376: Why Documents Decide Who Traffickers Can Exploit Next
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What is the main focus of the episode and who is the guest?
We want people to listen to survivors when they say Alternative livelihood activities in our community is what's going to protect our children. We don't need to wait until the children have been trafficked to do an intervention.
Syria is one of the twenty-four countries where a mother still can't pass citizenship to her own child. That single gap in the law can open up a family to exploitation. It's a small legal detail with a big impact on who's protected and who isn't. Hi, I'm Alicia. I'm a student here at Vanguard University and I help produce the show. Today, Sandy talks with Dr. Xanthi Sharf, the new President and CEO of the Women's Refugee Commission. Before joining the WRC, Xanthi led anti trafficking work with the Freedom Fund and has spent her career focused on women and girls around the world. And now, here's their conversation.
Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, Dr. Santay Sharf. I am so excited for our conversation today as we talk about the intersection. of human trafficking with particularly refugee women. So welcome. Tell us just briefly about your history and your engagement in this and what you're doing.
Thank you, Sandy. I've worked my entire career for women and girls and human rights. I started out Early on, I started a non profit for girls education called Advancing Girls Education in Africa, Age Africa, still running today in Malawi. I soon after that from Turkey I started a a different nonprofit. Well I ran Age Africa for ten years, but then started a different nonprofit called the Fuller Project, which is a global newsroom focused on the stories of women and girls and ran that for ten years, including lots of stories that we did on situations of forced labor. That impacted women in global supply chains. Um from there, and very relevant to our conversation today, I was with Freedom Fund where I was on the leadership team.
Helping to support about two hundred frontline partners in the work to stop trafficking. And I'm now the very new I'm just five weeks in CEO at the Women's Refugee Commission. So I'm coming to you from New York today from our offices.
I love that.
How did Xanthe Scharff’s work with the Freedom Fund shape the frontline‑funding model?
And and just briefly before we jump into the women refugees and the intersection with human trafficking, can you Give me just a capsule about Freedom Fund and I'll tell you why I'm interested in this because that fund helps support frontline practitioners. And so many times the resource scarcity mentality is is a barrier in our own minds in the kind of work that we're doing. globally, nationally, locally. And so how we begin to engage resources that we didn't even think to invite into our collaborative approach. I feel like Freedom Fund has something to teach us.
I agree. Sandy, I think you and I are kindred spirits because it's really all about how we use the resources that we have in this world to make change. And I think this is the moment when we we really need to be questioning our assumptions about global partnership. And PRENO Fund is a phenomenal organization because the way that it does its work is to get money to the front lines. And I think, and we can talk about this more, but I do think that as we're seeing governments and multilateral organizations really struggle as public support or elected officials pull money out of those organizations, we face the reality that we have. less money. And so we've got to do more with that money. And the way to do more is to get it into the front lines.
That so I think that's maybe what in a way what I feel is embedded in your question and and that's my view. I think that's critical today. It always has been, but it's especially critical today. So to answer the question that you actually asked me, which is what is Freedom Fund? Freedom Fund is a collaborative fund, meaning that donors come in together and align around the purpose and the way this will work. The Freedom Fund then gives grants to almost two hundred frontline organizations at a time. And in the this past year, forty seven percent of those were um led by survivors. Many of these are small or even new frontline organizations.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main focus of the episode and who is the guest?
0:00–2:33
2
How did Xanthe Scharff’s work with the Freedom Fund shape the frontline‑funding model?
2:33–5:37
3
Why does the Women’s Refugee Commission prioritize listening to refugee women?
5:37–11:13
4
How can birth‑certificate registration in Bangladesh prevent child trafficking?
11:13–13:31
5
What are the consequences of citizenship laws that leave mothers unable to pass nationality to their children?
13:31–18:08
6
How does conflict‑related trauma affect women’s ability to rebuild after displacement?
18:08–22:54
7
What does the story of Anesi reveal about the limits of scholarships for girls’ education?
22:54–27:37
8
Why do many anti‑trafficking practitioners still misunderstand prevention versus rescue?
27:37–35:46