Doorsteps 2

The Challenge: Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children is an appalling, ever-increasing international problem. More than 820,000 people are trafficked internationally every year, of whom approximately 80% are female and almost 50% are minors. At least 100,000 of those oppressed women and children live in Cambodia, and a wide variety of sexual exploitation is present in that country, including sex tourism, sex trafficking, pornography, prostitution, child marriages, and sexual molestation. The children experiencing this abuse are left with severe physical and psychological traumas, sleeping and eating disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies.

The Idea: In 2006, Viva to completed a needs assessment in Cambodia around the issue of trafficking and sexual exploitation. It revealed that not only is it costly to rehabilitate a trafficked child, it is also incredibly difficult and painful for the individual. So in addition to rehabiliation we must also focus on community-based prevention strategies, looking at what causes women and children to be vulnerable to exploitation in the first place and addressing those root issues. For example, extreme poverty, high unemployment, fewer job opportunities for women and children, and low literacy levels offer optimal opportunity for traffickers to exploit victims. Children's own family members often sell them to pay off debts, and sometimes children are simply kidnapped. Clearly it is vital to get to these women and children before they become vulnerable, and offer them some kind of security.

The Solution: So Viva, in partnership with another organisation, began to address these issues through the local network Chab Dai. Firstly by strengthening and funding already existing programmes within the network, focusing on offering education, vocational training, and micro-enterprise initiatives to ensure self-sustainability for the women and children. Secondly by investing in Chab Dai and its collaborative activities, in order to facilitate and encourage the discovery of new ways to collectively and proactively engage in the prevention and prosecution of sex traffickers and offenders, making the communities safer for potentially vulnerable women and children. Now Stand Out International have taken up the partnership and are working on this second phase of Doorstep with Viva and Chab Dai.

The Result: The individual projects in the network are growing and getting stronger by the day, with existing programmes flourishing and new ones being developed. More children are being helped, and helped in a stronger, more cohesive, more united way. Other collaborative initiatives within the Chab Dai network are increasing and blossoming, particularly with regard to advocacy issues, as the projects are further motivated and empowered by the success of the Doorstep programme.

The Partnership: The combination of the local relationships and knowledge of Chab Dai, the expertise and connections of Viva, and the passion and resources of Stand Out International, mean that a difficult and pressing issue can be genuinely tackled and fought.