CenHTRO March News: Sierra Leone Engagement + Senegal Launch

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CenHTRO’s March newsletter arrives in your inbox a week late following a campus-wide pause on external email communications at the University of Georgia. Pardon the delay.

Another email containing more research and programming updates arrives at the end of April.

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

Sierra Leone Stakeholder Engagement,
Capacity Building with World Hope International,
National Launch of Programs in Senegal, and New Videos

CenHTRO Strengthens Anti-Trafficking Stakeholder and Partner Relationships in Sierra Leone

CenHTRO traveled to Sierra Leone in late February and early March to strengthen relationships with anti-trafficking stakeholders and continue capacity building efforts with our implementation partners in the West African country.

Attending the National Conference on Trafficking in Persons, organized under the theme “Strengthening National Frameworks and Stakeholder Networks to Stop Modern Slavery,” served as the main purpose of the visit. CenHTRO first announced the conference at its National Launch of Programs in spring 2021. Our Sierra Leone country coordinator Umaru Fofanah co-planned the conference as part of our efforts to galvanize political support for anti-trafficking programs.

The conference aimed to build stronger partnerships among anti-human trafficking stakeholders in Sierra Leone. Prominent stakeholders attended and gave speeches that renewed their commitments to combating trafficking in persons. President Julius Maada Bio delivered the keynote address, during which he unveiled a dedicated anti-trafficking hotline with a toll-free number. The President also recognized CenHTRO Director Dr. David Okech by name, noting the impact of our research on the country’s anti-trafficking efforts. Dr. Okech presented the results of the baseline and highlighted major programming and policy interventions that were rooted in the baseline data.

Read more on the CenHTRO website.

Watch this short video report on the Sierra Leone conference

Forward

CenHTRO Builds Capacity of Sierra Leone Implementing Partner World Hope International

In addition to attending and presenting at the National Conference on Trafficking in Persons, members of the CenHTRO team—Dr. Rebecca Poon and Elyssa Schroeder—worked with implementing partner World Hope International to build clinical capacity for WHI’s Recovery Centre and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) capacity for planning and reporting on WHI’s anti-trafficking, CenHTRO-funded projects. This work is but one example of the in-depth technical support that CenHTRO offers to its implementing partners.

Read more on the CenHTRO website.

National Launch of Programs in Senegal

CenHTRO travels to Senegal in April for its National Launch of Programs to Counter Sex Trafficking in Kédougou, 2022-24. The launch—held in Dakar at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Thursday, April 21— gathers dignitaries, national ministries, local authorities, academics, and other stakeholders to learn about CenHTRO/APRIES programs to reduce sex trafficking of girls and women aged 15 to 30 years in the gold mining region of Kédougou.

“This event, presided over by the Senegal Minister of Justice Malick Sall, will be an important opportunity for all actors involved to raise national and international public awareness of the urgent issue of sex trafficking of young women in Kédougou region,” said Senegal Program Manager Nnenne Onyioha-Clayton.

“We look forward to showcasing our implementing and community partners' collaborative, strategic efforts to significantly reduce the prevalence of this phenomenon. We aim to strengthen partnerships and reinvigorate existing anti human trafficking efforts, and this will be a springboard for that.”

In addition to remarks and speeches by the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal Mike Raynor, Senegal ministries, NGOs, and others, CenHTRO implementing partners Free the Slaves and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will present, respectively, the Protection and Prevention programs, and the Prosecution strengthening programs, that have been co-designed with CenHTRO.

While in Senegal, the CenHTRO team will also meet with key anti-trafficking stakeholders and travel to Kédougou to visit artisanal gold mines. Sex trafficking in Senegal is concentrated around small-scale gold mining operations, which are known as diouras in the Malinke language. Kédougou is home to 98% of Senegal’s gold mining activity.

Learn more about our work in Kédougou in English or French. Review the National Launch agenda.

New Videos

Sierra Leone Country Coordinator Umaru Fofanah visited Good Morning Sierra Leone on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation to discuss President Bio’s hotline, the nature of child trafficking in the country, and data from our baseline report, Child Trafficking and the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Sierra Leone.

CenHTRO/APRIES on Good Morning Sierra Leone

Fofanah and CenHTRO Director of Communications André Gallant also prepared this short awareness-raising video that will be shared widely via traditional media outlets and social media communities.

How Child Trafficking Happens in Sierra Leone

The work described in this newsletter, and the newsletter itself, was funded by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.

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