Our program provides paid training in high demand skills to adult women rescued from Sex Trafficking in New Delhi. Survivors attend skills training classes and are mentored and supervised as they build sustainable work habits and earn wages to become independent. In our pilot program, women have built self confidence and agency, begun to create financial stability, and gained knowledge of international textile markets. This new project will increase the program capacity to serve 100 women.
An estimated 3 million women and children are in sexual slavery in India. Education deprivation and profound stigma are two of their toughest obstacles. Survivors are shunned by their families and communities because of their history and have no source of income. Without intervention, they are considered pariahs. Challenges to their recovery are so extreme that many rehabilitation centers have a recidivism rate of 90%. Chronic under-valuing of girls and women lies at the heart of this crisis.
When survivors learn and earn, they demonstrate to their families and community that they are capable and deserving of education and opportunity. Their success works to dismantle the stigma associated with sex trafficking survivors. Our programs challenges under-valuing of girls and women by demonstrating that they can excel at a valuable trade. Their personal success increases the likelihood that they will be accepted back into their families.
Each woman who succeeds sets a powerful example. Supporting Survivors' success as skilled tradespeople has an impact beyond the program walls. It challenges the root problem - the systematic under-valuing of women. It creates examples of independent, financially stable women who earn their living with a skilled trade and interact with international markets. Women who participate in our programs are mentored to take on leadership roles in the program and in the community, amplifying their impact.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
