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
“This is a great tool to share and promote data to connect grassroots organizations. It is easily accessible and potentially user-friendly for the general public. Has the organization connected with the United Nations? It would be interesting to learn more about their anticipated partnership opportunities.”
- 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
Good luck on the competition. I have enjoyed receiving your emails. A few questions:
(1) How do you protect the survivors from revictimization? If anyone can add information then it's difficult to screen info for confidentiality. Safety concerns are potentially huge issues with this. For example, I saw one case from CA on your map and thought, "if I was the trafficker, I would be able to infer exactly what case this is, who the victim is and what agency she is currently being served by based on provided information." That's dangerous information to have in the hands of traffickers. What safeguards do you have in place to protect the people's lives who are being publically exposed?
(2) I work in FL and see someone has input the few biggest cases of international trafficking. However, the ratio of prosecutions for domestic trafficking (possibly convicted under different statutory charges such as RICO or the MANN Act) outnumber international cases 4:1. How are you going to promote this tool as one that captures domestic trafficking cases as well as international cases?
I am impressed by the mapping technology overall. I think it would benefit from a little tweaking so that the information about the case is the first thing you see in the pop up box, rather than the author. That would save us time in scrolling if we are clicking quickly through them browsing. But very impressive nonetheless.
In what way do you predict the awareness of the map to cause the terrors of slavery to act? Will they respond to the map with disdain, shaking their heads and moving on, or will they be jolted by the display of their illegal actions?
Claire, I do not anticipate trafficker to be at all moved by any work that will come out of SlaveryMap directly. We really need to find better avenues for prosecution of traffickers; by and large, they act with impunity around the globe. Building a greater awareness and urgency in local communities hopefully will inspire law enforcement and legislators to put a higher priority on enforcement of anti-slavery laws.
I wanted to thank you for launching the Slavery Map web site -- I hope that more of us will be able to utilize it and show people the seriousness of human trafficking. Perhaps if people knew that this occurs in their own backyard, and not just in foreign countries, they'll be more inspired to do something about it.
If this support for Changemakers and the Slavery Map in some way helps those who are being trafficked, I am all for it.
I just want to say congratulations on an incredible website that I believe will make a difference in bringing more visibility to this horrific crime. I have been getting more involved with this cause through my church here in Los Angeles after we held an Open Forum with you as one of the Guest Speakers. While at first I was hesitant only because I did not know what a stay-at-home mom could possibly offer, I soon realized that I have plenty to offer simply because I am a fellow human being. I hope to use my perspective of "just" a mom to help bring modern day slavery to an end in my lifetime.
Thank you for your tireless efforts,
Jean Kim
Wife, mom and activist!
So glad you are bringing your gifts to this movement, Jean. Who better than a "mom" to express the dignity that each child...and indeed every human being...merits! I would love it if your church action group could add more documentation of cases that have occurred in the last five years in the Los Angeles metro area. At the moment, our LA cases do not reflect the gravity of the crisis in the region.
This is wonderful site - I think you are using the wiki technology brilliantly! I got see Tini demostrate this site briefly in Orange County the week the 2.0 version launched. I think it would be cool if you did regional training days or tutorilal videos or pdfs - where you share the know-how you are pioneering at USF. I think with a little training many people could spend time on the web being abolishionists!
Fabulous recommendation, Jason. We in fact now offer a training workshop on local investigation and documentation of human trafficking, and share the lessons we have learned via our San Francisco research. We call these training workshops a NOT FOR TRADE SHOW. You can book a NOT FOR TRADE SHOW with Allison Trowbridge: allison@NotForSaleCampaign.org
I would just like to comment on the ingenuity of this project approach. This makes not only the communication amongst abolitionists around the world much easier but also makes for a great resource tool for local groups to use as resource tools. It's like a huge abolitionist convention with people's successes and stories in one place at the click of a button. Great innovation! Not sure if I just missed it, but it would be also great if readers could respond to a post and inquire into methods, situations, etc. to further help their own research/efforts. Great job Dave!
I certainly appreciate your kudos. I love your metaphor of SlaveryMap as an "abolitionist convention with people's successes and stories in one place at the click of a button"! That's the level of intelligence and community building we hope to enable with this innovation. As to your final query, yes, it is possible to add an amendment, question of method, or comment, to each documented case. The original researcher/author can then respond to the post or leave it to stand alone.
Given the challenge of finding and utilizing accurate, reliable data on human trafficking -- especially in the United States, this website is an incredible step forward. Individuals from across the country and around the world will be able to add cases with great ease, which will accomplish several results from my perspective.
1. It will allow individuals who want to get involved in the modern-day abolitionist movement an opportunity to do so, without cost to them or a significant investment in time.
2. It will serve as a resource for those just learning about the problem as well as those (like policy makers) who need to be reminded about the size and complexity of the issue.
3. It reinforces the value of research, which is especially important for those of us who teach undergraduates!
Most importantly, however, it should provide a baseline for accurately estimating the extent of various forms of human trafficking/modern-day slavery in every region of our country and throughout the world. It allows for the development of a public methodology that educators/researchers can utilize. That is rare but sorely needed as we attempt to integrate modern-day slavery into our curricula, research agenda, and service.
I used your book in my classes last year, and I will use this resource this year.
Many thanks for your comments Keisha. If every university in the world would follow the example that you and your colleagues have established at Kennesaw State University, imagine how dynamic our anti-slavery movement would become. For those who don't know, KSU has established a "research center" to map slavery and human trafficking in the Georgia region especially. It is my dream that universities around the globe will accept their responsibility to leverage their intellectual capital in order to contribute to the emancipation of captive people in their region. SlaveryMap offers them a platform to display, elaborate, and evaluate the practice of human trafficking as it directly impacts their respective communities. What we have discovered at the University of San Francisco, and our friends at Kennesaw State share this experience, that increased knowledge and understanding of the global slave trade motivates our students to get more engaged in meaningful activism as well. I cannot think of a better social activism model for a university: original research to fuel needed social change, locally as well as globally.
Dave,
I wonder if you have a goal for the number of cases you aim to post on the map? Do you have an idea of how many persons are trafficked in the U.S. yearly?
In many respects, Aaron, your question begs the need for SlaveryMap. We do not have a CLEAR and objective figure for the number of trafficking cases inside the USA each year. Anti-slavery groups often quote a US State Department figure that between 14,000 and 17,500 new individuals are trafficked into the USA each year. Based on the speculation, many of us have tried to project how many of those foreign nationals, added to domestic trafficking victims, still live in captivity today. Our projected figures range broadly. So when you ask how many cases we aim to post on the map, my answer is as many as would give us a realistic appraisal of the gravity of the crisis inside the USA. Up until now, we have lacked a strong objective measure, and I'm hopeful that SlaveryMap makes a difference.
Hi Dave
Thanks for sharing your innovation on changemakers. I am also based at a university - the Free University in Berlin - in education and political theory. Could you say more about how being linked to a university helps your project and how students and other faculty play a role (if at all).
It would also be interesting to hear some of your ideas how other projects could link with local universities to strengthen their programmes. What potential do you see?
All the best from Berlin
Heather Cameron
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Heather Cameron
Professor
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
The community-based research model focuses on the universities core strength of conducting original research, and does so for the benefit of community groups and NGOs that have neither the capacity or the resources to conduct essential research. Let me offer two examples of how it relates to our anti-trafficking work and universities:
1) My students and I established at the University of San Francisco a center for investigating and mapping slavery that we hope will be replicated internationally. Imagine if every university took responsibility for mapping the trafficking that is happening in its region?! For the past two years, students at USF have mapped trafficking incidents in Northern California in garment factories, agricultural fields, construction projects, commercial sex establishments, etc. How did they do so? By interviewing local and federal police, domestic abuse shelter directors, journalists, agents at places where migrant labor aggregates, and on and on. They also combed through court documents and Department of Justice (DOJ) reports. At the end of each year, we hold a press conference and deliver these results to local law enforcement and government bodies with recommendations for action. Though the research is student driven, it is critical that faculty are deeply involved. The faculty help to train investigation, impart methodology, and maintain quality control. The faculty also provide consistency from year-to-year, while students are inherently transient.
2) Beyond the mapping research, a NGO that was interested in launching a shelter for trafficking survivors asked our students to help them conduct a "needs" survey for their region that they could use in funding proposals.
Not For Sale is in the month releasing two FREE resources (digitally downloaded in PDF) for universities. One is an organizing toolkit for uni students, the other is a curriculum guide for my Not For Sale book. Also in the works is a guidebook for establishing and running an investigation and mapping project. Stay tuned at www.NotForSaleCampaign.org....better yet get our weekly ezine, The Underground, where all new resources get announced.
Thank you for your work in educating the public on slavery and human trafficking issues.
I was wondering if you have considered using Facebook and other viral strategies, in addition to word of mouth, to help create the critical mass you mentioned.
I wish you the best of luck!
-Sarah McRae
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Current Master of International Management Student, Portland State University
We agree, Sarah, the more we can leverage other social networks the quicker we will reach a critical mass.
So, yes, we working on an application that will work inside Facebook. The "dynamic widget" feature that we already implemented on the site will help as well - users can put an individual case, and the map that corresponds to it, on their own website and it will click through back to SlaveryMap.org
By the way, since January nearly 13,500 Facebook members have joined our cause. Check out our launch promotion of SlaveryMap there: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/causes/show/597?recruiter_id=6847247&m=5900d
Thanks for your dedication to these issues. Your project looks very interesting and useful on a large scale.
Is there any way - for example, on your promotional tours - that you incorporate survivors themselves in the process. While I definitely agree that it's important to provide tools for getting this important information out, to increase public awareness and advance funding, I'm also wondering how telling these stories could be implemented in a way that promotes strengthening the people targeted. Involving the participation of the people directly affected could promote their healing and maybe draw out even more voices. I could imagine partnerships with local media creation groups to implement documentary projects (even on a small scale) which would train survivors in research, computer, photojournalism, and other skills, thereby increasing their capacity to obtain self-supporting jobs.
Best of luck with your project!
R.E. Szego
Portland, Oregon
Great idea! We are in fact piloting a project in Eastern Africa to use radio broadcasts into Rwanda providing education (and warning) for listeners about incidents of human trafficking, and how to prevent being caught in a trap. We will use trafficking survivors to tell their story, and incorporate them in the story creation. So we are on the same wave length! Stay in touch and we'll let you know how it goes...btw, we send out weekly updates and action opportunities on our UNDERGROUND ezine...free sign up at http://www.NotForSaleCampaign.org
It's two sides of a coin really, Puneet. On the one hand, the developed world will have more functional systems that can respond to the data that we generate. Yet, the tool should be extremely useful in developing nations where organizational transparency and investigative media do not have a strong tradition. The tool will give activists in developing nations an independent media source and reference point for identifying criminal activity on the vulnerable. You, of course, raise the challenge: how to get formal channels of law enforcement and government to respond effectively to that data. That does not magically happen, but at least we are creating more leverage.
Hi David,
It's great to see your entry in the competition. I really enjoyed learning about slaverymap.org.
It is great that in the entry form you focused on the innovation (slaverymap) and not the history of actions, impact, etc of NFS. This exactly what we encourage established and well known organizations to do. However, throwing just a little of that background information into the entry form would help give strength and validation to this new initiative. For example, I think that you still have some room to work within the "How many people have you served" section.
Currently, your entry shows: "How many people have you served or plan to serve? We plan to serve 500,000 visitors to the site by the end of year one." In response to this question it would be great if you could include just a few statistics or numbers on NFS's successes and impacts prior to slaverymap.org. Since slaverymap currently does not have any impact numbers to show, backing it with some of your prior experiences and accomplishments will help leverage slaverymap as a viable new initiative by an established leader in the field. In many ways, you have played down the great impacts that NFS has had so far! It would be great if you could go back into your entry form and add in a smattering of information on NFS's accomplishments. I think this will strengthen your entry.
Keep up the great work.
Best, Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
I will go back and amend the original entry proposal Dana. You're right, I am so thrilled with the innovative thrust of SlaveryMap that I barely addressed our organization and its achievements! SlaveryMap's potential, however, becomes all the more exciting in the context of Not For Sale's larger action plan to inspire and engage local movements around the globe. The next iteration of our entry hopefully will reflect more of that!
I was just looking around the Not For Sale website and the SlaveryMap.org website- both are very impressive. There is another entrant on here from an organization in Belgium called Terre des homes- that is also working to gather information and resources of trafficking in a central location. Perhaps there is a potential partnership.
The SlaveryMap is an interesting and innovative way of visually depicting the impact of trafficking in the United States. Could you share with us who are posting the reports and how they are verified?
Thanks!
Laura Cardinal
Public Health and Human Trafficking Specialist
Thanks for your affirmation Laura. I did not know about Terre des homes, so I will look to make that connection in Belgium. After all, SlaveryMap is a global tool for local action. At the moment, all participants are shown a USA map when they visit the site. But the user can manipulate the map easily to any location on the globe and document a case. I in fact am going to document a case today that I witnessed on the Myanmar/Thai border recently. We are in the process of designing a solution that would bring the map up by country in accord with the IP address from which the user visit originates. In that way we would avoid the (present) perception that the tool is US-centric.
Very important question you raise about who posts, and whether they are providing reliable data. I admit from the start that we cannot verify every posting with 100% accuracy. We aim for what I call "progressive approximations to the truth." We start with the initial posting/documentation, which is only as credible as the original author makes it. An author can only post after registering with a valid email address, and identifying oneself with a real name or a monikor. Over time, readers will build confidence in the best researchers. Not For Sale then has an editor that reviews each posting and has the power to delete cases that look suspicious and contact the original author. Once a case is documented, the site has a feature that allows anyone to add a post that enhances, corrects, or contradicts the original case. Those postings can be deleted or verified by the Not For Sale editor as well. So if we don't get it right the first time, there's plenty of eyes and monitors to help us move toward to greater approximation of the truth!
The SlaveryMap seems like a good way to give the public and researchers a more granular sense of what is happening. Invisibility is such an enormous barrier to addressing modern day slavery that helpful tools are needed. The SlaveryMap interface looks fairly easy to use as well, which is great.
I'm curious about exactly how the SlaveryMap will work in the future, especially since the questionnaire for each incident is rather detailed (which seems helpful). If the map fills up with information, and it looks like that's the plan, how will visitors navigate it? Is there an action plan for visitors once they read the information and/or enter information? Will there be a blog and or forum for visitors to build a community of abolitionists, or a way to direct them to specific Not for Sale campaign resources? I could see someone posting an incident that would prompt reactions from the greater community of users.
You are obviously a savvy strategist Alyssa, as you can see the potential that SlaveryMap opens up for future advocacy. Yes, we ask for detailed information and in a standardized format so that we can later enable participants to search not only for case studies by region, but also to see the kind of trafficking that predominates both universally and regionally. For example, I imagine many US Americans will be surprised how prevalent "domestic slavery" occurs in the USA. I just came back this week from Houston where an INS agent had enslaved in domestic servitude a young Nigerian girl for over a decade. By searching across categories, we also will get a sense of how effective law enforcement has intervened in a given region, or how much aftercare has been delivered to survivors. We plan to equip local organizations how to use this information effectively to advocate for better legal protocols (we are already piloting that process this summer in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Houston).
You touch on two more forward steps in the advocacy plan around SlaveryMap. First, local advocates can use this tool to alert local media to stories in their respective region that do not get adequate press coverage. We want local activists to subscribe to an RSS feed that alerts them whenever a new case gets logged into their own region. If that case has not received any coverage (like the Houston case I'm working on presently), then we want to provide a resource list of local reporters whom they can contact.
Second, we are in the process of designing a "ServicesMap" that would be the type of resource you imagine. It will included a forum or blog for local activists to connect, and a bank of volunteer opportunities for budding abolitionists to get involved locally (shelters and anti-trafficking groups will be able to self-publish their current needs). Together, SlaveryMap and "ServicesMap" will empower local networks.
Thank you so much for this response--these details are helpful to know. It sounds like the map will be a much-needed resource in the United States. I wish you the best of luck in the competition!
I am a full time graduate student in the School of Business at Portland State University. For the last 4 years I have also been on the Board of Directors for a local non-profit Sexual Assault advocacy organization. A couple of years ago I attended a volunteer training for the organization where Human Trafficking was the subject. I was appalled to find out what was happening around Portland and how little media coverage of it existed. This tool with worldwide data would be great to shine light on a subject that desperately needs it.
Thank you for your work.
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Portland State University, Current Student
Mattflax....thanks for your note. You nailed it. The key to SlaveryMap is to help local activists gather data and specific cases on what is happening in their own region. We can then use the aggregation of that data to push for better media coverage and more consistent law enforcement response, not to mention give social service providers the "case justification" for ongoing (or increased!) grant funds. Since you are a graduate student, it would be extremely helpful if you could start the ball rolling in Portland, and search through Department of Justice [doj.gov.org] files in the Portland area in the last five years. Beyond that, you and others can interview local police department officers, journalists and domestic abuse shelters to document case-by-case what has happened in Portland in the recent past.
Today I personally am documenting a case of the rescue of two young Burmese kids on the Myanmar-Thailand border that I witnessed last week. Their parents were trying to sell them. I was fortunate to be with a Thai woman who has the expertise (and moxie) to rescue these kids. SlaveryMap, in other words, let's us document cases wherever we find them, be it Portland or Myanmar!
Finally I note that you are a business student. Keep an eye out for the next tool that we are designing...called Free2Work.org. We will call out for volunteers to help us document how companies deploy their labor, inside their own operations, outsourced/supply chain, or extraction of raw materials for products. We aim to have that done for a September launch.
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
“This is a great tool to share and promote data to connect grassroots organizations. It is easily accessible and potentially user-friendly for the general public. Has the organization connected with the United Nations? It would be interesting to learn more about their anticipated partnership opportunities.”
- 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
Good luck on the competition. I have enjoyed receiving your emails. A few questions:
(1) How do you protect the survivors from revictimization? If anyone can add information then it's difficult to screen info for confidentiality. Safety concerns are potentially huge issues with this. For example, I saw one case from CA on your map and thought, "if I was the trafficker, I would be able to infer exactly what case this is, who the victim is and what agency she is currently being served by based on provided information." That's dangerous information to have in the hands of traffickers. What safeguards do you have in place to protect the people's lives who are being publically exposed?
(2) I work in FL and see someone has input the few biggest cases of international trafficking. However, the ratio of prosecutions for domestic trafficking (possibly convicted under different statutory charges such as RICO or the MANN Act) outnumber international cases 4:1. How are you going to promote this tool as one that captures domestic trafficking cases as well as international cases?
I am impressed by the mapping technology overall. I think it would benefit from a little tweaking so that the information about the case is the first thing you see in the pop up box, rather than the author. That would save us time in scrolling if we are clicking quickly through them browsing. But very impressive nonetheless.
Good luck.
In what way do you predict the awareness of the map to cause the terrors of slavery to act? Will they respond to the map with disdain, shaking their heads and moving on, or will they be jolted by the display of their illegal actions?
Claire, I do not anticipate trafficker to be at all moved by any work that will come out of SlaveryMap directly. We really need to find better avenues for prosecution of traffickers; by and large, they act with impunity around the globe. Building a greater awareness and urgency in local communities hopefully will inspire law enforcement and legislators to put a higher priority on enforcement of anti-slavery laws.
I wanted to thank you for launching the Slavery Map web site -- I hope that more of us will be able to utilize it and show people the seriousness of human trafficking. Perhaps if people knew that this occurs in their own backyard, and not just in foreign countries, they'll be more inspired to do something about it.
If this support for Changemakers and the Slavery Map in some way helps those who are being trafficked, I am all for it.
Many thanks for your kudos. I too am hopeful that greater local awareness will lead to engaged action to arrest the human trade!
Hi there,
I just want to say congratulations on an incredible website that I believe will make a difference in bringing more visibility to this horrific crime. I have been getting more involved with this cause through my church here in Los Angeles after we held an Open Forum with you as one of the Guest Speakers. While at first I was hesitant only because I did not know what a stay-at-home mom could possibly offer, I soon realized that I have plenty to offer simply because I am a fellow human being. I hope to use my perspective of "just" a mom to help bring modern day slavery to an end in my lifetime.
Thank you for your tireless efforts,
Jean Kim
Wife, mom and activist!
So glad you are bringing your gifts to this movement, Jean. Who better than a "mom" to express the dignity that each child...and indeed every human being...merits! I would love it if your church action group could add more documentation of cases that have occurred in the last five years in the Los Angeles metro area. At the moment, our LA cases do not reflect the gravity of the crisis in the region.
Best to you and your action group, Dave
This is wonderful site - I think you are using the wiki technology brilliantly! I got see Tini demostrate this site briefly in Orange County the week the 2.0 version launched. I think it would be cool if you did regional training days or tutorilal videos or pdfs - where you share the know-how you are pioneering at USF. I think with a little training many people could spend time on the web being abolishionists!
Keep on truckin! Jason
Fabulous recommendation, Jason. We in fact now offer a training workshop on local investigation and documentation of human trafficking, and share the lessons we have learned via our San Francisco research. We call these training workshops a NOT FOR TRADE SHOW. You can book a NOT FOR TRADE SHOW with Allison Trowbridge: allison@NotForSaleCampaign.org
Best, Dave
I would just like to comment on the ingenuity of this project approach. This makes not only the communication amongst abolitionists around the world much easier but also makes for a great resource tool for local groups to use as resource tools. It's like a huge abolitionist convention with people's successes and stories in one place at the click of a button. Great innovation! Not sure if I just missed it, but it would be also great if readers could respond to a post and inquire into methods, situations, etc. to further help their own research/efforts. Great job Dave!
I certainly appreciate your kudos. I love your metaphor of SlaveryMap as an "abolitionist convention with people's successes and stories in one place at the click of a button"! That's the level of intelligence and community building we hope to enable with this innovation. As to your final query, yes, it is possible to add an amendment, question of method, or comment, to each documented case. The original researcher/author can then respond to the post or leave it to stand alone.
Given the challenge of finding and utilizing accurate, reliable data on human trafficking -- especially in the United States, this website is an incredible step forward. Individuals from across the country and around the world will be able to add cases with great ease, which will accomplish several results from my perspective.
1. It will allow individuals who want to get involved in the modern-day abolitionist movement an opportunity to do so, without cost to them or a significant investment in time.
2. It will serve as a resource for those just learning about the problem as well as those (like policy makers) who need to be reminded about the size and complexity of the issue.
3. It reinforces the value of research, which is especially important for those of us who teach undergraduates!
Most importantly, however, it should provide a baseline for accurately estimating the extent of various forms of human trafficking/modern-day slavery in every region of our country and throughout the world. It allows for the development of a public methodology that educators/researchers can utilize. That is rare but sorely needed as we attempt to integrate modern-day slavery into our curricula, research agenda, and service.
I used your book in my classes last year, and I will use this resource this year.
Dr. Keisha L. Hoerrner
Chair, First-Year Programs
Many thanks for your comments Keisha. If every university in the world would follow the example that you and your colleagues have established at Kennesaw State University, imagine how dynamic our anti-slavery movement would become. For those who don't know, KSU has established a "research center" to map slavery and human trafficking in the Georgia region especially. It is my dream that universities around the globe will accept their responsibility to leverage their intellectual capital in order to contribute to the emancipation of captive people in their region. SlaveryMap offers them a platform to display, elaborate, and evaluate the practice of human trafficking as it directly impacts their respective communities. What we have discovered at the University of San Francisco, and our friends at Kennesaw State share this experience, that increased knowledge and understanding of the global slave trade motivates our students to get more engaged in meaningful activism as well. I cannot think of a better social activism model for a university: original research to fuel needed social change, locally as well as globally.
Dave,
I wonder if you have a goal for the number of cases you aim to post on the map? Do you have an idea of how many persons are trafficked in the U.S. yearly?
Thanks,
Aaron
In many respects, Aaron, your question begs the need for SlaveryMap. We do not have a CLEAR and objective figure for the number of trafficking cases inside the USA each year. Anti-slavery groups often quote a US State Department figure that between 14,000 and 17,500 new individuals are trafficked into the USA each year. Based on the speculation, many of us have tried to project how many of those foreign nationals, added to domestic trafficking victims, still live in captivity today. Our projected figures range broadly. So when you ask how many cases we aim to post on the map, my answer is as many as would give us a realistic appraisal of the gravity of the crisis inside the USA. Up until now, we have lacked a strong objective measure, and I'm hopeful that SlaveryMap makes a difference.
Hi Dave
Thanks for sharing your innovation on changemakers. I am also based at a university - the Free University in Berlin - in education and political theory. Could you say more about how being linked to a university helps your project and how students and other faculty play a role (if at all).
It would also be interesting to hear some of your ideas how other projects could link with local universities to strengthen their programmes. What potential do you see?
All the best from Berlin
Heather Cameron
----------
Heather Cameron
Professor
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
The community-based research model focuses on the universities core strength of conducting original research, and does so for the benefit of community groups and NGOs that have neither the capacity or the resources to conduct essential research. Let me offer two examples of how it relates to our anti-trafficking work and universities:
1) My students and I established at the University of San Francisco a center for investigating and mapping slavery that we hope will be replicated internationally. Imagine if every university took responsibility for mapping the trafficking that is happening in its region?! For the past two years, students at USF have mapped trafficking incidents in Northern California in garment factories, agricultural fields, construction projects, commercial sex establishments, etc. How did they do so? By interviewing local and federal police, domestic abuse shelter directors, journalists, agents at places where migrant labor aggregates, and on and on. They also combed through court documents and Department of Justice (DOJ) reports. At the end of each year, we hold a press conference and deliver these results to local law enforcement and government bodies with recommendations for action. Though the research is student driven, it is critical that faculty are deeply involved. The faculty help to train investigation, impart methodology, and maintain quality control. The faculty also provide consistency from year-to-year, while students are inherently transient.
2) Beyond the mapping research, a NGO that was interested in launching a shelter for trafficking survivors asked our students to help them conduct a "needs" survey for their region that they could use in funding proposals.
Not For Sale is in the month releasing two FREE resources (digitally downloaded in PDF) for universities. One is an organizing toolkit for uni students, the other is a curriculum guide for my Not For Sale book. Also in the works is a guidebook for establishing and running an investigation and mapping project. Stay tuned at www.NotForSaleCampaign.org....better yet get our weekly ezine, The Underground, where all new resources get announced.
Best, Dave
Thank you for your work in educating the public on slavery and human trafficking issues.
I was wondering if you have considered using Facebook and other viral strategies, in addition to word of mouth, to help create the critical mass you mentioned.
I wish you the best of luck!
-Sarah McRae
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Current Master of International Management Student, Portland State University
We agree, Sarah, the more we can leverage other social networks the quicker we will reach a critical mass.
So, yes, we working on an application that will work inside Facebook. The "dynamic widget" feature that we already implemented on the site will help as well - users can put an individual case, and the map that corresponds to it, on their own website and it will click through back to SlaveryMap.org
By the way, since January nearly 13,500 Facebook members have joined our cause. Check out our launch promotion of SlaveryMap there: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/causes/show/597?recruiter_id=6847247&m=5900d
Appreciate your insight
Dave
Dave,
Thanks for your dedication to these issues. Your project looks very interesting and useful on a large scale.
Is there any way - for example, on your promotional tours - that you incorporate survivors themselves in the process. While I definitely agree that it's important to provide tools for getting this important information out, to increase public awareness and advance funding, I'm also wondering how telling these stories could be implemented in a way that promotes strengthening the people targeted. Involving the participation of the people directly affected could promote their healing and maybe draw out even more voices. I could imagine partnerships with local media creation groups to implement documentary projects (even on a small scale) which would train survivors in research, computer, photojournalism, and other skills, thereby increasing their capacity to obtain self-supporting jobs.
Best of luck with your project!
R.E. Szego
Portland, Oregon
Great idea! We are in fact piloting a project in Eastern Africa to use radio broadcasts into Rwanda providing education (and warning) for listeners about incidents of human trafficking, and how to prevent being caught in a trap. We will use trafficking survivors to tell their story, and incorporate them in the story creation. So we are on the same wave length! Stay in touch and we'll let you know how it goes...btw, we send out weekly updates and action opportunities on our UNDERGROUND ezine...free sign up at http://www.NotForSaleCampaign.org
Best, Dave
Dear David
Congratulations for the wonderful idea. This should work well in the developed world, where systems are relatively better enforced.
In developing nations, it would take some time when results of such initiaves could see a mass-scale postive impact.
Nevertheless a great platform for all to make a begining.
Regards
Puneet
It's two sides of a coin really, Puneet. On the one hand, the developed world will have more functional systems that can respond to the data that we generate. Yet, the tool should be extremely useful in developing nations where organizational transparency and investigative media do not have a strong tradition. The tool will give activists in developing nations an independent media source and reference point for identifying criminal activity on the vulnerable. You, of course, raise the challenge: how to get formal channels of law enforcement and government to respond effectively to that data. That does not magically happen, but at least we are creating more leverage.
Hi David,
It's great to see your entry in the competition. I really enjoyed learning about slaverymap.org.
It is great that in the entry form you focused on the innovation (slaverymap) and not the history of actions, impact, etc of NFS. This exactly what we encourage established and well known organizations to do. However, throwing just a little of that background information into the entry form would help give strength and validation to this new initiative. For example, I think that you still have some room to work within the "How many people have you served" section.
Currently, your entry shows: "How many people have you served or plan to serve? We plan to serve 500,000 visitors to the site by the end of year one." In response to this question it would be great if you could include just a few statistics or numbers on NFS's successes and impacts prior to slaverymap.org. Since slaverymap currently does not have any impact numbers to show, backing it with some of your prior experiences and accomplishments will help leverage slaverymap as a viable new initiative by an established leader in the field. In many ways, you have played down the great impacts that NFS has had so far! It would be great if you could go back into your entry form and add in a smattering of information on NFS's accomplishments. I think this will strengthen your entry.
Keep up the great work.
Best, Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
I will go back and amend the original entry proposal Dana. You're right, I am so thrilled with the innovative thrust of SlaveryMap that I barely addressed our organization and its achievements! SlaveryMap's potential, however, becomes all the more exciting in the context of Not For Sale's larger action plan to inspire and engage local movements around the globe. The next iteration of our entry hopefully will reflect more of that!
Thx for your help....Dave
Hi David-
I was just looking around the Not For Sale website and the SlaveryMap.org website- both are very impressive. There is another entrant on here from an organization in Belgium called Terre des homes- that is also working to gather information and resources of trafficking in a central location. Perhaps there is a potential partnership.
The SlaveryMap is an interesting and innovative way of visually depicting the impact of trafficking in the United States. Could you share with us who are posting the reports and how they are verified?
Thanks!
Laura Cardinal
Public Health and Human Trafficking Specialist
Thanks for your affirmation Laura. I did not know about Terre des homes, so I will look to make that connection in Belgium. After all, SlaveryMap is a global tool for local action. At the moment, all participants are shown a USA map when they visit the site. But the user can manipulate the map easily to any location on the globe and document a case. I in fact am going to document a case today that I witnessed on the Myanmar/Thai border recently. We are in the process of designing a solution that would bring the map up by country in accord with the IP address from which the user visit originates. In that way we would avoid the (present) perception that the tool is US-centric.
Very important question you raise about who posts, and whether they are providing reliable data. I admit from the start that we cannot verify every posting with 100% accuracy. We aim for what I call "progressive approximations to the truth." We start with the initial posting/documentation, which is only as credible as the original author makes it. An author can only post after registering with a valid email address, and identifying oneself with a real name or a monikor. Over time, readers will build confidence in the best researchers. Not For Sale then has an editor that reviews each posting and has the power to delete cases that look suspicious and contact the original author. Once a case is documented, the site has a feature that allows anyone to add a post that enhances, corrects, or contradicts the original case. Those postings can be deleted or verified by the Not For Sale editor as well. So if we don't get it right the first time, there's plenty of eyes and monitors to help us move toward to greater approximation of the truth!
Hi David,
The SlaveryMap seems like a good way to give the public and researchers a more granular sense of what is happening. Invisibility is such an enormous barrier to addressing modern day slavery that helpful tools are needed. The SlaveryMap interface looks fairly easy to use as well, which is great.
I'm curious about exactly how the SlaveryMap will work in the future, especially since the questionnaire for each incident is rather detailed (which seems helpful). If the map fills up with information, and it looks like that's the plan, how will visitors navigate it? Is there an action plan for visitors once they read the information and/or enter information? Will there be a blog and or forum for visitors to build a community of abolitionists, or a way to direct them to specific Not for Sale campaign resources? I could see someone posting an incident that would prompt reactions from the greater community of users.
All the best,
Alyssa
Changemakers.net
You are obviously a savvy strategist Alyssa, as you can see the potential that SlaveryMap opens up for future advocacy. Yes, we ask for detailed information and in a standardized format so that we can later enable participants to search not only for case studies by region, but also to see the kind of trafficking that predominates both universally and regionally. For example, I imagine many US Americans will be surprised how prevalent "domestic slavery" occurs in the USA. I just came back this week from Houston where an INS agent had enslaved in domestic servitude a young Nigerian girl for over a decade. By searching across categories, we also will get a sense of how effective law enforcement has intervened in a given region, or how much aftercare has been delivered to survivors. We plan to equip local organizations how to use this information effectively to advocate for better legal protocols (we are already piloting that process this summer in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Houston).
You touch on two more forward steps in the advocacy plan around SlaveryMap. First, local advocates can use this tool to alert local media to stories in their respective region that do not get adequate press coverage. We want local activists to subscribe to an RSS feed that alerts them whenever a new case gets logged into their own region. If that case has not received any coverage (like the Houston case I'm working on presently), then we want to provide a resource list of local reporters whom they can contact.
Second, we are in the process of designing a "ServicesMap" that would be the type of resource you imagine. It will included a forum or blog for local activists to connect, and a bank of volunteer opportunities for budding abolitionists to get involved locally (shelters and anti-trafficking groups will be able to self-publish their current needs). Together, SlaveryMap and "ServicesMap" will empower local networks.
Thank you so much for this response--these details are helpful to know. It sounds like the map will be a much-needed resource in the United States. I wish you the best of luck in the competition!
I am a full time graduate student in the School of Business at Portland State University. For the last 4 years I have also been on the Board of Directors for a local non-profit Sexual Assault advocacy organization. A couple of years ago I attended a volunteer training for the organization where Human Trafficking was the subject. I was appalled to find out what was happening around Portland and how little media coverage of it existed. This tool with worldwide data would be great to shine light on a subject that desperately needs it.
Thank you for your work.
----------
Portland State University, Current Student
Mattflax....thanks for your note. You nailed it. The key to SlaveryMap is to help local activists gather data and specific cases on what is happening in their own region. We can then use the aggregation of that data to push for better media coverage and more consistent law enforcement response, not to mention give social service providers the "case justification" for ongoing (or increased!) grant funds. Since you are a graduate student, it would be extremely helpful if you could start the ball rolling in Portland, and search through Department of Justice [doj.gov.org] files in the Portland area in the last five years. Beyond that, you and others can interview local police department officers, journalists and domestic abuse shelters to document case-by-case what has happened in Portland in the recent past.
Today I personally am documenting a case of the rescue of two young Burmese kids on the Myanmar-Thailand border that I witnessed last week. Their parents were trying to sell them. I was fortunate to be with a Thai woman who has the expertise (and moxie) to rescue these kids. SlaveryMap, in other words, let's us document cases wherever we find them, be it Portland or Myanmar!
Finally I note that you are a business student. Keep an eye out for the next tool that we are designing...called Free2Work.org. We will call out for volunteers to help us document how companies deploy their labor, inside their own operations, outsourced/supply chain, or extraction of raw materials for products. We aim to have that done for a September launch.
Thanks for your passion for smart activism!
Best, Dave