By Afshan Faisal | Co-founder, CEO
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Freedom begins long before the day a family finally walks away from bonded labour. It begins when someone listens to their story, when their suffering is brought to the attention of responsible authorities, when children receive encouragement and support, and when communities begin to understand that exploitation must never be accepted as a normal part of life.
At Samaritan's Fellowship Foundation Pakistan (SFFP), our commitment to ending bonded labour remains unwavering.
While we have not yet raised sufficient funds through GlobalGiving to secure the release of another family, our work has not stopped. With locally mobilized resources and the continued dedication of our team, we are maintaining contact with vulnerable communities, pursuing institutional cooperation, supporting children and families, and advocating for stronger protections against exploitation.
We are pleased to share the progress, challenges, and next steps of our Set Them Free: End Bonded Labor Now project.
Current Progress and Key Activities
Our work during this reporting period has focused on community engagement, institutional coordination, awareness, protection advocacy, and preparation for future family releases.
Key areas of activity include:
These activities are supported through locally mobilized resources and organizational efforts while we continue working to secure the funding necessary for family releases.
1. Pursuing Collaboration with the International Labour Organization
Ending bonded labour requires coordinated action among civil society organizations, government institutions, labour authorities, and communities.
SFFP is pursuing opportunities for collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to strengthen local efforts addressing forced labour, bonded labour, and the exploitation of vulnerable workers.
Our objective is to connect grassroots knowledge and community-level concerns with broader institutional efforts to promote decent work, labour rights, and effective protection mechanisms.
We believe that sustainable progress requires more than isolated interventions. It requires cooperation that addresses the conditions allowing exploitation to continue.
These collaborative efforts remain under development, and we recognize that establishing effective institutional coordination takes time, sustained dialogue, and commitment from multiple stakeholders.
2. Engagement with Divisional Vigilance Committees and Local Authorities
Another important area of our work involves engagement with local oversight and protection mechanisms, including Divisional Vigilance Committees concerned with bonded labour.
Through stakeholder communication, advocacy, and engagement with relevant local processes, we seek to bring the concerns of vulnerable workers to the attention of responsible institutions.
Our priorities include:
We are also following and supporting discussions around stronger local enforcement and appropriate legal protections.
This is ongoing work rather than a completed reform. Meaningful institutional change requires time, cooperation, and consistent follow-through. Nevertheless, we believe that bringing these concerns into formal discussions is an important step toward preventing future exploitation.
3. Community Outreach and Family Engagement
While institutional advocacy continues, our grassroots engagement remains central to the project.
Our team maintains contact with minority communities and families affected by bonded labour, particularly those living in and around brick kiln settlements.
Through community visits, telephone communication, and established local contacts, we listen to families' concerns and better understand the challenges they face.
Many workers experience significant financial insecurity, limited access to education, restricted livelihood opportunities, and fear of retaliation when they question unfair working conditions.
Our outreach helps us identify families who may require future legal, financial, or rehabilitation assistance.
Equally important, it helps establish trust.
For families who have experienced exploitation over many years, knowing that someone is willing to listen and remain in contact can be a meaningful first step toward seeking help.
4. Supporting Children Through Small Acts of Care
Children growing up in brick kiln communities often face difficult circumstances.
Many have limited access to educational materials, safe recreational opportunities, and the everyday experiences that other children may take for granted.
Using locally available resources, our team has undertaken small-scale activities to provide children with items such as:
These activities are not a substitute for education, legal protection, or long-term rehabilitation. They are practical gestures of care that help us maintain relationships with families and respond to immediate needs within our limited resources.
Our long-term goal remains to ensure that children are able to attend school, develop their abilities, and grow up free from exploitative labour.
Every child deserves a childhood defined by learning, safety, and opportunity—not inherited debt.
5. Raising Awareness and Strengthening Community Protection
Many families working at brick kilns have limited information about their legal rights or the institutions responsible for protecting them.
SFFP continues to provide basic awareness and guidance through community contacts, direct communication, and outreach activities.
Our efforts focus on helping families understand that exploitation, intimidation, violence, and coercion should not be accepted as unavoidable conditions of employment.
We also encourage workers to contact our team when they experience serious concerns or require guidance.
Where appropriate, we raise these issues with community representatives, influential local stakeholders, and responsible authorities.
Through constructive engagement, we seek to encourage kiln owners and other employers to treat workers with dignity, refrain from abusive practices, and respect applicable labour protections.
Although these interventions cannot guarantee immediate changes in employer behaviour, continued attention and engagement can help make exploitation more visible and create opportunities for accountability.
6. Why Families Have Not Yet Been Released Through This Campaign
We believe our supporters deserve a clear explanation of the financial challenges facing this project.
The contributions raised through this GlobalGiving campaign have not yet reached the amount required to complete a family release and rehabilitation intervention. In addition, the campaign funds remain pending disbursement to SFFP.
We therefore have not reported any new family release financed by this campaign during the current reporting period.
Many families are tied to brick kiln owners through outstanding advances and disputed debt arrangements. These situations can involve signed agreements, payment records, financial dependence, and unequal bargaining power.
A safe and sustainable intervention requires careful verification of each family's circumstances, appropriate legal assistance, and a lawful resolution of the debt-related restrictions.
Where a verified and lawful settlement is necessary, financial resources may be required. However, coercion and forced labour cannot be justified by a debt agreement, and our approach prioritizes the legal rights and safety of the affected family.
Our support model also looks beyond the moment of release. Depending on the family's needs, it may include safe relocation, children's education, livelihood assistance, and follow-up support.
Without sufficient resources, we cannot responsibly promise a complete intervention.
We would rather be transparent about this challenge than claim an outcome that has not yet been achieved.
7. Our Organizational Commitment
Despite the funding limitations, SFFP continues supporting preparatory and community-level activities through locally mobilized resources, existing networks, and organizational capacity.
These efforts allow us to remain engaged with affected communities while we pursue the financial support needed for more substantial interventions.
Our team continues to prioritize communication with vulnerable families, stakeholder engagement, community awareness, and responsible planning.
We are also working to strengthen the institutional relationships necessary for lasting improvements in labour protection and access to justice.
Our commitment is not limited to one intervention or one reporting period.
We want families to achieve lasting freedom, dignity, economic independence, and protection against future exploitation.
8. Next Phase: Turning Preparation into Freedom
As additional resources become available, our next phase will focus on moving from community engagement and case preparation toward direct family release and rehabilitation.
Our priorities include:
A Message to Our Supporters
To everyone who has contributed to this project, particularly our new supporters who have recently joined us through online campaigns, thank you.
Your willingness to stand with families affected by bonded labour means a great deal to us.
We recognize that you want to see meaningful results, and we share that expectation.
Although we cannot yet announce a new family release through this campaign, we can assure you that the mission remains active and that our team continues working within the resources currently available.
The next major milestone is securing sufficient funding to support a verified family through a safe, lawful, and sustainable release process.
We invite you to continue following our progress, sharing this mission, and supporting our efforts to end bonded labour.
Closing Note: Freedom Is Worth Working For
Bonded labour is not simply an economic problem. It is a question of human dignity, fundamental rights, and the future of children who deserve opportunities beyond the circumstances into which they were born.
Institutional cooperation, stronger legal protections, community awareness, and direct family assistance all have an important role to play.
Some of this work produces immediate results. Other parts require patience, persistence, and long-term engagement.
We remain committed to both.
Our work will not be complete until vulnerable families can live without coercion, children can pursue education, and parents can earn a living with freedom and dignity.
Thank you for standing with us and for helping keep the hope of freedom alive.
With gratitude,
The Samaritan's Fellowship Foundation Pakistan Team
Set Them Free: End Bonded Labor Now
GlobalGiving Project #75304
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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