The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office) is excited to announce nine new awards under the Program to End Modern Slavery (PEMS) in Brazil, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Tunisia. These awards further the PEMS goals of combining cutting-edge research with targeted programming to rigorously test prevalence research methods and the effectiveness of human trafficking interventions.
Three of the new projects will focus on reducing the prevalence of forced labor within Brazil in the coffee industry, cattle industry, and gold mining sector, through research and programs conducted by the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, Pan American Development Foundation, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, respectively. These awards will contribute to PEMS’ continued efforts to develop and use rigorous prevalence research to guide programming, while building evidence on methods to reduce human trafficking in specific sectors.
The remaining six awards will build on research previously conducted by the PEMS-funded Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) in Brazil, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Tunisia. The results of these studies will be used to create targeted programs to reduce human trafficking in those countries. The researchers who conducted the PRIF baseline prevalence studies will partner with other organizations to implement these programs. In addition to the activities described below, each project will evaluate the impact of these programs on reducing the prevalence of human trafficking.
These nine new awards include the following:
The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) received $5 million to reduce forced labor in Brazil’s agriculture sector through interventions targeting the coffee industry in the state of Minas Gerais. GFEMS will work to comprehensively address critical gaps with a group of coordinated, synergistic interventions, including a grievance mechanism available to workers, and a decision support tool to improve the targeting of labor inspections. Each intervention’s efficacy will be tested through a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) received an $8.5 million award to reduce forced labor in the cattle industry in Pará, Brazil through coordinated efforts that include awareness-raising, building law enforcement and employer capacity, and increasing access to victim-centered services. PADF will also work to increase government capacity to collect data, enhance coordination among agencies, and provide victim-centered services. All of these efforts will be tailored based on future research that PADF will conduct to better understand the nature of forced labor in the cattle industry.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime received $2.5 million to develop a better understanding of forced labor within the gold mining sector of Pará, Brazil, filling a critical knowledge gap and informing future anti-trafficking efforts. Research will include a prevalence study, analysis of the supply and value chains of gold mining, and an examination of the convergence of forced labor with other criminal activities.
Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum expansion projects:
Freedom Fund received $1.3 million to focus on efforts to reduce child sex trafficking in Recife and Olinda, Brazil. This project will promote government and civil society coordination in preventing child sex trafficking, develop and share evidence on the prevalence of child sex trafficking with multi-sectoral partners, and increase child protection through comprehensive care and prevention efforts.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice received two awards in 2021: $1.6 million to address forced labor in Costa Rica’s artisanal fishing sector, and $1.3 million to reduce forced labor among domestic workers in Tanzania. In Costa Rica, John Jay will work alongside local partners to address forced labor in the Gulf of Nicoya. The program will focus on capacity development of individuals to identify and safely refer possible victims of trafficking, and empower at-risk communities to know their rights and to access legal aid. In Tanzania, John Jay and local partners will work in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam to reduce forced labor among domestic workers through pre-departure education for workers, and the education of community-based organizations to assist victims.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health received $1.3 million to partner with local organizations to address forced labor in the brick-kiln industry within the Sindh Province of Pakistan. The program will provide workers with direct services along with awareness-raising and capacity building activities for law enforcement, bar associations, trade unions, and other key stakeholders.
Stanford University Human Trafficking Data Lab received $1.3 million to develop and deploy advanced technology to detect forced labor in the charcoal industry in Pará, Brazil. Additional aims include the development of broad multispecialty teams as well as advocacy to provide support for survivors and vulnerable communities.
The University of Massachusetts-Lowell received $1.4 million for their project focused on reducing human trafficking among domestic workers in Tunisia by building the capacity of justice sector professionals and providing trauma-informed services for survivors. The program will focus on training and capacity-building for policymakers, legal professionals, local stakeholders, and civil society organizations, as well as an information-sharing campaign for policymakers.
Source: U.S Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
