stop.traffick in Cambodia: Fair trade, NOT human trade.
Empowering and skilling former-slaves to become economically self-sufficient and act as global change-makers advocating against human trafficking and fighting injustice by launching stop.traffick product range.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy)
1998
YouTube Upload
Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Vulnerability of targeted populations
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Increase community resilience
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
The project will have the dual objectives of simultaneously addressing two barriers to modern-day slavery:
• Reducing the vulnerability of target populations: By teaching vocational and business enterprise skills to former slaves and enhancing the marketability and increasing profits generated from the sales of the products they make as part of the skill training program
• Invisibility of problem: To raise awareness of human trafficking in Cambodia and of HCC activities both locally and abroad by producing products that prominently display the clear and concise anti-trafficking message “stop.traffick”. Additionally, each “stop.traffick’ item will be accompanied by a small gift card that will briefly give explanation to the human trafficking problem in Cambodia, the work of HCC and direct consumers to HCC’s website where they can obtain further information and make donations online to financially support HCC anti-trafficking programs.
Name Your Project
stop.traffick in Cambodia: Fair trade, NOT human trade.
Describe Your Idea
Empowering and skilling former-slaves to become economically self-sufficient and act as global change-makers advocating against human trafficking and fighting injustice by launching stop.traffick product range.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Empowering and skilling former-slaves to become economically self-sufficient and act as global change-makers advocating against human trafficking and fighting injustice by launching stop.traffick product range.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
To provide sustainable livelihoods for trafficking survivors and those at-risk of exploitation living at HCC’s Good Day Center (GDC) by launching a unique lifestyle product line called stop.traffick.
Stop.traffick products will be made by beneficiaries’ undertaking vocational skills training and will increase the income generated by these products by tapping into the Western ethical consumer market.
Delineating stop.traffick products from other handicrafts currently saturating the Cambodian market will be the fusion of tradition with modernity. Using local materials, a funky and edgy product range of Khmer kromas - (traditional scarves), distinctive “diagonal” photo frames and bags will be produced, each prominently displaying the distinctive “stop.traffick” logo.
stop.traffick is innovative as it is a holistic approach to combat trafficking that will both generate short-term benefits and engender long-term change. Not only will stop.traffick teach vocational skills training and business enterprise skills to beneficiaries, but will empower former-slaves to fashion their own destinies; having access to an “Empowerment Fund” to pursue tertiary education or launch their own business.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
The foundations for the stop.traffick project are already in place with GDC currently providing 5 vocational skills courses to former slaves and at-risk girls. What HCC lacks is an efficient or effective way of selling the handicrafts made.
To implement the innovation, HCC will:
• Produce stop.traffick products – by designing more creative handicrafts and attaching stop.traffick labels and gift cards;
• Through a targeted marketing and branding strategy, increase sales - therefore raising awareness of trafficking both in Cambodia and internationally.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
By developing a coherent cause-related marketing strategy, HCC will target these consumers through a multi-pronged approach including online sales, night market stalls and launch party events. Through word of mouth alone, HCC has already been approached by an INGO to produce bags for their upcoming international conference.
Once successful in generating sufficient consumer demand, HCC plans to grow the stop.traffick innovation by providing stop.traffick livelihood kits to re-integrated former-slaves living in the community. HCC will buy products made by these women in order to give them a reliable and consistent source of income. In return, these women will act as community changeagents, spreading anti-trafficking messages to their peers.
stop.traffick will grow organically by a greater number of consumers wearing and displaying products bearing the stop.traffick logo, generating awareness trafficking worldwide.
HCC will publish a Best Practice Guide for the stop.traffick Project, documenting the concept, methodologies and lessons leant. This Guide will be disseminated widely acting as a blue print for others interested in replicating the project.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
GDC’s intensive reintegration program involves working in close partnerships with the victim’s families, communities, key village members, and local authorities to raise awareness of the negative impacts of trafficking, sexual abuse and labour exploitation.
HCC creates and trains Community, Monk and School Based Protection Networks to act as the frontline protecting against exploitation in rural and remote villages. In 2007 alone, HCC mobilised 1,732 key community figures across 4 provinces to form these Networks and Network awareness raising reached over 160,771 community members and school children to sensitize against trafficking and labour exploitation.
HCC has a sub-contractual formal partner relationship with Winrock International in the Children’s Empowerment through Educational Services (CHES) Project working to prevent the worst forms of child labor. HCC also forms partnerships through creating formal MoUs, Collaborative Agreements or Minute of Records with government bodies and other NGOs such as DoSAVY, Licadho, Legal Aid Cambodia, Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW) and ADHOC when working on other projects.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
To tangibly improve the lives of former-slaves in Cambodia by creating sustainable income generating opportunities, contemporaneously raising awareness of the human trafficking endemic globally.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
Barriers to Education concern – It remains HCC’s primary objective to encourage its beneficiaries to remain in formal education and aspire to achieve meaningful and well-paid professions and not necessarily be consigned to traditionally ascribed gendered occupations of sewing, handicrafts, tailoring, etc. Therefore, HCC staff with encourage beneficiaries to use stop.traffick’ s Empowerment Fund to support them in further study or business start up and use their vocational skills to generate income to support themselves and their families in the mean time.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
In 2007 alone, HCC has served the following people:
• 191 children, women and men survivors of trafficking and other forms of exploitation were provided with safe shelter, counselling, healthcare, basic necessities, vocational skill training and reintegration.
• 732 key community figures were mobilised to form 45 Protection Networks and community driven awareness raising reached over 160,771 local people across 5 provinces and the city of Phnom Penh.
• 397 poor and vulnerable girls were provided with scholarships to enable them to continue their education.
• 78 Savings Groups and Self Help Groups (SG/SHGs) comprising of 1048 members were created
• 205 poor families received micro-credits for capital stock (cow and pig banks) and monetary loans for rice farming, vegetable cultivation and animal raising.
• Agriculture skill training courses were conducted with 523 villagers.
• HCC provided healthcare education workshops to 19,588 people educating in HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health and primary healthcare.
• Withdrew and prevented 1351 children from child labor.
Directly
Over two years of the stop.traffick pilot project, it is anticipated that 230 former slaves and girls at-risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation will directly benefit from the project by being provided with skill training, social entrepreneurial skills and income generation.
After reintegration, these beneficiaries will be equipped with the skills and self confidence to act as community change agents raising awareness of the negative impacts of trafficking, sexual abuse and labour exploitation to an additional 1000 villagers living in all provinces in Cambodia whilst. Through the combined skill sets of being economically self sufficient and informational trafficking expertise, their will be able to protect themselves and others from falling into the trap of trafficking.
Indirectly
Stop.traffick will additionally benefit the projected at minimum 5,000 consumers who will be provided with unique quality ethically and locally produced Khmer handicrafts at an affordable price.
Whilst NGOs selling handicraft products is not a new concept for Cambodia, nor the world, what is innovative about stop.traffick is linking ethics with the aesthetic. In this way stop.traffick will target the “ethical consumer” and raise trafficking awareness with the dual meaning of the label “stop.traffick” also appealing to the less socially conscious consumer - more interested in buying products due to their fresh and funky appearance and practical function.
By wearing and displaying stop.traffick products, the anti-trafficking message will be spread widely across the globe to a minimum of 20,000 people by generating discussion about the meaning behind stop.traffick and being directed to the HCC website through the accompanying gift card.
Finally, an infinite number of people will benefit though access to HCC’s stop.traffick Best Practice Guide to be made available freely on online trafficking sites.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
There will be a variety of objectively verifiable indicators to measure the impact of the innovation including:
• Increased levels of income for former-slaves
• Increased enrolments into higher education
• Increased understanding of human rights issues and tactics employed by human traffickers within rural communities.
• Increased awareness and support of HCC (at local and international level)
Sources of verification include
• Monthly stop.traffick reports to be complied by beneficiaries (under guidance from HCC staff) – indicating expenditures, outputs, and revenue raised.
• Direct observation/interviews
• Attendance records at stop.traffick events (including comments made in Feedback book)
• Staff progress and monitoring reports
• Village/Commune/District and Provincial reports
• Number of “hits” on HCC website
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
HCC runs a vast array of projects that have a direct policy impact. Through sustained collaboration with local stakeholders, HCC has been successful in getting these authorities to incorporate counter-trafficking policies into their respective work plans as a priority and in getting school directors to incorporate anti-trafficking education into school curricula.
HCC positively influences trafficking policy at the national and international level by acting collectively through active membership in:
o Civil Society Network Against Child Labour Organisation (CSNACLO)
o NGO Coalition to Address (Sexual) Exploitation of Children in Cambodia (COSECAM)
o End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia (ECPAT-Cambodia)
o HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee Cambodia (HACC)
o NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC)
o United Nations Inter Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region Stakeholder Group (UNIAP)
It is expected that stop.traffick project will have a “trickle down” policy effect, reinforcing the Royal Cambodian Government’s recent commitment to a “zero tolerance” to human trafficking.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The direct beneficiaries of the stop.traffick project will be victimized and at-risk children and young women who have suffered trafficking, sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation, most of who reside at the GDC.
In 2007, the GDC was home to 115 young women and children. Of these, 85 undertook vocational skill training as follows:
• Sewing – 24 beneficiaries
• Weaving – 13 beneficiaries
• Factory sewing – 17 beneficiaries
• Handicraft – 5 beneficiaries
• Hairdressing - 26 beneficiaries.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Ultimately, the stop.traffick project will be self-sustainable as profits generated by the stop.traffick product range will be invested back into the project to pay for ongoing material, wage and operation costs. Left over profits will be directed to the “Empowerment Fund” for beneficiaries to access to pursue further educational opportunities or launch their own business enterprises.
GDC enjoys generous support from international donor Anesvad and has recently received funding of about 145,000 USD to continue shelter operations until March 2009.
Overall, funding for HCC in 2008 was provided by the following organizations:
• Anesvad
• The Asia Foundation
• European Union
• International Labor Organisation
• Japanese International Center for Rights of the Child
• McKnight Foundation
• United States Department of Labor
• Winrock International
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
HCC currently has 43 local Khmer staff and 1 long term expatriate volunteer working in 8 projects over 6 rural and high-risk source, destination and transit provinces of Kandal, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kampot, Koh Kong and Mondulkiri and in the capital city of Phnom Penh.
In 2007, the annual revenue generated by HCC was USD 485,824. HCC’s annual expenditure was USD 426,962.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
HCC has pre identified 3 major target demand consumer groups for stop.traffick products:
• Ethical consumer based in Cambodia (both Khmer and expatriate) working in the development sector seeking ethically produced and low-cost quality practical products;
• Overseas visitors and so-called “Volun-Tourists” seeking Cambodian souvenirs that are both uniquely Cambodian, lightweight and easy to transport; and
• International ethical consumer living outside of Cambodia – through an online system including through the HCC and other fair trade website using PayPal.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
• Potential lack of consumer demand for stop.traffick products
• The time taken to train beneficiaries in making stop.traffick products at a market-quality.
• HCC’s current inability to promote or process online sales of handicraft products through its website.
• The GDC has no electricity and currently relies on generators to supply power. However, these generators are not strong enough to provide enough energy to run electric weaving looms and therefore all products are handmade on human-powered looms. This is a very labor intensive method, reducing the outputs of products able to be made.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
In early 2008, HCC conducted a monitoring visit to follow up the situation of 19 yr old Sophea* who had been a client at HCC’s Temporary Shelter. They found her in a desperate and dire situation.
Sophea came to HCC’s shelter after being gang raped by her two neighbours and their two friends. According to her wishes, she was reintegrated back into in her small fishing village with her parents, raising a small baby conceived from the rape with the father unknown. She suffers discrimination on a daily basis due to the “shame” associated being an unwed non-virgin, compounded by the fact that she is Vietnamese, an ethnic group traditionally marginalised in Cambodia. Her father runs a small furniture making business, with her younger brother helping where possible, although his contribution is limited as he is missing an arm. Yet the impoverished family struggles to make ends meet, with Sophea often-foregoing food for herself, going hungry in order to feed her baby.
Sophea tearfully pleaded with HCC staff to provide her with assistance, however with no other relevant IOs or NGOs operating in the area and Sophea unwilling to leave her family to a long-term shelter, HCC was hamstrung able only give Sophea some cans of milk, paid for from the pockets of HCC staff.
Out of this heart-wrenching situation, akin to many others HCC helps on a daily basis, the stop.traffick concept was born as it gives survivors of trafficking and other trauma with desperately needed income generating opportunities.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
Cambodian-born Sotheary Ly fled to Australia with her family in the early 1990s. Learning English in only a few months, Sotheary completed high school in Australia and went on to gain a Bachelor degree in Accounting and a Masters in International Development. Due to her strong commitment to social justice, Sotheary returned to her homeland at the end of 2004. For 3½ years she has dynamically lead HCC and has acted as a powerful role model to the girls under HCC’s care.
Emphasis of Work
Prevention and Protection
HCC is a local non-profit, non-partisan, non-faith based and non-government organisation that works to protect the rights of children and women who are victims or are at-risk of human trafficking, sexual abuse, or labor exploitation in Cambodia.
HCC’s main activities are organized under the two major programs of prevention and protection:
Prevention Program
• Formation of Community-Based, Monk-Based and School-Based Protection Networks
• Capacity building
• Awareness Raising
• Income Generation (including Savings Groups, Animal Bank, construction of pumping wells, latrines and water purification filters).
• Scholarship provision
• Reintegration of dropped out school children back into school
• Provision of primary and reproductive healthcare education and consultation, and HIV/AIDS prevention
Protection Program
• Investigation, monitoring and rescue
• Provision of shelter accommodation, security and support services to victims of trafficking and sexual or labour abuse (including formal/non-formal education, vocational skill training and trauma counselling)
• Reintegration of beneficiaries into the community with assistance to: undertake formal schooling, find employment, or start their own business.
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Comments
This seems like an excellent idea - a sustainable and viable solution to empower victims of this horrible trade through ecnomic means. I think there is a large opportunity to build more awareness of a potential stop.trafik brand in a similar way to fair trade and 'no sweat shops' and then bring these products to overseas markets too. I look forward to seeing some of these products when I visit Cambodia next week!
Keep up the good work HCC
This is a fabulous proposal. Not only does it target a vulnerable group that has already been exploited but gives hope to those that might be being targeted for the trade. By role modeling what is possible and having the enterprise developed in the country of exploitation and managed by the survivors themselves is a great initiative. This could expand hugely. I am part of the Fair Trade Collective in Perth WA and we have great difficulty in getting a range of products that have been developed by the enterprise itself. Other than Oxfam that does a great job there is little to purchase from. I believe that marketed correctly there is a huge market for these products.
I visited Cambodia early this year. I was there just a week, and I wish I had time to get to know the people there a bit better. Visiting the ancient temples in Angkor was an amazing experience, but what impacted me the most on my trip was the striking determination of people who were recovering from such fresh wounds from the Khmer Rouge period and still dealing with getting their families and their country back on its feet.
The high incidence of trafficking in Cambodia does nothing to support its people's struggle to heal their country's wounds, and I believe that the HCC's innovative approach is a fantastic proposal aimed at reducing and preventing the abuse and exploitation that results from the horrible and selfish trade in humanity.
I saw some of the worst aspects of that trade on the streets of Phnom Penh and Siam Reap. Some people may only be trying to earn a living, but small children should not be selling trinkets (or themselves) to tourists -- they should be in school. The training programs offered by this project are a valuable means of supporting survivors of trafficking to get their lives back on track in a country that is so heartbreakingly beautiful.
This project seems really well thought out, well planned and helps the victims feel that they are contributing towards there own futures. Trafficking is a disgusting practice, victims need all the support they can get. Well done!
Dear Terri,
Where are your products sold? How much has been made from the products? What % of the cost do the workers receive? You mention that you were approached by an INGO to produce bags. Which INGO made this request? Could you explain what is included in your "stop.traffick livelihood kits?"
Have you heard of Carpets for Communities? They are also working in Cambodia to stop human trafficking and modern day slavery. They have entered the competition and you can view their entry at the following link: http://www.changemakers.net/node/8413. Perhaps you could work together somehow!
Keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
I am really excited by this initiative and in particular the focus on building a brand, stop-traffick. There is a large market for this in North America and elsewhere I am sure. I am curious as to how concerned you are with your brand being constantly identified with your mission. I say this because I can imagine a scenario where your products become popular and those buying are unaware of the mission behind their creation. How much control do you want over that?
This may seem silly, but I began to imagine stop.traffick as a logo printed on t-shirts. A market of consumers that would potentially be interested would be skaters (skaters love t-shirts with messages on them), but perhaps not because of the message you want to send (literally stopping traffic). Would mixed messages be bothersome, or would you not be opposed to expanding sales and having the information be secondary to the product/style/fashion element? I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but only recognizing that an entertainment factor to a mission can help expand the reach of the message.
Is time well spent trying to find a celebrity sponsor that might be willing to offer t-shirts or other limited materials on the website? There are many high-profile bands and artists that would appreciate your work and support your endeavors.
My apologies ahead of time, for obsessing about t-shirts (although I kind of want one now), and if my comments/suggestions/questions are not in-line with the impressive mission/work you are doing.
Sincerely,
Brad
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Portland State University, Master of International Management, current student
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Laine McDonald
On July 16, 2008, the judges reviewed the entries for the Changemakers “Ending Global Slavery” Competition and would like to pass on the following feedback for your entry. Thank you for applying and for your hard work in the field. We are excited to archive your entry to serve as a leading solution for the worldwide community of innovators who are exposing, confronting and ending modern day slavery. We wish you continued luck with your sustainable, innovative, and socially impactful initiatives.
All the best, The Changemakers Team
“The stop.traffick product line is a commendable approach to fight human trafficking in Cambodia. The transparency of this initiative is especially impressive. We would like to connect them with the Emancipation Network in order to share ideas and expand their reach.”
- Changemakers “Ending Global Slavery” Judges: United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking, International Organization for Migration, Design Within Reach, Vital Voices Global Partnership, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Humanity United.
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The Changemakers Team
Ashoka's Changemakers
Hi Brad,
Thanks for your feed back in regards to HCC’s stop.traffick project. The brand stop.traffick was developed after extensive consultation over 2007 with a variety of key external stakeholders including:
• Cambodian nationals
• Expatriates based in Cambodia
• Potential consumers living in overseas
The name of stop.traffick encapsulates the dual objectives of the project:
• Stop the Trafficking of Human Beings – the primary aim of the project is to contribute to the elimination of trafficking in persons through:
o Skilling and generating income for trafficking victims and those at risk to enable them to be economically self sufficient and less vulnerable to trafficking
o Raising awareness about the issue of human trafficking both in Cambodia and overseas
• Stop Traffic(k) through Fashion – To cultivate demand for GDC products by creating high quality, affordable items that are unique, eye catching and immediately discernable from other handicrafts already available in the Cambodian market.
The colours of stop.traffick are violet and teal. These colours were chosen as they were deemed to be unisex, appealing to both female and male consumers.
They were also chosen as they are shades of purple and green - colours that are recognised internationally as being associated with women and feminism - in recognition that trafficking (especially for the purpose of sexual exploitation) overwhelmingly detrimentally affects women and young girls in Cambodia.
To be honest, we never considered the demographic of skaters utilizing the brand to advocate literally “stopping traffic” through skateboarding, as skateboarding is not a popular pastime in Cambodia, but this is definitely something that HCC will keep in mind to be wary of in the future, should we be successful in expanding the project to an American market.
We intentionally kept the brand name slightly cryptic to engender discussions about its meaning (and hence raise awareness of trafficking) and each product comes with a gift card that clearly explains the concept of stop.traffick and details about HCC.
I agree that producing stop.traffick t shirts is an excellent idea and at the moment we are trying to pursue corporate sponsorship to provide the funding to do so. In the mean time, products are limited to the following:
• “Khmer Seven Days of the Week” snap bracelets and reversible cuffs—made in seven different colours of Cambodian raw silk to represent each special Khmer day of the week
• Kromas— both in Medium size to be used as scarves and in Large size to be used as light weight travel towels
• Photo frames— made from raw silk and glass-free for ease of transporting and shipping overseas
• A variety of other items including business card holders, wallets, note book holders, etc
Stop.traffick will be officially launched in the middle of September in Cambodia, and if you would like a copy of our product catalogue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Further, if you are able to raise private or corporate sponsorship to enable HCC to produce stop.traffick t – shirts, we would be more than happy to do so. With sufficient funding HCC will upscale the project, including disseminating stop.traffick products to targeted “celebrities” in order to generate buzz about our innovative and worthwhile project.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact HCC should you have any further queries regarding stop.traffick.
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Laine McDonald
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