US Road Trip Summary:
A Look at Counter-Trafficking Efforts in the USA
Background
There are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in history. In fact, with 45.8
million men, women and children in slavery, there are more slaves than there are Californians or
Canadians. Every four seconds another person becomes a victim of this terrible crime. Some
estimates in the USA have the number of slaves ranging as high as 500,000 to 1 million victims.
Out of the total number of victims throughout the world,
the combined efforts of the NGOs, UN and government
only help approximately 0.2% per year. Put another way,
every day almost 25,500 people enter slavery and in the
same period, we are assisting only about 220. It is clear
from this data that we are not winning the fight against
human trafficking.
Most disturbingly – with $150 billion in profits being made
each year and only $350 million donor contributions
(0.23%) to fight this problem – funds continue to be
devoted to interventions that have been demonstrated
not to work. There is clearly a need for a change.
Walking the Talk
Between June 17 and August 25, 2016 (70 days), Matt Friedman and his wife Sylvia Yu did an
extended road trip across the USA to raise up this issue among corporations, government offices,
schools, libraries, churches and associations.
During this period, Matt and Sylvia provided 112
presentations across 27 cities. The objectives of
this trip were to 1) raise awareness, and 2) to
encourage more corporations, schools, churches,
synagogues, Rotarian Clubs and ordinary people to
get involved in the fight against human slavery. In
essence, the intent was to help spark a second
generation abolitionist movement to follow in the
tradition of the ones that took place in the past.
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The presentations were entitled “Human Trafficking: Slavery in our Day and Age.” They covered
the following topics: what is human trafficking, how does it relate to modern-day slavery, who is
trafficked, what people are trafficked for, where can it be found, the impact on the private sector,
and what a person can do to help. Each presentation was tailored to the unique needs of the
specific audience. While there are many ways to reach people, we felt that this “old school”
approach of having face-to-face, town hall-type meetings with people was the best way to
proceed for a sensitive topic like this. Annex A provides our bios.
Below is a summary of the outcome of this campaign:
2016 North America Road Trip (Numbers)
 70 days (June 17 to August 25, 2016)
 27 cities visited/17 states
 112 presentations (over 170 hours of presentation time)
o 71 business presentations
o 30 NGO/faith-based/general presentations
o 11 media presentations
 3,892 People Reached
o 2,667 business people reached (over 860 businesses reached)
o 1,183 NGO/faith-based/general public people reached
o 42 media people reached (over 50 million media coverage)
 Miles Covered – 10,224 (16,454 kilometers)
While it was never our intention to carry out an analysis of the state of the human trafficking
response in the USA, within the first 20 days it became clear that there were many observations
and lessons worth documenting. The information below provides a short summary of the key
observations and lessons learned. It is important to note that our opinions were based on the
interactions we had with a limited range of people across the country. With this in mind, it would
be inappropriate to over-generalize the findings.
Great Opportunities: The Good News
During the trip, we were able to identify some amazing opportunities that existed across the
country, including:

Existing Anti-Slavery Efforts: There were many very committed individuals and organizations
doing anti-slavery work across the USA, often at the city level. We found them within every
state we visited. Their efforts included: general awareness, legal and policy reform, victim
support and prevention. These people deeply cared about the topic and desperately wanted
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to do whatever they could to help solve it. We found their efforts to be both admirable and
even inspirational.

General Public: During the presentations we made within churches, synagogues, schools,
universities, libraries, and rotary clubs, we found that when confronted with the details of
human slavery for the first time, the average person immediately recognized the importance
of this topic. Many asked the basic question – “Now that I know
about this problem, what can I do to help?” From these questions,
we discovered that there was a great willingness among individuals
to play an active role in the fight.

Awareness Raising and Basic Training: Our original goal during the
road trip was to do up to 100 presentations. But by the time we
finished the tour, we had completed 112. Within every city we
visited, there was a real appetite for updated, standardized information on this topic. Even
after we had completed the 70 days, we continued to receive requests for us to come back
to various cities to do additional presentations (from corporations, schools, churches,
libraries and more). We had to turn down over 30 presentation opportunities. This genuine
interest in the topic was very encouraging.

Corporate Interest and Support: Over twenty Fortune 500 corporations invited us to present
within their organizations. The audiences ranged from legal and compliance officers, to
general employees curious to learn more about the topic. In
many cases, a senior official offered opening remarks to
introduce the topic and to outline what was being done by
their company. In every case, we found employees interested
and willing to step up. Many of them asked what they could do
as individuals to join the fight. They seemed very pleased that
their organization had demonstrated interest and commitment
by hosting a presentation. During our discussions with
corporate leadership, we realized that there was currently
huge, untapped potential for market-led solutions to crowd out exploitative practices that
underline modern-day slavery.

Law Enforcement: Of all the groups we presented to, the legal community seemed to be the
most interested in our talks (local law enforcement, attorney general offices, FBI and
Homeland Security). While the mandate to address this topic was a part of their day-to-day
responsibilities, they had many questions related to updated legislation, forced labor,
responses being done throughout the world, case summaries and more. The topic was still
considered new and emerging. They wanted all the information they could get. Because of
our tight schedule, we were not able to meet the needs of this important community. We
received more invitations than we could possibly accommodate.
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
Donors/Contributors: During a number of our presentations, we had both donor
representatives and high net-worth philanthropists attend. At the end of most of these talks,
we had a chance to listen to their views and concerns. A prevailing theme appeared to be
that the donor community was interested in this issue, but was still struggling to locate a
consolidated plan that would help them to choose the best interventions to support. They
also struggled with the question of how to bring the various players together. Many had
observed a lack of collaboration across the sector.

Available Data: Across the country, there is a great deal of loose
data available related to human slavery. It could be found within
the legal community, among the NGOs and from the victims
themselves. Several people within the NGO community felt that
standardization of the data and analysis process across
organizations would create major increases in efficiency and allow
the data to be aggregated to get a clearer sense of the whole
problem. They said that if someone were to take the lead, they
were willing to play a role in developing common tools for
collecting information and measuring progress. This interest was
encouraging.

Information Technology (IT) Community: Many people in the IT community recognized that
the problem-solving initiatives they were working on within the private sector could be easily
adapted to help address the human trafficking problem. We had many from this community
state that they would gladly offer their time and technical expertise to join the fight. What
they thought was needed was some simple guidance on “where and how to begin.”
The Challenges
In addition to the opportunities listed above, we were able to identify some pervasive challenges
that prevented the counter-trafficking response from achieving its full potential, including:

Leadership Structure Inconsistent or Unknown: While many activities were being done
across the USA, we found that an overall counter-trafficking leadership structure appeared
to be limited – much of the activity was being done at the city level with little sign of state or
federal oversight or involvement. Many NGO representatives
admitted that they didn’t know of any State or Federal activities
that were being implemented within their communities. Some
admitted that they “felt as if they were alone and underserved.”
Without this leadership, several observers felt that it was
difficult to bring about a collective response that would have a
sustained impact at the State level.
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
Lack of a Plan: During the road trip, we repeatedly asked the NGOs, government offices and
corporations we met with if they used or had access to a “plan of action” that would help
them to chart a course forward. Unlike other development sectors (HIV/AIDS, poverty
elevation, child survival, etc.), there appeared to be no “master plan” in the USA to address
the human trafficking issue. As a result, many groups didn’t know how or where they fit into
the collective response. This topic came up repeatedly.

Awareness Raising: The team found throughout all of the presentation sites, basic
information about human trafficking/modern slavery was often incomplete and
misunderstood among a range of audiences (corporations, schools, law enforcement,
churches, etc.). For example, many of the participants had never heard any statistics related
to the issue. Many others were surprised that this problem existed in the USA -- they felt this
was something that was happening elsewhere in the world (e.g., Thailand, Nepal, and other
countries in that region). Finally, many people were surprised to learn that the human
trafficking topic went beyond forced prostitution to include forced labor. This lack of general
awareness was shocking at times.

Data Collection and Analysis: Based on discussions with a range of responders, data
collection, analysis and dissemination was found to be haphazard. There were four basic
challenges related to this category. First, there appeared to be no standardized data
collection format. While raw data was available, it was collected and stored in many different
formats. Second, even if there was data, there was no centralized data repository to analyze
and disseminate this information. Third, many organizations were resistant to share their
data out of fear it would give others a funding advantage. Finally, many groups didn’t know
the value of applying good data to their work. This was clearly a missed opportunity.

Collaboration: It appeared that many anti-human trafficking efforts were being done in
isolation. Instead of working in collaboration, organizations tended to walk their own path.
Beyond the larger cities that often had coalitions, there was little evidence of collaboration
between/among existing groups at the State levels. The main reasons for this lack of
collaboration often included: fear that collaboration would help other organizations to get a
funding advantage, interagency differences in perspective and approach, or a lack of
understanding of the importance of collaboration. While many responders indicated that one
of the best ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a counter-human collective
response was to link the efforts of different organizations together, this concept was lacking
in many locations.

Law Enforcement: The US State Department regularly puts out reports on how horrific
human trafficking is in other countries throughout the world. Yet in our own backyard, the
FBI estimates that each year more than 100,000 underage American girls are exploited for
commercial sex. The average age is 13 years old. When arrested, the usual treatment these
children get is either jail time or probation. Why does this happen? Because in the US,
prostitution laws do not always exempt minors from prosecution. The paradox of the system
is that the children are prosecuted for crimes for which they cannot legally give consent. In
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addition, many of them go on to acquire police records that hurt their chances of getting
future jobs. All across the country, laws need to be changed to protect these victims.
We also heard many law enforcement officials state
that the training they received did not adequately
prepare them for this work. The message was very
clear: “we need more detailed, standardized
information to help us do our job.” For example, while
forced prostitution was a regular topic, there was little
information related to forced labor.

Private Sector Involvement: The team heard many
corporate officials admit that the human trafficking/
modern slavery issue was a major problem, but some of
them went on to say that they didn’t know what to do and who to turn to for help. They also
said that the topic continued to be very sensitive. One official stated, “We know we need to
do the things required to protect our businesses, but we don’t know what to do beyond this;
how we can help.”
A Way Forward
None of the challenges listed above are insurmountable. In fact, most of them can be significantly
improved with some minor “tweaking.” For this to happen, the counter-trafficking community
needs to spend more time understanding, analyzing, contemplating and visualizing a way
forward. In other words, much of what is needed is to simply take what already exists, connect
the dots, and facilitate a process that allows these initiatives to reach their full potential. As we
do this, a great deal can be learned from this process that could be applied to future activities.
To bring about these changes, there are three categories that need immediate attention:
1) Information, which includes improving data collection and analysis;
2) People, which includes better supporting the people who do the work; and
3) Services, which includes combining efforts through better collaboration among all of the
responders.
To understand how the counter-trafficking community across the USA could bring about
breakthroughs within existing efforts, the text below offers some suggestions for consideration.
The basic supporting framework is very simple, but strategic. The guiding principles for this
approach are as follows:


Develop a master plan to help guide the overall process;
Keep the approach simple and easy to understand -- focusing on a limited number of priority
activities that can generate the most impact in the shortest period of time;
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




Work with what already exists to help improve and expand the potential impact of this
ongoing work;
Ensure empirically based decision making;
Emphasize advocacy, policy reform and operationalization of best practices as core elements
of the program;
Create standardized monitoring and evaluation systems and procedures to be used by all
participating organizations; and
Expand viable collaborations and partnerships among the entire counter-trafficking
community as a top priority.
In essence, the proposed approach invests in the “infrastructure that does the work,” instead of
focusing on the “categories of work,” which is often the approach followed (prevention,
prosecution and protection). This, we feel, is a more humanistic approach that will bring about
a much better result. The figure below summarizes the basic model being proposed:
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1) Information
The first priority must be to expand and improve the overall collection, analysis, dissemination
and use of human slavery data across the USA. For this to happen, an agreed-upon plan is needed
for how to consolidate and operationalize this process. This vision should include gathering
standardized information related to the victims, indicators of vulnerability, the criminal behavior
involved, and the legal response. Other data sources should
also include inventories of who is doing what, where, and a
checklist related to legislation, operational responses, and
outstanding needs/gaps. This data would help the countertrafficking community to understand what they need to know
about the problem and how to effectively address it. The data
would also assist responders in tracking the impact of their
work over time and in updating and improving the training,
awareness raising and ongoing capacity building efforts. Time
and time again, we have seen that it is a major mistake to try
to solve a social problem without having appropriate
data. Without it, planning and responding is done in the dark.
To help address these information challenges, there are three things that need to be done. First,
we need to work with the research community to develop a standardized data collection format
and platform for multiple data sets. There are a range of examples of these kinds of tools that
can be found within the public health and education sectors. This will avoid reinventing the
wheel.
It is a major
mistake to try to
solve a social
problem without
having appropriate
data.
Once designed, the proposed tools need to be shared with the
anti-slavery community to get their input and acceptance. As
part of this process, more innovative techniques to collect,
consolidate and analyze data need to be tested and refined. This
might include online data entry formats and/or Smartphonebased questionnaires. Second, we all need to agree on an
independent repository for the data. This might include one or
more neutral organizations that are willing to take the data, analyze it and freely share the results
with the overall community. This might be a university or an independent NGO (e.g., Polaris
Project). Finally, we need to encourage the NGO community to understand the importance of
standardizing and using this data to address the problem. This often requires face-to-face
meetings to listen to their issues and concerns. The overall counter-trafficking community will be
stronger when we are using a common data set.
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As an example, one important use of data would be to determine which states in the US are still
sending 14-year-old prostitutes to jail instead of identifying them as trafficking victims. This
would help to identify where lobbying and training is most needed to change laws and police
protocols. This intervention alone would not only help victims, but also put perpetrators in jail.
This is one among many strategic uses of data.
The importance of having good data to work from cannot be emphasized enough. It offers us the
foundation for knowing what “is” and what needs to be done. Likewise, data is only as good as
the system or process that collects it. In the same way, analysis is only as good as the data on
which it is based and the skills and experience of the analyst. With this in mind, putting in place
the right systems and procedures will ensure we get what we need.
2) People
Supporting the Counter-Trafficking Community
People are the most important asset available in our fight against human slavery. To bring about
a significant change, we must invest more in our people. One thing was very clear during the road
trip – the overall counter-trafficking community hasn’t spent
enough time supporting those working to fight slavery. Many of
these people put their heart and soul into their efforts only to
face a lack of appreciation or an endless list of unrelenting tasks.
Others spend countless hours trying to raise money to keep their
organizations alive. As a result, the burnout rates among
counter-trafficking responders appears to be extremely high.
We, as a community, need to change this trend by investing in
our responders, which is an investment in us truly solving the
problem.
While there are certainly rewards associated with helping others heal following an unspeakable
trauma, this work can also have a negative impact on frontline workers. Most people entering
this field do so because they have a strong desire to help those in need. Likewise, they know that
there will be times they will have to commit to long hours, work on difficult cases, and address
complicated social issues. But if these cases build up and the workload remains excessive, it is
not uncommon for people to personally burn out. Burnout is real and can be a debilitating
outcome of the professional stress found with a counter-trafficking program. Symptoms vary
among individuals, and stages of burnout may differ, but the most common symptoms include
feelings of physical and emotional exhaustion. When this happens, the frontline worker’s ability
to do their job becomes compromised and so does their physical and emotional health. As a
community, we need to recognize these signs in order to ensure that those called to do this work
are able to remain healthy. Systems and procedures need to be put in place to anticipate and
predict this as a possible outcome and address it before it becomes a problem.
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It is also important that responders are adequately compensated for their work. Programs that
achieve the best results include human resource schemes that offer ongoing career
development, performance awards, and professional development opportunities. The more
encouragement workers receive, the better chance they will thrive in their jobs.
To add value to this component, we need more training, coaching and mentoring through
continuing education. For example, we are seeing that many organizations come up with their
own internal training programs for their staff. This takes a lot of time and often results in a
variation in the content and information available. More effort should be made to ensure that
training programs are standardized, up-to-date and available for the full range of responders. To
tackle this challenge, one or more lead organizations could be tasked with developing these
materials and making them available to everyone. This might include online training programs or
short educational films in multiple languages (e.g., English and Spanish). These materials should
highlight both what works and doesn’t work. The data and analysis compiled as part of the
information component (described above) needs to be used in this effort to ensure that updated
data is available to the entire community.
Expanding the Responder Base
We also need to expand beyond NGO and government responders to include more church,
synagogue, school and general public participants. Many people want to help, but they don’t
know what to do. These communities would greatly benefit from more standardized
presentations/trainings that both inform and also outline a specific “call to action.” These
presentations could be tailored to address multiple audiences to help them make an impactful
contribution.
For example, this might include: training of trainers among students, volunteers, and corporate
employees to create a “Training Corps” to reach interested organizations, and/or systems and
procedures to tap into the technology world to get their support to disseminate this same
information through smartphone-based e-learning tools.
For us to truly make a difference, a modern day, next generation abolitionist movement is
needed that is proactive and unified. This will require that many more people are informed and
recruited to be part of the solution. Investing in these communities would help to bring about
this outcome. If ten million people did ten million small compassionate acts, this would have a
major impact. This approach has worked before and can work again. To make this happen, we
each must take heroic steps toward freedom for all. We must accept this issue as our own.
Working with the Private Sector
During the corporate presentations made to the private sector, we found many employees
interested in the human slavery topic who were willing to step up. We had dozens of people state
they were willing to use their skills and experiences to volunteer if an opportunity could be
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identified. The skill sets included: communications, legal, supply chain management, public
relations, graphic design, event planning, and more. If a system could be set up to tap into these
skills, the counter-trafficking response could significantly increase its capacity.
Likewise, during our discussions with corporate leadership, we realized that there was currently
huge, untapped potential for market-led solutions to crowd out much of the exploitative practice
that underlines modern-day slavery. The biggest challenge these companies faced was knowing
how to fully unleash this potential. Working with the
private sector to answer these questions would open
a completely new front in the fight against this
problem. This would require sitting down and helping
them to develop a plan that would not only address
any potential business risks, but would also look at
what their comparative advantage might be for using
their in-house capacity to add value to the collective
fight against this issue. Because the private sector
would use its own resources to support these efforts,
this would not require any donor resources.
For example, during presentations made within the Information Technology (IT) community, we
found great interest in this topic. Many of the criminals who carry out human trafficking activities
often use the latest technology to lure victims and maintain their businesses. Up until now, the
counter-trafficking community has had limited resources and experience using these tools.
Throughout the road trip, many IT organizations expressed a desire to get more involved. They
indicated that they had access to systems and procedures which could be used to solve problems.
Suggestions made by them included: holding competitions among IT professionals to get their
inputs on how to solve counter-trafficking problems; or having their professional staff provide
pro bono support to develop apps/tools to improve data collection, supply chain tracking,
communications, PR, etc. These contributions would help to add a new dimension to our
collective response.
One reason the private sector hasn’t been more involved in the past is that they were afraid of
being potentially “named and shamed” in the press for issues found in their supply chains or
business networks. While there may always be a need for naming and shaming when excessive
labor violations are uncovered, or where companies repeatedly fail to address problems, there
are other options. A more successful approach includes engagement with the private sector in a
positive and supportive manner. For example, if slavery-like conditions are identified, the first
step could be for concerned organizations to work with the company to help them correct the
problem without it going public. This would change the approach from being confrontational to
collegial.
I have met with countless private sector managers and directors from many major companies
who really do care about this topic. They share the same world that we do and worry about the
future for their own offspring. They also understand that an increased attention to the plight of
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workers in their companies’ supply chains means that addressing these problems is a business as
well as a moral imperative. The private sector has extensive human and financial resources that
could be brought to bear to help address the problem. They know how to identify and root out
bad businesses if they look for them. They have the skills and capabilities to tackle the problem,
e.g., legal, compliance, accounting, communications, and financial expertise. Thus, if the private
sector were to become more active in the fight, they could play a key role in significantly reducing
the number of human slavery victims, improving the lives of countless others along the way. This
means working with them to bring about a positive change.
With more emphasis on legislation, media coverage and consumer interest, the time is right for
the business world to get more involved. Activities that might be considered include: setting up
working systems to allow experienced businesses to mentor less experienced companies;
facilitating discussions between NGOs and corporations to explore alternatives to “naming and
shaming,” which might include combined collaborative efforts; and creating links between
groups that use a multi-stakeholder approach to encourage private sector involvement, e.g., The
Mekong Club, gBCAT, Unseen, etc.
3) Services
This last category focuses on the organizations themselves that are doing the counter-trafficking
work. This includes the NGO, government, law enforcement, church and school-based efforts
being implemented across the country. The emphasis of this component is on establishing
expanded and sustained collaboration among potential partners and effective linkages between
services and programs.
Collaboration: Our Key to Success
Many anti-human trafficking efforts are being done in isolation. Instead of working in
collaboration, organizations tend to do their own activities independently. This is a missed
opportunity. Collaboration is one of those basic concepts that we often talk about, but don’t
always achieve. While many counter-trafficking groups get together on a regular basis to share
ideas and to do joint activities, there are also many examples where collaboration is lacking,
cooperation among groups doing similar activities is
absent, and competition and turf issues prevent
them from fully coming together. In our day-to-day
interactions with partners, we have all seen how
collaboration can be paralyzed or hindered by
simple misunderstandings, polarized political views,
and/or a lack of faith in the process. In the absence
of collaboration, people often waste time obsessing
over our differences and our perceived failures,
instead of on the problem at hand. This wasted
energy takes away from our mandate to help and
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support those we serve. This situation is not unique to the human trafficking sector; it can be
found in many other development settings as well.
Collaboration is not something that just happens by bringing people together. True collaboration
is built upon a foundation of trust and a united sense of purpose. If one can develop feelings of
accomplishment within a collaborative process, joint ownership of a problem often follows. With
this ownership, we tend to take care of the process and remain committed to it. But for this to
happen, early and substantial involvement that is positive, supportive and encourages innovation
makes all the difference. The process also needs to take place at all levels: between governments,
NGOs and the private sector to develop a comprehensive, sustained response that caters to the
needs of the entire sector.
We must understand the importance of collaboration. Imagine how much more we could
accomplish with a unified approach. Imagine how effective we could be as a force of one, a force
of solidarity. We should emphasize what is most
important—“we, the combined community, helping
those in need.” We work not for ourselves or our
organization, but for people who need our help. For
us to achieve major breakthroughs, we must find a
way to work closer together. If collaboration is done
correctly, 1 plus 1 equals 11, not 2. There is a
synergetic effect that adds great value to the overall
response. The key is strategic collaboration, not
tokenistic collaboration.
Finally, true collaboration will allow us to reduce redundancies and improve the efficiency of our
work. With less than two percent of the victims being helped, we need to find a way of linking
our collective efforts. This will ensure more impact in reducing trafficking, putting the criminals
in jail and helping those who have been exploited.
Packaging Responses
One of the best ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a human trafficking effort
and, at the same time instill a sense of collaboration, is to link the efforts of different
organizations together into a collective program.
For example, to get the most out of a protection response, a program that addresses the needs
of a person from the point at which they leave the exploitation to the time when he/she is settled
in a stable living situation is essential. One effective approach is to set up a program that links
NGO activities together to address the needs of a trafficked person. For example, one NGO can
offer a shelter to help the victim receive healthcare, counseling, food, shelter and an opportunity
to decompress. Once this process is completed, another NGO can offer support to travel with the
victim to their home or community. This can help the person transition back into a normal life
situation. Another NGO could then provide regular follow-up care to identify the trafficked
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person’s sustained needs. This can help to offer an ongoing support system to the person.
Another NGO can then provide job training and job placement. Through this united approach,
the victim can be given an opportunity to address the vulnerabilities that resulted in his/her
trafficking outcome. If these services are not connected, many victims might miss these steps
and then be vulnerable to being re-trafficked. This seamless transition between services
significantly helps to reduce this outcome.
The same situation should be considered for organizations that offer a legal response
(prosecution). Instead of working independently, if a consortium of organizations can be brought
together under a single umbrella, the outcome will be more impactful. For example, the following
skill sets could be brought together when doing prosecution cases: proactive investigation, legal
training, legal follow-up, victim protection, and legal reform. Many trafficking cases fall apart
because the raid and rescue isn’t tied to a longer term prosecution strategy or the victim
protection needs are not planned in advance of the intervention. The Polaris Project offers a
great example of a unifying approach in action.
The same can be said for preventive activities. If the prevention community can be brought
together to identify common, standardized messages that are reinforced in many different ways,
we’d have a much better outcome.
Effective collaboration can bring about better linkages between organizations. The importance
of linking activities can’t be emphasized enough. Collaboration also allows the entire community
to share best practices and lessons with each other. This helps to avoid everyone “reinventing
the wheel.” Finally, good collaboration allows the counter-trafficking community to achieve a
foundation of support that helps us all to feel we are not alone in the fight.
To bring about a collaborative effort, the creation of a “Unity Campaign” can bring groups
together in a positive, strategic manner (all sectors – businesses, NGOs, churches, etc.). For this
to happen, “collaboration” as the main goal must be put at the center. This requires people to
step up and take responsibility for using their leadership to foster and nurture the collaboration
process in a neutral, non-threatening way. This role is much like a matchmaker – bringing people
and organizations together in a proactive way to help initiate and maintain a combined front.
A Master Plan
Unlike other development sectors (HIV/AIDS, poverty elevation, child survival, etc.), there appears
to be no “master plan” in the USA to address the human trafficking issue. As a result, many groups
didn’t know how or where they fit into the collective response. This topic came up repeatedly
throughout the road trip. For example, many organizations indicated that there was an absence
of both State and Federal leadership. Georgia represented an exception. The counter-trafficking
response there was coordinated from the State level down to the community level with many
systems, processes and procedures in place. This model could be replicated elsewhere.
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For the three efforts above to work, the counter-trafficking community in the USA needs a unified
plan -- a simple, operational road map to help articulate the overall goals, objectives and major
activities at different levels, among a range of responders. This plan should be something that
we can all rally behind and implement together. Placing the
emphasis on the counter-trafficking community itself,
instead of the approaches being emphasized (i.e.,
prevention, prosecution and protection), might be a good
starting point. This will ensure that we focus on the
infrastructure and the people involved first. Note that such
a plan can be short – no more than 10 or 15 pages. The
objective isn’t to cover every aspect of the response.
Instead, it should simply outline the main points and
direction forward.
By definition, the process of planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to collectively
achieve some specific goal – in this case, the reduction of human slavery in the USA. If done
effectively, it can reduce much of the necessary time and effort in achieving this goal. A good
plan is like a map. When following a plan, we can always see how much we have progressed
towards our overall goal and how far we are from our destination. Knowing where we are is
essential for making good decisions on where to go or what to do next.
One more reason why we need effective planning is based on the 80/20 Rule. It is well established
that for unstructured activities, 80 percent of the effort gives less than 20 percent of the valuable
outcome. We either spend more time on deciding what to do next, or we are taking many
unnecessary, unfocused and inefficient steps. Planning is also crucial for meeting our needs
during each action step with our time, money or other resources.
Offering Leadership and Direction
To assist in planning and implementing this work, the counter-trafficking community needs to
identify a pool of neutral, committed ambassadors and coaches who can work within the entire
community to bring about the above-mentioned breakthroughs. These independent advisors
would offer their services free-of-charge to the overall community. Their neutrality is necessary
to ensure that they are not perceived as potential competitors. In other words, their
contributions belong to everyone. It is proposed that these individuals carry out the following
catalytic and facilitation tasks:
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Provide leadership in facilitating a process to get consensus on the vision and direction of the
anti-slavery/human trafficking sector within the USA;
Assist in reviewing, planning and operationalizing policies and procedures among
government and civil society partners;
Offer expert technical advice and guidance in the field to counter-trafficking efforts/projects
that appear to be cost-effective and impactful to help them to reach their full potential;
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
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Assist in the process of developing standardized tools for collecting data, analyzing it, and
ensuring it is available to all;
Link groups that are doing complementary work to help forge a network of responders to
significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this work;
Educate and inform targeted policymakers and influential audiences (e.g., church,
government, civil society and private sector) to help ensure they are fully up-to-date on
trends within the anti-slavery/trafficking sector prior to their making important decisions;
Assist organizations, prominent persons and individual citizens who are committed to ending
trafficking to more effectively target their counter-trafficking efforts and investments based
on improved conceptual clarity and appropriate information;
Support private sector initiatives to operationalize a business response to ending slavery
through a range of innovative IT and legal initiatives and systematic supply chain auditing;
Identify and publicize successful and promising initiatives with a view to wider adoption
though regular updates and periodic newsletters;
Draw together key anti-trafficking practitioners from around the country to share insights,
ideas and promising initiatives (e.g., through face-to-face meetings and teleconferencing);
and
Help to educate funding agencies on what they need to know to make responsible decisions.
In summary, these counter-trafficking ambassadors would help inspire, motivate and unite the
anti-slavery/trafficking sector to better understand best practices in counter-trafficking efforts,
and help guide the sector towards greater overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Conclusion
To me, the modern slavery issue is like a slowly unfolding disaster. But it is a disaster nevertheless.
We all need to step up our game, we need to solve many of these long-standing systemic
challenges, we need to have more of a sense of urgency, and we need to do it now.
Why? Because we are only helping 0.2 percent of the victims, and because every day there are
45.8 million victims who wake up and ask the question “why is no one coming to help?” We
need to be this help.
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Annex A
Bios: Matt and Sylvia Yu Friedman
Matt Friedman: Matt Friedman is an international human trafficking expert with more than 27
years of experience as a manager, program designer, evaluator, and front-line responder. He is
currently the Chief Executive Officer of The Mekong Club, an organization made up of Hong Kongbased private sector business leaders who have joined forces to help fight human trafficking in
Asia.
From 2006 to 2012, Friedman was the Regional Project
Manager of the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on
Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Thailand, an inter-agency
coordinating body that linked the United Nations
system with governments and civil society groups in
China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and
Vietnam. Prior to this (1991-2006), Friedman worked
for the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) in Thailand, Bangladesh, and
Nepal. During this period, he designed and managed both country and regional human trafficking
programs; helped to establish a range of comprehensive counter-trafficking initiatives focusing
on prevention, prosecution and protection; and participated in the resource mobilization and the
production of two award-winning international films about sex trafficking in Nepal and India.
Friedman also offers regular technical advice to numerous governments working to stop slavery.
He is frequently cited in the news media on issues related to human trafficking and slavery across
Asia (CNN, TVB, BBC, NYT, IHT, etc.) and is invited to speak at major conferences around the
world. He is the author of nine books on subjects ranging from human trafficking to the ancient
art of Bangladesh metal casting.
Sylvia Yu Friedman: Sylvia Yu is a Hong Kong-based
award-winning Canadian journalist, TV anchor,
documentary producer, book author and advisor to
philanthropists. She was the winner of the prestigious
2013 International Human Rights Press Award (TV Special
Merit) for her series on human trafficking and slavery in
China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Sylvia has managed and
directed more than US $9 million to humanitarian projects
since 2005 that have impacted at the very least more than
one million people.
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For more than 8 years, Sylvia pioneered and managed the funding of humanitarian programs in
China, North Korea, S.E. Asia, and parts of Africa and Eastern Europe. This work has given her a
keen insight into anti-trafficking work, poverty alleviation among migrants and orphans,
HIV/AIDS awareness and care for the affected, and North Korea aid. She has a proven track
record in strategic planning in charitable giving and bridging donors with effective grassroots
organizations to achieve measurable social change in regions.
While managing a China fund and program for a philanthropy advisory group, Sylvia also worked
as a journalist and filmmaker. Besides producing media to raise awareness of international
development issues and affairs, one of her strengths is in bringing together various
stakeholders—such as NGOs, government, academics, the private sector, and philanthropists—
to work towards strategic, social transformation in countries. Currently, her philanthropy
advising work focuses on bringing an end to global sex trafficking and human slavery in our
lifetime through the 852 Freedom Campaign in Hong Kong.
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