earns Ksh 15,000 (approximately US$116) a month, her children are back in school, and for the first time in years, she feels confident about the future.

Susan’s story shows that Jazza Centre is more than a domestic worker placement service. It provides structured and dignified employment pathways for women who have long been excluded from formal employment. In doing so, it demonstrates how change is possible in a sector that has long been marked by informality and invisibility.

The Informality Challenge

Kenya’s domestic work sector comprises an estimated 2 million workers, approximately 80% of whom are women. Despite their essential contributions to the economy and household well-being, the sector remains largely informal and under-regulated. As a result, many domestic workers often operate without contracts, legal protections, or statutory benefits. Many earn below the minimum wage, face exploitative conditions, and remain unrecognized in policy and practice.

Jazza Centre emerged in response to these systemic challenges. As a domestic worker training and placement organisation, it equips women, particularly young and middle-aged workers, with professional skills and formal job placements. Its original model involved recruiting low-income women and hosting them in residential training facilities for up to a month. Jazza covered accommodation, meals, and training upfront. These costs were later recovered through placement fees once the individual was matched to a job.

Graduates of this program not only acquired skills in childcare, hygiene, and home management but also gained an understanding of their rights. They signed formal contracts, negotiated better wages, and accessed health insurance. Each in-house training cycle lasted approximately 21 days and required significant upfront investment. However, while impactful, this approach was financially unsustainable. High upfront costs and delayed fee recovery through placements limited Jazza Centre’s ability to scale.

A Strategic Partnership to Unlock Scale

Recognizing the need for a more sustainable approach, BFA Global partnered with Jazza Centre through the Opportunity Leads Umbrella Fund program to unlock scale without compromising quality or inclusion.

Together, we designed and implemented a six-month nano engagement, structured as a rapid, test-and-learn pilot, to refine how Jazza could operate more efficiently while continuing to support low-income women.

It became clear that Jazza did not need to provide all the training in-house. By collaborating with institutions already training domestic workers, Jazza could concentrate on evaluating job readiness and facilitating faster, more cost-effective placements.

The Shift: Partnering for Training, Focusing on Placement

Jazza explored partnerships with a range of training providers:

• TVET institutions (Technical and Vocational Education Training): These public training bodies allowed Jazza to embed its content and standards into programs led and certified by these institutions. However, TVETs charged a significant trainee fee, making cost management more rigid and scaling more expensive.
• Private domestic worker employment agencies: These agencies, particularly those preparing workers for overseas employment (e.g., in GCC countries), provided access to a ready pool of candidates. Many were already trained or had prior experience, making them suitable for quick placement and offering a lower-cost, lower-risk alternative to in-house training.
• Government-affiliated training centers: Though underutilized, these centers have a longstanding mandate to train domestic workers and offer potential for a broader reach.

Instead of phasing out Jazza’s own trainers, the agency repositioned its staff to monitor and assess external training programs. Trainers ensured curriculum quality, verified competencies, and conducted refresher sessions where necessary.

This approach enabled Jazza to identify pre-trained women who needed minimal upskilling and matched them to jobs more quickly. After an initial assessment or targeted training at partner institutions, candidates transitioned to Jazza’s premises for a brief orientation focused on high-demand skills specific to Jazza’s employer base, before being placed in jobs.

Tangible Results from the New Model

The pilot delivered significant results:

• Reduced time-to-placement: The average time dropped from 21 days to 8 days for pre-trained candidates.
• Lower training costs: Partnering with external providers reduced the cost per worker by 3,311 Ksh, a 35% reduction compared to the previous year, freeing up resources to serve more women.
• Increased placement volumes: There was a 35% growth in monthly placements relative to the same period last year.
• Higher earnings: Some placed workers earned up to Ksh 14,000 per month, up from a baseline of Ksh 8,000.

While some workers still earn below the minimum wage, the increase from their previous income is substantial (an average income increase of 63%). More importantly, they now benefit from formal employment protections, including contracts, days off, health insurance, clear grievance processes, and the option to be rematched if needed. These improvements create a more secure, respectful, and professional work environment. 

This shift also strengthened Jazza’s operational model, allowing sustainable scaling while continuing to help low-income women access dignified work, with the right skills, legal protections, and renewed confidence.

Worker Perspectives: Beyond Wages

To explore the impact more deeply, BFA Global interviewed 22 domestic workers placed through Jazza. Several themes emerged from their experiences:

• Economic empowerment: Workers reported being able to afford school fees, healthcare, and even put money aside for investment. One worker proudly shared, 

“With the money I got working for the professor, I bought half an acre… because I couldn’t wait for a man to provide a home.“

• Personal growth and resilience: Beyond practical skills, workers emphasized how emotional and interpersonal training helped them navigate work environments with greater confidence.
• Sense of security: Knowing that Jazza could intervene in the case of mistreatment gave workers a critical safety net.
• New aspirations: Many workers viewed domestic work as a temporary stepping stone. With higher incomes and structured support, they envisioned starting businesses or pursuing further education. As one woman worker put it:

“When I walk out from Jazza, I’ll push myself… the hotel I’ll open in Kisumu [it] will be the best. Mine.”

Challenges and Trade-Offs

While institutional partnerships improved placement efficiency and reduced costs, they introduced new challenges:

• • Access barriers: Some training institutions required upfront payment, potentially excluding the poorest women, whom Jazza was initially built to support.

• Additional financial burdens on candidates: When referred through private employment agencies, candidates were often subjected to multiple financial obligations, including fees for their initial training, agency commissions, and Jazza Centre’s placement charges.

• Inclusion risks: A focus on job-ready candidates could inadvertently shift resources away from new entrants who require comprehensive training.
• Variable quality: Not all partner-trained candidates met Jazza’s quality standards. Sometimes retraining was necessary.
• Partner Accountability: Some partners imposed undisclosed admission fees, increasing candidate costs and eroding trust. When discovered, these partnerships were discontinued, but this affected placement numbers and overall program impact.

Balancing Trade-offs and Expanding with Purpose

Balancing these trade-offs is essential. A sustainable model must continue to serve the most vulnerable while efficiently placing experienced candidates. Some ways to do this include:

• Defining clear partnership terms with educational institutions to ensure transparency and avoid unexpected costs.
• Aligning training curricula between TVET centres and internal programs to harmonize content and reduce redundant retraining.
• Pursuing geographic expansion by partnering with trusted training providers in new regions who understand local demand dynamics, enabling more efficient and targeted placement strategies.
• Striking a balance between supporting new workers and streamlining placements for experienced ones to sustain both impact and viability.

• Experiment with low-cost tools, such as WhatsApp chatbots, to assess demand for on-demand domestic services in an agile manner.

Building the Demand Side

As the supply of qualified workers grew, Jazza also faced a new challenge: matching the increased supply with sufficient demand. A competitor analysis and employer survey conducted by BFA Global revealed a strong market opportunity in Kenya, with few credible local competitors and high demand for affordable, well-trained domestic managers.

To capitalize on this opportunity, we launched a digital marketing campaign across Facebook and Instagram to boost visibility and attract potential employers. While demand existed, the effort revealed that effectively reaching employers through social media requires more tailored strategies and ongoing refinement.

• Facebook was more effective at reaching prospective workers, revealing an unmet demand for access to structured employment.
• There’s room to improve audience targeting, particularly among employers, through client testimonials, stronger value-driven visuals, and strategic organic growth.

This experimentation highlighted the need for platform-specific messaging across digital platforms and revealed a broader opportunity for digital tools to play a more central role in domestic worker placement.

Recommendations to build a stronger domestic work ecosystem

Jazza’s journey offers several insights for the broader sector, highlighting what it takes to build a more inclusive, professional, and sustainable domestic work ecosystem.

For Training and Placement Agencies:

• Standardize training content across providers and ensure dignified training conditions through safe housing, proper meals, hygiene supplies, and a supportive environment.
• Include soft skills, emotional resilience, and financial literacy alongside practical modules, such as childcare, cooking, and first aid, as part of the core training. 
• Introduce structured post-placement support, such as peer mentorship and caseworker follow-ups. Counselling and emotional support services may be necessary for workers navigating difficult or abusive work environments.
• Maintain transparency around contracts, fees, and placement expectations.
• Influence employer-worker relationships by embedding values-based orientation at the point of hiring, amplifying respectful narratives, and using social media platforms to promote content on dignity and professionalism in domestic work.

For Donors and Development Partners:

• Fund scholarships for low-income trainees who cannot afford upfront fees.
• De-risk experimentation by supporting pilot programs that test alternative training or placement models, such as the creation of digital tools.
• Collaborate with fintech providers to embed savings, credit, and insurance products into domestic worker ecosystems.
• Support training initiatives focused on financial literacy, worker rights, and formal employment practices, including managing employer expectations and promoting fair and respectful treatment of workers.

For Policymakers:

• Promote formalization through standard contracts and labour protections.
• Align domestic work within broader employment and skills development frameworks.
• Recognize and integrate domestic work into national economic planning, as it forms a significant portion of the female workforce.

A Vision for the Future

Jazza Centre’s evolution shows that the domestic work sector can be transformed when treated with dignity, supported by structure, and strengthened through investment. By aligning the needs of workers and employers, the model boosts incomes, confidence, and household trust. Formalized contracts, health insurance, clear grievance mechanisms, and structured training not only improve job quality but also restore dignity and autonomy to women who have long been marginalized.

As Jazza continues to scale, maintaining inclusion at the heart of its model will be crucial. Supporting both new entrants and experienced workers can ensure that growth does not come at the cost of equity.

With the right partnerships and policies, Kenya’s domestic work sector can shift from invisibility to recognition, from exploitation to empowerment, and from survival to opportunity for millions of women across the country and beyond.

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