The Freedom Fund (freedomfund.org) is a global non-profit organisation that identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate human trafficking and exploitation. One of our main strategies is to support long-term “hotspot” programs in areas with a high incidence of modern slavery, through which clusters of community-based organisations come together to identify and address the root causes of exploitation. Hotspot programs seek to bring about a sustained and measurable reduction in prevalence of modern slavery, through systemic change, led by the affected communities, workers and survivors.
Following a scoping study and consultation with local organisations and government bodies, the Freedom Fund is now starting an inception year, with a view to a possible longer-term hotspot, and will initially be working in two districts of the Karamoja region of Uganda. Key issues of slavery in the region, identified through the scoping study and further visits, are: child marriage, child trafficking for street work and commercial sexual exploitation, child labour in mining and as Karamojong child warriors. The hotspot aims to address these issues, especially through seeking greater voice, hope and power of girls and women in the region.
The intervention development research will use participatory methods to enable affected communities, local organisations and the Freedom Fund to i) prioritise which forms of exploitation and modern slavery should be the main focus of the program in these districts (one or all of the ones mentioned above); ii) which interventions and program components should be prioritised, bearing in mind the major intersecting issues driving vulnerability such as gender discrimination, food security and climate change; iii) what are the traditions, narratives and cultural beliefs that could be mobilised as assets to the program; and iv) which of the key actors and influencers we should invest most attention in.
Organisations or consortia are invited to submit proposals for this research. Applicants must have the capacity to conduct field work in the Karamoja region, and applicants fully or partially based in and led from Uganda will be prioritised. The Freedom Fund is particularly interested in working with teams that can demonstrate: (a) having members who are from the local communities where the research will take place (b) a gender-balanced team, and (c) commitment to and experience of participatory and survivor-inclusive research.