Caritas India is taking the fight against human trafficking at the micro level in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The next phase of the programme will focus on campaigns, research, and integration with government structures. The programme will use a multi-pronged approach to target human trafficking by creating model villages, developing SOPs and knowledge materials for awareness and exploring the formation of institutions for its advisory/think tank group.

Recently, Caritas India Anti-Human Trafficking (AHT) SWARAKSHA programme organized a review cum proposal Planning Workshop for the next phase at Northeast Diocesan Social Service Society (NEDSSS) Joypur Kharghuli, Guwahati between 19 and 20 October 2022.

The programme will address unsafe migration and combat human trafficking in Assam & Arunachal Pradesh by focusing on Prevention, Protection and Partnership approach.

The six partners from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh participated actively in the two days and were meaningfully invested in planning and ascertaining areas to focus on and improve as per each partner’s capacity. Altogether 30 members were present for this crucial review and planning.

Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, the Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, set the tone of the review cum planning workshop suitably and took off the event with his opening remark on the virtual platform. He began his reflection by welcoming all the partners adding that “Human trafficking issue is close to our heart, and we need to respect every Individual with human dignity.”

He reassured that we must work and support those trafficked as valued human persons and to strive more in stopping human slavery. He extended and wished all the partners and Caritas India team for taking forward with re-dedication and commitment.

Mr. Jonas Lakra, the Zonal Program Lead welcomed Ms. Babita Pinto, Chief Program Lead for AHT program present for the event. Fr. Sijo Jose, the Director of Itanagar Development and Empowerment Association (IDEA) felicitated her with a beautiful Traditional Assamese Gamosha on behalf of the entire AHT team of Northeast. He also extended warm welcome to all the participants and concluded with sharing of objectives for the event.

Fr. (Dr.) Sebastian Ouseparambil, Director of the Northeast Diocesan Social Service Society (NEDSSS) or the Regional Forum requested Fr. (Dr.) Jolly to give full support to the entire Northeast States. In his speech, he illustrated the human trafficking issue in the region.

Key takeaways of the review:

• Strengthening of micro-level community structures
• Micro-level plan for addressing human trafficking to be put up in Panchayat planning
• Strengthening the linkage and networking with meso and macro-level govt structures and other stakeholders/networks
• Addressing the root causes at the micro level rather than working only on the effect
• For the next phase partners will design the proposal as per their capacity rather than focusing uniformly all the thematic areas of human trafficking
• Prevention and partnership elements could be part of the proposal for all the partners.
• Clear roles and responsibilities will be spelt out in the next phase of intervention for Caritas India, Regional Forum and partners.

The two days of review and reflection had meaningful deliberations and the roadmap for the next is now clearer. The review enabled in to identify the gaps and challenges, and the need to improve the program intervention. The planning workshop facilitated conceptualizing the way forward for entering another phase of AHT.