Restoration and education for 36 trafficked girls

To date, this project has made a contribution to the lives of 26 girls. They have received rehabilitation support such as education, vocational training, job placement, psychosocial counseling, and dance therapy. Amongst them, 11 girls are receiving formal education and 15 girls benefit from non-formal education support, such as basic literacy and numeracy. Half the girls are also receiving vocational training, including in hairdressing and hospitality.

All girls are also benefitting from life skills training. This training gives girls the opportunity to learn more about and delve deeper into issues around personal identity; effective communication; ways to deal creatively with negative emotions; decision-making; sexual and reproductive health and rights; communicable diseases; family planning; hygiene and health care; nutrition; and role of men in their lives. These skills are necessary to help develop the girls’ awareness and decision-making capacity. In turn this enhances their ability to reintegrate into the community going into the future as this is often a challenge that is faced by the girls, particularly being able to reintegrate back into their families. This is because of the low socio-economic status of many families and the risk of re-victimisation through re-trafficking after they are reunified with families. Acknowledging this, educational and vocational training for girls is crucial so that they can build independent lives going into the future. Nonetheless, it is very difficult to find job placements for the girls because of the substantial social stigma attached to being victims of sexual exploitation. To combat this, our local partner operates a handicrafts social enterprise where many of the girls can become employed and build their skills. In addition to this, we also raise the awareness of families and community members in the area on the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation and attitudes around gender-based violence.