Policy visits aim to achieve a better understanding of how the system works in each participating country (France, Spain and Italy) and to gather stakeholders in order to facilitate exchanges of good practices, information sharing, the research of common solutions and the creation of a common pathway regarding the professionalisation of domestic workers. They should allow the emergence of a common consensus involving all stakeholders and all other relevant actors.
More specifically, during the policy visit in Paris, it was explained to the Spanish and Italian guests (elected representatives, institutional representatives and technicians) how the sector of domestic work is structured in France and what is the available training and professionalisation offer.
For this, speakers from various background (trade unions, ministries, VET providers, public employment services, regional representatives…) have presented in detail the different aspects of the sector such as its evolution, the declaration system of domestic work between individuals, the importance of social dialogue, the functioning of vocational training or the system of regional employment and vocational training policies.
Building on the same types of elements, the speakers of the policy visit in Madrid intended to explain the legal frame in which domestic workers are evolving in Spain, and their national specificities. It seems that, even more than in the French system, there is still a long way to go to achieve professionalisation of these workers, hence the interest of the PRODOME project and of these visits to foster experience sharing and the setting of concrete measures. Furthermore, it is to be said that the visit in Madrid was related to the national system whereas the regional level will be addressed during a next visit in Bilbao in the Basque country.
The upcoming visits in the frame of the project are designed to understand the Spanish and the Italian systems, as much at a national level as at a regional level. This choice to distinguish the two levels seems to be more relevant in countries less centralised than France, as Spain and Italy, in particular in the field of vocational training.
