Welcome to this edition of Changemakers.net, focusing on solutions to end human trafficking. We invite you to participate as part of the Changemakers global online "open source" community that is competing to surface the best solutions to pressing social problems like human trafficking. As solutions are submitted to this Web site, we invite you to collaborate with other community members to review and refine them, and to eventually help implement a solution if you wish.
In each new edition of Changemakes.net, this online community tackles a pressing global social problem (beginning last November we explored creative ways to raise money and other resources for citizen organizations from a citizen base). Each issue of Changemakers includes the following elements: a mosaic of solutions, a framework for understanding the problem and its solutions, a news service that presents in-depth journalistic coverage of the issue, an innovation awards competition that surfaces and identifies the best innovation solutions, and opportunities for online discussion and collaboration.
The Mosaic—A Useful Tool
The "Mosaic of Solutions" is good place to start in this edition because it provides an overarching framework for understanding the human trafficking problem, including the five primary factors that drive human trafficking; three fundamental innovative principles that have emerged from the work of social entrepreneurs who are working on human trafficking; and 24 examples of organizations with exemplary solutions to human trafficking. These solutions are placed on the mosaic according to the principle they use and the factor they are addressing.
For each issue that it tackles, Changemakers partners with leading social entrepreneurs who are working on the problem. Polaris Project, a multicultural grassroots organization that combats human trafficking and modern-day slavery, based in the United States and Japan, helped create this mosaic. As a member of the Changemakers community, you can now refine and expand the mosaic by submitting solutions to the innovation awards competition and through online discussion.
The mosaic is a tool that demonstrates how the collective impact of these innovative solutions to human trafficking is greater than the sum of their individual parts. Together, we can use the mosaic to make connections, create synergies, identify emerging trends and patterns, and find and fill gaps in the field.
Framework for Understanding Human Trafficking
Derek Ellerman, co-founder and co-executive director of Polaris Project, has contributed an essay that explains the underlying dynamics driving the trafficking industry and assesses systemic counter-trafficking strategies.
Changemakers News Service: Tracking the Trends
Changemakers.net is developing a news service to provide a steady feed of the latest thinking, significant trends, and new tools for the field of social entrepreneurship. In support of this issue on human trafficking, Cheryl Dahle, manager and co-creator of Fast Company magazine's Social Capitalist awards and founder of the Independent Journalists Collective (IJC), gives incisive reporting from the front lines of the human trafficking epidemic. From farmworkers in Florida to brothels in Thailand, she explores the complex dimensions and politics of the problem. In addition, you can view two short videos about human trafficking and how it is being addressed in India, and the Changemakers Library presents a collection of the best online tools for understanding and combatting human trafficking.
In addition, Changemakers is proud to host the first two issues of New York City Fight Human Trafficking Group (NYC FHTG) newsletter. And we invite you to view the first edition of OneWorld Perspectives!, a newsletter that features content from the citizen sector's largest global online news site, and is focusing on human trafficking in this issue.
The news service also features two of the world's leading social entrepreneurs who are working on a global scale: Fazle Abed, founder of what is now probably the world's largest citizen sector organization, and Oded Grajew, creator of the World Social Forum and an industry leader who is helping businesses appreciate and implement corporate social responsibility. Both are members of Ashoka's Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship.
Changemakers Innovation Award Competition
The current Changemakers Innovation Award Competition provides an opportunity for organizations to submit their innovative solutions to end human trafficking. Visitors to this site (which included representatives of funding organizations) have reviewed and rated the competition entries and voted for the competition winners. Through online voting that ended on June 13, 2005, they selected the winners of the awards competition from a slate of finalists chosen by a panel of judges.
Online Discussion and Collaboration
As competition entries appear on this site, you can participate in an online discussion that helps organizations to refine their proposed solutions and advance thinking about how to end human trafficking. The discussion is moderated by Wenchi Yu Perkins, anti-trafficking program manager for Vital Voices Global Partnership.
Since 2000, Vital Voices Global Partnership has been at the forefront of anti-trafficking efforts worldwide, working to build women's capacity to fight trafficking in their own countries and raise awareness about this horrific human rights violation. Members of Vital Voices have led the effort to assist victims all over the world, from creating public awareness campaigns that warn women and girls of the dangers of traffickers to bringing embassies, government officials, citizen sector organizations and others together to help regions address trafficking. In the United States, members of the Vital Voices leadership team have been credited with taking this issue out of the shadows and putting it on the world stage.
Kris Herbst, Web Editor
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