Bridging the Gap

Chab Dai's long time staff member and co-founder of Chab Dai USA, Tania DoCarmo, is highlighted by University of California's School of Social Sciences as they report on her combination of experience in both academia and activism against human trafficking.

Reposted with permission from the UCI School of Social Sciences. See original post here.

Tania has worked for Chab Dai since 2006

For first year grad student Tania DoCarmo, the path to a Ph.D. has been anything but conventional. However, what her journey lacks in predictability, it makes up for in travels abroad, human rights work and practical, first-hand knowledge of human trafficking—her primary research interest. In fact, the sociology student’s proposed project on the subject recently secured her a fellowship through the National Science Foundation’s highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which will fund her next three years at UCI.

Though her initial proposal to the NSF—involving a comparative study of humanitarian organizations in Cambodia and Ukraine—has been tweaked slightly, the focus of her current research remains rooted in the deeper understanding of counter-trafficking organizations. And after working for one such organization for more than nine years, she has some valuable insights.

DoCarmo’s interest in human trafficking is a direct result of her non-traditional route to academia. And though she has always loved learning, after her first year as an undergraduate at Biola University, she worried that she loved it a bit too much.

“I was sort of afraid that I was going to get stuck,” she explains. “I loved school, so I was afraid that I was just going to go to school and get married and never really go anywhere.”

So, the then teenager decided to drop everything and move to Brazil—much to the vexation of her parents—to participate in a humanitarian training program. It was in Brazil that she met her now-husband, and two years after she left the U.S., she set off on another life-changing adventure, this time to Cambodia. It was there that she met a woman who had recently started a group called Chab Dai, a non-governmental organization dedicated to uniting activist groups and ending sexual abuse and trafficking in Cambodia.

After volunteering with the organization for a short while, she eventually took on a full-time position, helping to research and implement effective training methods. It was during her time there that she noticed how distrustful activists were of researchers and journalists.

“Through that experience I just realized the gap that exists between what activists and organizations are doing and what academics are doing,” she says. “Historically, researchers from big universities would come over and want to interview victims and do their research and then you would never hear from them again. There was a lot of mistrust and a lot of feeling like they didn’t understand the context.”

Despite the skepticism, DoCarmo rediscovered her love of academia, took classes online to complete her bachelor’s degree and subsequently earned her master’s degree in anthropology while still working for Chab Dai. She felt that this bad blood between activists and researchers was doing damage to both sides of the cause, and she began to imagine combining her education with her passion and expertise for activism to bridge the gap.

“Getting my master’s degree reminded me how much I like academics and how much I believe in research. It really built my conviction that to do good work we need to understand what we’re addressing—and we need research to do that.”

So, after nearly nine years with Chab Dai and several moves back and forth from the U.S. to Cambodia, DoCarmo and her family made the trek back to California where she began UCI’s sociology graduate program in 2014.  

She is currently working on two research projects that have evolved from her research proposal to the NSF. The first, which she is working on in conjunction with Francesca Polletta, sociology professor, examines the use of storytelling and narratives within the activist community. As DoCarmo explains, there is sometimes a fine line between empowerment and exploitation, especially when the subject of a story may not be able to foresee all the potential ramifications of their participation.

“A lot of times, organizations will use a victim’s story to get donations or funding,” she says. “And while I see why people are doing that, my experience has been that stories can be very exploitative to the people whose stories you are telling.”

In addition to being manipulative, sharing a victim’s story can be damaging to their livelihood and reputation. DoCarmo explains that, in Cambodia, there is a very negative stigma associated with trafficking and prostitution. She has seen victims who are trying to move on with their lives be thrown back into a negative place when their community finds out that they had been sex workers. And there are even more sinister dangers—she notes that it is not uncommon for sex tourists to travel across the world in order to track down a woman that they saw in a documentary.

“Internally I’m still trying to wrestle with it, because I don’t think we should tell a victim what’s good or bad for them because they need to be empowered to tell their story if they want,” she says. “But we also need to be responsible for our part in it. So we’re interviewing organizations in the States and overseas and talking to them about how they’ve used stories—what’s been useful and what hasn’t been useful.”

In addition to this work, DoCarmo is also working on her own project that she hopes will help shed light on how human trafficking came to be a “new” social problem despite having been around for thousands of years. She believes that global interest in the issue became prominent after a 2000 U.N. convention that essentially coined “human trafficking” as a term.

She hopes to find out why, if trafficking has existed for centuries, was there a sudden explosion of concern about it. She’s seeking answers to her questions through archival research and hopes to, eventually, incorporate her work as a chapter in her dissertation, though that won’t be for several years. Her ultimate goal is to repair the bond between academics and activists in the counter-trafficking world, which she hopes will improve overall understanding of the topic.

“Sometimes when I read, there just seems to be a disconnect between how practitioners see a problem and how it’s written about in academia,” she says. “Through my research I want to reflect the practitioner’s view with the academic’s. I think together you have a better understanding.”

For now, DoCarmo is happy to be merging her two passions, academia and activism, while raising her two children with her husband. And with the NSF fellowship to help fund tuition and research expenses, she can spend the next three years focusing on how to make a difference.

—Bria Balliet, School of Social Sciences - See more at: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/news/2015/2015-07-14-docarmo-trafficking.php#sthash.eBe2i3Mp.dpuf

The Power of “Soft Power”

          The concept of “power” is frequently used but rarely is understood in all of its intricacies. How often in academic literature, political debates and even personal conversations do we ascribe power to a person or group without really discussing what this entails? In what ways is power expressed and how do we know when a person or group has power? Within the anti-human trafficking movement it is easy to fall prey to feelings of powerlessness. In our efforts to confront this global atrocity, the power of states, the power of the global economic system and the power of traffickers themselves may all seem superior to any power we possess. I would strongly argue, however, that the power of the anti-trafficking movement is quite formidable, especially if we know where to look.

Joseph S. Nye, a Harvard professor, famously introduced the concept of soft power and hard power into the academic and political worlds during the late 1980s, and suggested that power is not simply the capacity to coerce others into behaving in a certain manner such as through military force and economic strength. Rather, power also entails the capacity to attract and persuade others into behaving a particular way. While Nye focused his astute analysis primarily on states, we can extend this way of looking at power into the anti-trafficking movement. No one would ever argue that the movement possesses sufficient hard power to bring about positive changes. Chab Dai is certainly not going to threaten a state with military strikes, nor is any other nongovernmental organization. Instead, the anti-trafficking movement excels in the use of soft power and, in this sense, our power is continuously growing. 

In a multitude of contexts, through various public and private campaigns, the movement has produced positive changes in the fight against human trafficking. Take, for example, the U.S. TIP Report; while it is certainly produced and enforced by a state, it arguably would not exist at all if not for the soft power of the anti-trafficking movement. In order to create this revolutionary tool (putting aside arguments about its effectiveness or shortcomings), it was necessary to first persuade American politicians to enact appropriate legislation. This was not a victory due to the hard power of the anti-trafficking movement; the TIP reports are the direct result of the development and effective use of soft power. Not convinced? Numerous companies are now attempting to certify that their supply chains are “slave free.” This is remarkable, considering the fact that the exploitation of workers can often be concealed by major corporations fairly easily.   

Moreover, the use of exploited labour can potentially offer significant savings in labour costs for the company. Nevertheless, the soft power of the anti-trafficking movement is producing positive changes (check out FreeTheSlaves for more details). Still dubious? Thanks to the magic of “Google trends” we can see that “human trafficking,” as a search term, has steadily increased since 2004. Why does this matter? It shows that people are becoming more interested in the issue. While this clearly does not constitute an academic study, it is quite reasonable to suggest that the soft power of the anti-trafficking movement is attracting or persuading greater numbers of people of the worthiness of our cause. After all, more and more people are choosing to educate themselves on the issue, and global support is needed to effectively fight this global problem.

So the next time you find yourself wondering if we really stand a chance against the power of those who promote or benefit from human trafficking, take a closer look around at the victories being won due to the soft power of the movement. While Joseph S. Nye may argue that soft power brought down the Berlin Wall, I would argue it can also end human trafficking.

By Tyler Girard, Strategic Planning Officer for Chab Dai

The Butterfly Project: How We Began and Some Thoughts About 'Trust' and 'Disclosure'.......

A number of Chab Dai aftercare organizations in Cambodia expressed their desire to understand more about the long-term impacts of their programs on victims/survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking. At this time, no one organization had the capacity to conduct long-term follow up on their clients leaving their programs. Hence, the idea of a cooperative effort began to grow. The Butterfly Project is the first longitudinal re-integration research study that seeks to follow a group of sexually exploited/trafficked youth and adults over a ten year period. We started in 2010 and we are now in year five of our journey.

The core objectives of the Butterfly research are two-fold.  The first objective is to hear the ‘voice’ of victims/survivors who have (re-) integrated out of aftercare and community programs, and through their ‘voice’ they can inform the practitioner community in Cambodia. The second objective is to disseminate our findings and lessons learned amongst mixed audiences of other practitioners, policy makers and academics within the wider region and global community.

The Butterfly project is like any other study in that participation is voluntary. A participant has the right to drop out at any time. Yet, when the point of the study is to follow a group of the same people over a period of time, then attrition or dropping out is an issue. We anticipated this challenge from the beginning and, at five years, we are still in contact with the majority of our 128 participants. Aside from working hard to maintain the database on our participants’ most current whereabouts, we believe the primary reason they voluntarily remain in our study is because they trust us (the research team).

Essentially, every participant in our study has experienced some degree of sexual trauma, and a number of studies suggest that severe trauma exposure results in and is associated with negative impacts on memory. We sense this may be true for some of our participants, as year to year their answers vary and even contradict what they have said previously. We also find participants’ varying emotional states, their family dynamics, their relationships and their financial securities are all matters which affect how they respond at any given interview. Many of our older participants are in violent and abusive relationships whilst younger participants often describe difficulties with their peers. Others work in dangerous work contexts, and most are struggling to meet their economic needs.

Most of our participants live with feeling stigmatized for their past experiences of sexual exploitation and so most live with many secrets. We have found that as each year progresses, increasing numbers of participants are telling us they trust us enough to disclose more of their stories. They express how therapeutic it feels to share their feelings and experiences with our team.

Many have also told us they continue in the study because they feel valued as individuals and not just subjects in a research project. They state that they feel respected, appreciated and honored because we ask them about their lives and their opinions. In addition, a number of them have stated that they appreciate the opportunity to express their ‘voice’ because they hope their insights and experiences will help others in similar circumstance.

Our team feels each participant is unique. We are thankful they trust us enough and are willing to express their ‘voice.’  It is such a privilege to journey along with them, and we hope through their stories they feel empowered and that their voice will empower future generations.

If you would like any of our annual reports and themed papers please visit the Chab Dai website

www.chabdai.org

Siobhan Miles, Butterfly manager

Why Research is Important to Counter-Trafficking

by Julia Smith-Brake

I love research. I love literature reviews and methodology and bibliographies. I love engaging is discussion about research and seeing programs change or begin based on good research. It may seem obvious that the counter-trafficking sector (like any other social justice or development sector) needs professional, scientific research, but we often forego this “step” in an attempt to address problems quickly. Not necessarily well, but quickly.

So why can’t we see research as a response to human trafficking? Maybe because of the unfortunate divide between academics and practitioners, a gap that often means research does not reach the field, and practitioners feel research does not represent the reality on the field. Maybe because it is difficult for practitioners to know which research is good and which is irrelevant, and practitioners lack the time and motivation to distinguish and access relevant research.

Chab Dai is in a good position to not only do research, but also to provide some of this access to practitioners in the field. Practitioner research is a good way to go about exploring and providing relevant information to other organizations because it is based in an assumption that action will stem out of the research. Research is imperative to the counter-trafficking movement, especially at this juncture, because we need to reflect well on what has led the movement to this point and how we can learn from past successes and failures, what responses have worked and which ones haven’t, and how lessons from other sectors can inform our way forward. 
If we begin to see research as a response to trafficking, in the continuum of responses including prevention, intervention and others, we may be able to integrate it more holistically into our work. If we are continually going back to research and allowing it to inform and challenge our preconceptions and frameworks, won’t our programs be more relevant and better suited to the needs of those we serve?

Economic Re/integration for Survivors of Trafficking in Cambodia

by Julia Smith-Brake, a member of our team in Cambodia

Chab Dai's 2012 Butterfly Reintegration research report is now downloadable online! We are only 3 years into the 10-year research on the reintegration of survivors of sex trafficking, but there are already some emerging trends and fascinating issues to report on.

One section of this year’s report is on economic reintegration, with survivors’ perspectives on education, vocational training, employment, family financial responsibilities, migration, and poverty. Something I love about this research project is it prioritizes the voices of survivors’ themselves, instead of telling their stories for them.

So what better way to share the main findings from the research than with direct quotes from some of our participants?

On sacrificing for opportunities:

“I prefer to live with my family but I stay longer in the shelter to get my education.”

– Female participant in a shelter program

On desiring appropriate vocational training:

“I want to learn Computer and English language. Beauty salon skill is not enough for me, I want to learn more. If I don’t know how to use computers and English, it will difficult to find a good job in the future. I don’t have a choice so that’s why I learn beauty salon now, but then I want to learn IT and English.”– Female participant in a residential training program

On poverty:

“I feel being poor is complicated.”– Female participant who declined assistance

“For the poor like us, our children didn’t have intelligent games to play. The poor children just played outside and then go to collect the recycling items [scavenging]. Then they become friends with bad friends so their lives are terrible.”– Female participant in a community-based assistance program

On hopes for the future:

“So far, I just want to work in a suitable workplace. I want to save money. When I have saved a lot of money, I can dismantle one store in front of my house and then I can sell groceries. I want to have such a life in the future. I can live peacefully with my family. That’s what I like ... My mother wants me to sell food there but I am not interested in this kind of small business. If I want to run a business, I want to depend on myself. I don’t want to borrow money from others. I am not 50 years old yet, I am still young so I have time to earn a living.”– Female participant in a shelter program 

As you can see, issues survivors are dealing with are difficult and complex. The above quotes are much better understood in the context of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the report, and I invite you to read further by downloading the report here. 

Academics vs. Practitioners: A Partnership w/Dr. Monti Datta

In the past few weeks, Chab Dai has hosted quite a few artistic, highly skilled, and extremely insightful volunteers and collaborators. We are eager to see how partnerships and projects will grow in the future. One specific partner we are most excited to work with is Dr. Monti Datta, PhD. Assistant Professor in the department of Political Science at the University of Richmond.

After studying human rights for his undergrad, Monti went abroad to see the world. While teaching in Korea and Japan, he noticed two things: first, a strong anti-American sentiment and second, a strong presence of the sex trade. He became more passionate about this issue of human trafficking after realizing just how lucrative of a business it had been for groups like the Japanese mafia.

Last October, when Dr. Kevin Bales visited the University of Richmond to speak about bonded labor, Dr. Datta heard of the need for someone in the university setting to collect factual statistics from  practitioners on the field. To those not in the field of human trafficking this may seem an easy task, however there has been a historical tug of war between academics and practitioners. Academics have long debated whether statistics used by nonprofits and other practitioners have come from factual or rather emotional foundations. And yet here was this well versed academic, Dr. Bales, talking about how important it is to have solid facts and getting them straight from the source. While attending the Human Trafficking Conference at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last October, Dr. Datta saw the tension between the academics and the practitioners once again. Only this time he decided to become a catalyst for change, and sought out Helen Sworn, founder and director of Chab Dai. Mrs. Sworn was immediately drawn to the idea of doing a practitioner-academic partnership. She knew this could be a chance to build bridges rather then break them down.

The rest is history. Dr. Datta has just finished up working at Chab Dai's Cambodia office interpreting and helping analyze qualitative and empirical work from our Butterfly Project. I'm certain the findings he has gathered over the course of his time in Cambodia will also encourage his next round of students to find their own data, directly from the source and to give credit to both practitioners and academics for the hard work that they do.

To learn more about Dr. Monti Datta, check out his personal website.

How long will we "let boys be boys"?

At the beginning of September, I attended the Human Development and Capabilities Association conference in The Hague, The Netherlands. Martha Nussbaum, one of the founding presidents of the association and one of the foremost philosophers on the capability approach, gave an engaging and thought-provoking keynote address on “Women and the Internet: Objectification and Human Capabilities.”

Much of the harassment and objectification occuring online is by men and boys. Nussbaum argues that the anonymity of posting degrading comments, pictures, and defaming stories of women is a way for many men to turn the fantasy of violence against women into reality because they are not just observing it but actually inflicting it. Boys and men who feel shame and out of control turn that shame outward because they do not learn a language to name their emotions and fears. It is easy to dismiss the aggression against women on the Internet as pathological, or call the perpetrators of such aggression "nuts;" but in reality, it is a reflection of a cultural phenomenon of violence against women.

We often talk about redefining feminity; taking control of our own sex and gender and not letting men define us as women. What I really appreciated about Nussbaum's discourse is that, if we are ever to achieve gender harmony, and really end the violence and exploitation of women, we need to redefine masculinity. Although it is difficult - some would say near impossible - for parents to counteract the pervasive culture of male aggression, it is time to take an intentional stand against the laissez-faire attitude of "boys will be boys." Nussbaum suggests, as a starting point, that we change the connotation of "strength" (a trait often associated with men); instead of equating strength with dominance, we need to teach our sons that strength is, in fact, respect and compassion.

As a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, mentor, or friend, how can we change our expectations of and attitudes toward the boys around us, so they grow up to show this new strength? I invite you to reflect on this and contribute to the conversation!

My husband Charlie and me in
The Hague for the HDCA Conf

11th Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report

The 11th Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report is the US Government's assessment of the impact of foreign governments' response to human trafficking in their nations, was recently issued mid-June 2011. This year’s report highlights 184 nations, and for the first time this year also includes an assessment of anti-human trafficking efforts in the US.

This year the report also called for more interagency cooperation between governments, academia, business, NGOs, and others, and added a fourth “P” – “Partnership” – to the longstanding “3P” paradigm. The “3P” paradigm – Prevention, Prosecution, & Protection – stands as a fundamental framework used by governments to combat human trafficking.

The US TIP office uses a tiered approach to do their assessment each year. The report assigns countries one of four grades: “Tier 1” for fully meeting basic standards, “Tier 2” for governments making some efforts, ”Tier 2 Watch List” for those slipping, and “Tier 3” for negligible efforts.

The TIP Report, of course, has both its allies & critics. The statistics quoted, we know, can always be disputed, and even the nature of releasing the report annually results in limited time for accurate information gathering each year, in each nation. The information reported is also dependent and subjective to the relationships the US government has in each nation- via US Embassy Consulates, NGOs, or other informants. Governments of countries on the lower tiers criticise the US rankings and often those countries ranked on the higher tiers are received with skepticism. There are political, cultural and economic differences of opinion and like every report, this one also has its limitations and biases.

However, regardless of where each of our preference lies, the TIP Report has been an important tool that allows both NGOs and governments to report on the current challenges and achievements within their countries. It also results in collaborative advocacy points, based on the recommendations that the TIP Report produces.

It is encouraging to see in this year's report a more-balanced response to the issue of human trafficking, including both trafficking for labour and for sexual exploitation; as well as to see a greater acknowledgement of the trafficking of men and boys, and the specialized interventions needed.

Read about the "Topics of Interest" in this year's report here.

Together we need to engage all levels of society to respond broadly to the challenges of demand, to work with governments to implement established human trafficking laws, to empower communities to prevent & protect those who are vulnerable, to educate & work with businesses to be ethical in their practice, as well as in providing stable employment to those in need. And importantly, we must continue to listen and learn lessons from one another, knowing that not one of us has all the answers.

Finally, the most important factor to remember in this fight is that although the report focuses on each nation's responsibility for their own country, we will only see an end to human trafficking if we work together, beyond the boundaries of our own countries & politics, to collaborate with a joint response to this complex issue.

Read the full report on the U.S. Department of State's website: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/

Learn more about Chab Dai's model of collaborating to see an end to human trafficking, by visiting our website: www.chabdai.org

RESEARCH: Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project

Chab Dai believes that research is the first step of the response process when dealing with issues as significant and grandiose as trafficking & sexual abuse. As a coalition we strive to understand and provide information that will improve our member’s prevention and aftercare project strategies.

In 2010, Chab Dai and partners in Cambodia launched The Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project: Study on Reintegration. Over a period of 10 years, this study aims to better understand the experiences of survivors of abuse who have been reintegrated back into society after rehabilitation. Researchers will follow victims as they become survivors starting from the time they are in the aftercare program. The purpose will be to ‘hear’ from the survivors themselves, about their lives, understandings and experiences so their voices can contribute towards a greater understanding of the complexities of reintegration.

The First Year Progress Report features findings from the Phase 1 of the research completed in 2010. Researchers focused on collecting data from aftercare programs about how they reintegrated girls back into their communities. They also facilitated peer group discussions with girls currently in aftercare programs about:

• What the ideal aftercare shelter would look like;
• What their hopes and fears are about leaving the aftercare program;
• And what they think a girl needs to take with her in her heart, her mind, and in her suitcase when she is reintegrated.

Download Butterfly Longitudinal Research End of Year Progress Report 2010.

Chab Dai presented these preliminary research findings at our Shelter Forum this week and plan to begin data collection by the middle of this year. If you would like more information about funding or partnering, please contact our Research Coordinator at cambodia@chabdai.org

Sharing Resources

On Tuesday Chab Dai hosted a team of university students who used our Resource Library to do a research activity about issues of injustice. With over 1,600 English resources that span more than 60 categories surrounding human trafficking & abuse it serves as a suitable learning space for students, practitioners, & project managers.

Note: Chab Dai also has a Khmer & Vietnamese library section. Library cards are free of charge for members & partner staff. Come check it out or email resources@chabdai.org for more information.