Making an Impact in Sierra Leone

This fall, the Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach is marking the close of its first grant from the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

This award led us to conduct baseline research on child trafficking and child labor in Sierra Leone and Guinea, as well as develop anti-trafficking programs and policies in Sierra Leone.

Moreover, we clearly demonstrated our collaborative approach in conducting targeted prevalence estimation research and identifying service and policy gaps. This aided in the creation of ?evidence-based, survivor-informed interventions. We built partnerships with government, NGOs, INGOs, and grassroots stakeholders in a collective effort to reduce child trafficking. This method serves as our trademark, the impact has been tremendous, and I feel immensely proud of our many accomplishments.

I was honored, along with the wonderful CenHTRO team, to celebrate the center’s journey so far, and to reflect on where we plan to go in the future, during an open house event on the University of Georgia campus on October 4.

In addition to our colleagues from Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and the UK, we were joined by UGA Provost S. Jack Hu, UGA Social Work Dean Philip Hong, a number of senior UGA administrators, and W. Courtland Robinson, professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University, who delivered special remarks.

The occasion reminded us of everything that we’ve achieved in a short time, all while inspiring us to keep innovating and improving through our ongoing and future projects.

To share in our reflection, I invite you to visit the CenHTRO website, where we’re sharing two short documentary videos about our work in Sierra Leone and highlighting the key outcomes from this initial grant.

Our work isn’t finished—far from it—and we remain undaunted by the task before us.

Thank you!

Dr. David Okech

Director, Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach

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