When a group of domestic worker leaders in Latin America met to discuss how best to improve the union movement, they agreed leadership training would be key to build growing unions. Eight years later, the Leadership for Unity, reNewal and Amplification (LUNA) has involved some 200 leaders from across the continent who have gone on to develop strategies that improved their organizing, advocacy, leadership and movement-building skills—while gaining tens of thousands of new union members.
The LUNA leadership program included nearly 200 domestic workers. Credit: Solidarity Center / Alexis de Simone
“We went above and beyond our own expectations,” said Adriana Paz, LUNA co-creator and general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF). “It was a learning for all of us. It was not easy,” said Paz, describing the intensive training for leaders. (The IDWF recently published a statement on the importance of domestic workers.)
Paz recently joined other domestic worker-leaders and Solidarity Center staff for a discussion with Four Corners, whose evaluation team assessed the multiple-year trainings. The report, “From Silos to Solidarity,” found LUNA’s approaches were effective in achieving the Solidarity Center’s and domestic worker movement’s shared goals to empower domestic worker activists, strengthen civic engagement among workers and their communities, advance leadership development and foster worker protections. The report also discussed lessons learned that offer potential for replication across other regions and labor programs.
LUNA “showed the importance of taking time with people,” said Sarah McKenzie, Solidarity Center program strategy and innovation director. “It’s a real lesson about movement building.”
Healing, Growing and So Much More
Domestic worker leaders found during the LUNA program that the first step toward growing a union involves healing themselves.
Domestic worker leaders found the first step toward growing a union involves healing themselves. Credit: Solidarity Center/Alexis de Simone
From the beginning, they knew they needed “a leadership school that really addresses the human soul,” said Paz. However, they did not anticipate the power of healing.
The LUNA program involves training in organizing strategies, political education and building new models of leadership. It also applies somatics, a holistic approach that recognizes the intricate connection between mind and body.
“LUNA achieved our healing, improving us not just for others but ourselves as well,” said Carmen Britez, LUNA co-creator and IDWF president. “We leaders did not know what somatics was, what it would be for us. With somatics, we are able to be healthy.”
Further, said Britez, “often, we do not realize all the work that as leaders we undertake. Now, our sisters can mentor other sisters and see them progress.”
Expanding Achievements
Ruth Diaz, IDWF executive committee member and early LUNA graduate and facilitator, said that in LUNA “we see the incalculable value of domestic work. We see LUNA results in Latin America and hope to replicate it around the world.”
Domestic workers sign a photo of Myrtle Wibooi, founding member of IDWF. Credit: Solidarity Center / Alexis de Simone
As the other leaders who took part in discussing the program’s assessment, Diaz said “we are really amazed by how much we have achieved. Members are more and more ambitious, they want to do more.”
At the start of the LUNA program, domestic workers hoped to increase union membership by 5,000, Britez said. That number instead rose to 15,000 and soon, 37,000 new members—a success that leaders such as Britez say could not have happened without LUNA’s “powerful intervention.”
As they connected though LUNA, they also joined together for the first time across Latin America to work with governments on key issues. In Paraguay, they spoke of their concerns in a social dialogue with decision makers. In Brazil, FENATRAD leaders secured support and implementation for key public policies to improve working conditions by launching the Programa Mulheres Mil, a professional education program that will guarantee access to formal education and financial assistance to hundreds of women.
FENATRAD leaders are part of the program’s management committee and are also acting as educators in four of six cities. Their advocacy efforts secured the approval of a federal law that inserts International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention189 on domestic workers into Brazilian legislation.
“We support ourselves and our sisters—that’s the impact of this program,” said Britez.
Evaluation Demonstrates LUNA’s Success
The evaluation report included eight “themes” or goals, such as “Cultivating Resilience for Empowered Leadership” and “Driving Collective Action for Inclusive Democracy.” The evaluation discussed the success of each and examined the “lessons learned” applicable in Latin America and globally.
Through LUNA, domestic worker leaders increased union membership from a few thousand to 37,000. Credit: Solidarity Center/ Alexis de Simone
The project’s construction was a key part of the success, says Alaa Shelbaia, Solidarity Center deputy director for program quality, learning and compliance.
“The somatic practices element creates a space for emerging leaders to recognize their challenges and ensure a healthy transition to exercise power and fully engage in the labor movement as they embrace shared decision-making, collaborate with unions and build unity among unions at a regional level,” she said.
Latin America has up to 18 million domestic workers, most of whom are women, and 16 Latin American countries have ratified ILO Convention 189. To educate workers about their rights and mobilize them for collective action, LUNA included leadership development, campaign support and regional networking and collaboration for national and international domestic worker-leaders across Latin America.
“It’s very gratifying seeing our sisters growing and evolving,” said Cleide Pinto, graduate of LUNA and general secretary of CONLACTRAHO (Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Domestic Workers).
“We are continuing to work on this project because of all we have achieved on a personal level,” said Britez. “This is about workers driving their own project.”
LUNA is a collaboration of the IDWF, CONLACTRAHO, somatics facilitators, the Solidarity Center and donors such as the National Endowment for Democracy and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation. LUNA was also supported for one year by USAID (via the Global Labor Program), CARE International and Open Society Foundation.