As part of making preparations to write an effective proposal or application form (SOI) under the current grant competition from the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, International Programs Section (G/TIP), it will be interesting to go through and understand what types of projects were previously funded under this program. The strategies adopted by grantees were definitely a strong point that led them to receive the competitive funding from the US Government. Although the winning strategies can be diverse, innovative and unique, yet referring to them can help us in writing a convincing proposal. A full list of projects that were approved for funding is available at this link. A short summary of it is given below.
According to G/TIP, there were nearly 400 proposals submitted for the 2009 grant competition by organizations from different parts of the world. Although it was a record submission, G/TIP was able to award only 93 programs in various regions. The Western Hemisphere region with like Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Haiti etc received the highest number of programs while Europe and Eurasia received funding for the lowest number of programs. Many international agencies such as United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Catholic Relief Services, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Hope International, Save the Children Federation, Save the Children, The Asia Foundation, United Methodist Committee on Relief, World Vision, International Research and Exchanges Board and others seemed to have benefited from the program funding but all the projects implemented by them have demonstrated strong partnerships with local NGOs.
Globally, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) has received the US funding for countries such as Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand to implement interventions that educate young men on gender issues, sexuality and consequences of sexuality for reducing the demand that leads to the prevalence of sex trafficking. The Global Victim Database of the International Organization for Migration tracks, monitors and manages the systematic information available on victims of trafficking which supports policymakers in developing effective policies against traffickers. Nedan Foundation working in parts of India, China, Burma and Bhutan has a project that is developing the Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) for rescue and repatriation of trafficking survivors.
UNICEF in Chad has received the financial assistance for preventing children from being recruited in armed forces and it is working with religious leaders and army officers in addition with the community and other actors in this project. Legal Resource Centre in Ghana under its project is providing training to law enforcement, prosecutors, immigration and customs officials, defense lawyers, and the judiciary to address lack of justice against victims of trafficking. Save the Children Federation’s project is to establish child protection systems in its area of operation in Burma. The Cambodian project of the International Justice Mission is replicating its program where victims who have been rescued and empowered are working to rescue those in commercial sexual exploitation. Abt Associates in Korea is implementing the ‘johns school’ program where first time young offenders involved in prostitution are given the option of attending to school instead of going on trial. The objective of the Department of Justice/Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training for its G/TIP-funded project is to “to increase the number of successful prosecutions and convictions of persons engaged in human trafficking.” The Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights has received support to establish a model residential facility for victims of trafficking in Iraq. Anti-Slavery International in partnership with local NGOs in India has the project where it is creating community-based vigilance committees in villages to check trafficking. Another Indian project is on creating mass awareness against trafficking through radio programs and it is implemented by BBC World Service Trust. The American Bar Association in Nepal has a project that will improve the investigation procedures to bringing justice to victims of trafficking. The International Labour Organization’s Sri Lankan project has the support for introducing protection measures for domestic workers. The IOM’s Bangladesh project is funded for building local administrative capacities and also develop data management of trafficking cases in the country.
Activities that can be proposed under the 2010 Grant Competition have been discussed at this link.
