Ending Modernday Slavery by the Survivors turned Activists of STOP
STOP utilizes curative actions to combat trafficking in persons that turn into preventive strategies by making rescued trafficked/vulnerable girls as change agents to create deterrence for traffickers.
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)
1990
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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
Trafficking in Persons should be included in the mosaic because it’s the modern form of slavery. The issues related to trafficking need to be addressed in order to End Global Slavery because Slavery is a direct fall out of Trafficking. STOP works to combat trafficking by rescuing the victims from various exploitative situations and ensuring their rehabilitation & reintegration into the society by their empowerment and capacity building to fight against trafficking & other related factors.
Name Your Project
Ending Modernday Slavery by the Survivors turned Activists of STOP
Describe Your Idea
STOP utilizes curative actions to combat trafficking in persons that turn into preventive strategies by making rescued trafficked/vulnerable girls as change agents to create deterrence for traffickers.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
STOP utilizes curative actions to combat trafficking in persons that turn into preventive strategies by making rescued trafficked/vulnerable girls as change agents to create deterrence for traffickers.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
The components of the curative intervention strategy adopted by STOP including rescue of victims, prosecution of perpetrators and proper rehabilitation policies of the survivors serve as deterring factors and therefore in the long run these strategies turn out to be preventive in nature. This idea of preventing trafficking i.e. the modern form of slavery, using the curative methods is unique because such a strategy helps achieving two goals i.e. cure and prevention at the same time by making a new generation of social change agents.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Implementation of our activities involves grass root level works including direct rescue operations, legal proceedings against perpetrators, proper rehabilitation of survivors. STOP also works for children and women vulnerable to trafficking for their social, economic and political empowerment through programmes on education, vocational skill training, health services, awareness generation and personality grooming.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
STOP believes that those who are vulnerable or victimized, if ever become the survivors, then they can be turned into activists who can act as the agents of social change to combat trafficking in person and other related factors. STOP with its extended network on preventive strategies and direct action including rescue of the affected/potential victims actually intends to explore their hidden potentials and thus turn them into activists who act as social change makers.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
STOP has associations with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council), ECPAT (End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for sexual purpose), BNWLA in Bangladesh, Maiti Nepal, ATSEC (Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children), INCT (Indian Network for Combating Trafficking), and various Government & Non Government agencies, other International bodies working either on the curative or preventive aspects of combating trafficking. We form our partnership by sharing experiences, workshops, meetings, capacity building programmes etc. for rescue/ repatriation/ restoration/ rehabilitation/ repatriation, mental health assistance or empowerment. Besides, STOP also has individual partnerships to strengthen the network and to disseminate information and our experiences in different sectors and at different forums. Our networking is now expanded further through e-media using web links & mails.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Exploring the potentials and empowering the victims/potential victims of trafficking to make them activists which ultimately help ending slavery.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
Lack of resources to sustain our activities and sensitized & committed workforce are the major shortcoming faced by STOP in creating the intended impact within the set time limit
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
STOP has served around 6000-7000 people directly through our ongoing activities.
Directly
STOP has a family home catering to the needs of around 50 children and women who were the victims of trafficking/ were at high risk of being trafficked. STOP also runs two community centers where 298 children are enrolled in non formal education programme, 28 in formal education, 4964 beneficiaries of health services were recorded in the year 2007. STOP has also repatriated/restored over 1200 victims of trafficking along with innumerable recovery of girls/women in the recent past. Besides, STOP has also started 4 work-sheds cum residential units to cater at least 40 Self Help Groups i.e. around 200 young women for their self-sustenance & income generation. STOP will be starting 5 more work sheds in near future.
Indirectly
Vulnerable communities and people who are closely associated with the target group.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
The victims recovered from various exploitative situations have been empowered to form self help groups to run viable/mark able income generation activities. Empowered survivors are running cafeterias, working as peer educators, appointed as counselors to counsel rescued victims etc.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
At the International level, STOP has got a Special Consultative Status in ECOSOC under United Nation and STOP’s President is the only representative of the NGO sector form all over SAARC Nations as Regional Task Force Member to combat trafficking. Nationally, STOP serves as Executive Member of Central Advisory Committee on Child Prostitution and Advisory Member, State Level Co-ordination Committee of Children & Women. Besides these policy level interventions, the staff members of STOP have contributed to various policy level decisions on trafficking issues. The survivors turned into activists by STOP are also attending policy level meetings to articulate the needs to bridge the gaps between the policies and its implementation. These activists are often invited as resource persons & peer counselors in various training programmes, meeting & consultations to educate and sensitize others about trafficking issues.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The direct beneficiaries are the children and women, in particular, who are being trafficked or are at high risk of being trafficked and indirect beneficiaries are the community people in the source areas and society at large.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
STOP is a project under R.B.C Trust and the activities of STOP were initially financed exclusively by the Trust money that is the seed money deposited by the Trustees. Besides the seed money available with the Trust, in year 1998 we got our first assignment supported by National Commission for Women on Child Prostitution, then a project by UNDP on Combating trafficking and empowering survivors, then a project by UNIFEM. Slowly and gradually, the movement is gaining momentum and support is coming periodically.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
Annual budget- Our budget depends on the fund we receive. However, approximately 30-40 lakhs are spent on our regular projects and activities.
Annual revenue generated- being a non-profit organization there is no revenue generation
Number of staff - full-time 50 including Activists, Community workers & Professionals; part-time 20; volunteers 9)
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
STOP’s innovation includes turning survivors into activists and this demands constant inputs in terms of finances to bear the cost for the activities involved from rescue till the complete reintegration of the victims to turn them into activists. Besides, capacity building of the staff & survivors is extremely important for the innovation to be an absolute success.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Financial sustainability is a major challenge because STOP basically works at the grass root level and in those areas that are severely affected by social deprivation, marginalization, economic disempowerment and serious gender discrimination. These problems cannot be eradicated overnight; it needs constant inputs in terms of education, vocational training, counseling, health care, economic support etc. However, whatever little financial support we get through the projects that has to be spent for that project and once the project is over, finances are cut but the activities of the organization still goes on. Besides, we do not have any corpus fund to sustain our activities during the gap period.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
Most of the STOP’s activities can be traced back to the case of Hamida, a 10 year-old Bangladeshi girl, who was brought to India in 1992 and was brutally raped by the man who brought her here and then after she was subjected to various tortures and sexual exploitation by few police personnel and civilians. She then spent four years in children’s home in Delhi while her case was dragged out in various courts. Activists (who later formed STOP) initially offered translation services for the child who only spoke Bengali; however later they got actively involved and followed up Hamida case from lower courts to the Supreme Court to ensure a safe return for Hamida to Bangladesh where she was later employed in BNWLA. However, STOP initiated as a movement under the Ramola Bhar Charitable Trust in the year 1998 (as a direct fall out of Global March against Child Labour where managing Trustee of R.B.C. Trust, Ms. Roma Debabrata was a core Marcher) by a group of academicians, professionals and community based workers who joined hands in order to create an egalitarian society, ensuring justice and equality for children and women.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
NAME: Ms. Roma Debabrata
PRESENT POSITION HELD:
a) Senior Reader: Delhi University
b) Regional Task Force Member on Trafficking to implement SAARC Conventions relating to Trafficking in Women and children and promotion of Child Welfare, Government of India
c) Executive Member: Central Advisory Committee on Child Prostitution, MWCD, Govt of India.
d) Advisory Member, State Level Co-ordination Committee of Children & Women, DSW, Govt. of NCT, Delhi
PUBLICATIONS:
a. 'Lost Childhood - A survey of child prostitution in Delhi' supported by the National Commission for Women (NCW), India.
b. 'Research report on Undocumented Migration: Trafficking in Women & Children' under UNIFEM, INDIA
Emphasis of Work
STOP follows curative strategies like rescue, restoration/repatriation, rehabilitation/reintegration of trafficked or potential victims and prosecution of the perpetrators that create deterrence to the traffickers and thus becomes one of the most effective Preventive strategies in combating Human Trafficking. Besides, STOP also does prevention outreach in the vulnerable communities where the community is provided with information on issues of gender equality, combating trafficking, HIV/AIDS, human rights issues, issues of safe migration, domestic violence etc. Prevention of trafficking is the thrust area, though the work also includes various other interventions like prosecution of perpetrators, empowerment of the survivors etc. Most important of all the activities performed by STOP is running a Family Home where girls rescued form various difficult circumstances are provided shelter, education, vocational training and other facilities. This home is unique because it’s been managed by the girls themselves, at large. They are given decision making powers to plan their work and future.
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Comments
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Tyler Ahn
Changemakers
I worked with STOP during medical school and public health school. They are the most amazing organization I have worked with - their dedication to combating trafficking through prevention, rescue, repatriation, & empowerment is so crucial in this fight against trafficking. I received the wonderful opportunity to live with the girls at STOP's family home and they have become very much like family to me. Watching the girls learn and grow and transform their tragic experiences into powerful, positive energy to make a change for others, is beyond incredible. I hope others will recognize and support STOP's great work in the fight against slavery.
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