A Call to Reform Aid in Nigeria’s Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts

ILLICIT TRAFFICKING WORKING GROUP

A Call to Reform Aid in Nigeria’s Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts: Identifying Effective Funding Practices Uchenna J. Mbawuike Executive Summary This policy brief highlights the need for reform in how funding is dispersed to aid antihuman trafficking efforts in Nigeria ⏤ a country of origin, a pathway of transit, and a destination for victims of trafficking. Recommendations are provided on how to reform funding deployment in these efforts. Recommendations 3 and 4 come from “Time to Decolonise Aid Insights and Lessons from Global consultation Full Report,” published in 2021 and co-authored by WCAPS. This brief center a context-sensitive policy approach that promotes utilizing aid in the framework of well-documented root causes, including, but not limited to, corruption, poverty, globalization, gender-based violence, and other social inequities. These root causes, coupled with long-standing local traditional practices and beliefs can exacerbate gender-based inequalities, underpin the impact of human trafficking. Significant funding has been deployed towards tackling human trafficking in Nigeria, yet the problem persists. The most effective strategies to create sustainable change through funding include changing donor policies, practices, and sponsorship criteria. Current funding practices mandate that recipient local Civil Society Organizations CSOs implement out of touch, far-removed foreign donor strategies. In other words, these strategies encompass creating knowledge, diagnosing problems, finding solutions to the problems, and making decisions from a westernized perspective.

They are not centered on the perspectives of the aid recipient community most impacted by the issue. Inevitably, these strategies fail. The dispersion of funding should prioritize community-based participatory approaches to problem-solving, indigenous and local knowledge, and initiatives led by women of color. Through research primarily from The Anti-Trafficking Review and “Time to Decolonise Aid Insights and Lessons from Global consultation Full Report , this policy brief recommends approaches that best address the root causes of trafficking.

Women of Color Advancing, Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation Illicit Trafficking Working Group

I.

Background:

Human trafficking in Nigeria cannot be addressed without considering its “cause and effect links to other issues,”1 namely corruption, poverty, globalization, gender-based violence and other social inequities. This policy brief argues that current funding practices are inefficient because they are employed without considering these issues, and these practices prioritize interventions that do not lead to long-lasting solutions.

The following current funding practices need reform: II.

Far-removed foreign donors disproportionately fund interventions in areas without considering the root causes of human trafficking.

Often, funders of anti-trafficking efforts in Nigeria are foreign and/or coming from rich countries in the Global North, and they are too far removed from local contexts and realities to evaluate the most critical needs and the most effective initiatives to support.

There is very little consultation with local CSOs and anti-trafficking leaders on the ground and even less consultation with trafficked persons. 1, 2 This leads to the funding of interventions that are not sustainable. A Nigerian official of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) observed, “Distribution of our funding mostly depends on the donor's priority areas or [the donor’s] interest…”1 The problem is that donors’ interests often use a top-down approach rooted in Western values and knowledge systems that do not align with the local community context, thus setting up a system of inefficient funding practices. For example, foreign donors disproportionately pour aid into prosecution and towards preventing or discouraging the migration of Nigerians.1 The mistake with a punitive approach is that the issue of human trafficking is not addressed in the context of its socio-economic root causes, thus contributing to inadequate solutions.

III.

Still foreign donors, on average, do not fund the recommendations of local CSOs, leaders, and subject matter experts on human trafficking.

1

V I Nwogu, ‘Anti-Trafficking Interventions in Nigeria and the Principal-Agent Aid Model’, Anti-Trafficking Review, issue 3, 2014, pp. 41—63, www.antitraffickingreview.org 2

Thige & Adly (2020, December 23). 3 ways to decolonize philanthropy right now. PhilanTopic. https://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/2020/12/3-ways-to-decolonize-philanthropy-right-now.html

Women of Color Advancing, Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation Illicit Trafficking Working Group

Economic opportunities are limited in Nigeria, so motivating many people to migrate in the hope of finding new ways to support themselves and their families. Funding initiatives to discourage migration are entirely ineffective if the socio-economic root causes that force people to leave are not addressed.

Additionally, while holding traffickers accountable is vital to counteract human trafficking, a firm focus on this can cause harm, detracting from a focus on assisting victims.3 Focusing on prosecution sets up a system for failure, especially in countries with dysfunctional or poorly developed criminal justice systems that are exacerbated by corruption and severe underfunding.

Local CSOs in anti-trafficking work advocate for effective survivor reintegration and empowerment activities (vocational and skills training, reinsertion to school, and business set up and opportunities); viable employment; and rehabilitation support, including psycho-social support, and follow-up assistance to survivors who have been reintegrated.1Their recommendations also include supporting safe migration programming, which recognizes that migration is a choice and a valid option for many people.1 There are rarely any multi-year grants that support these initiatives, leading to unsustainable efforts for tackling human trafficking, so CSOs are obliged to support the agendas of foreign donors that give them aid while not impactfully helping the situation.

This leads to an organizational culture of dependency rather than one of sustainability.

IV.

Recommendations

Below are recommendations on how to reform funding deployment in anti-trafficking efforts in Nigeria.

Recommendation 1. Support Women of Color-Led Initiatives.

Women of color—more specifically Black women—can see solutions to problems that others do not. This ability is grounded in the wisdom gained from being relegated to a marginal status in most sectors of society. In the face of challenges like sexual 3

Rosen, L. W. (2017). The State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report: Scope, Aid Restrictions, and Methodology.

Congressional Research Service.

Women of Color Advancing, Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation Illicit Trafficking Working Group

exploitation and gender-based violence, black women have had to learn to be solutionoriented and resourceful to survive. Black women disproportionately experience toxic misogynistic cultural norms and racism. Through such experiences, black women have developed keen analyses of the effects of systemic issues on everyone, including the undervalued, and how to uproot these issues. Therefore, women of color-led initiatives that originate in respective countries should be prioritized for aid funding. Pathfinders Justice Initiative, Inc. (Pathfinders)4 is a notable woman of color-led Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that has been a trailblazer through their approach to addressing sex trafficking networks in Nigeria. At the helm of Pathfinders is Nigerian native, R. Evon Benson-Idahosa, Esq., the Founder, and Executive Director. Since its inception in 2014, Pathfinders has served over 2,500 women who are now survivors of violence and boasts a 0% sex trafficking recidivism rate.5

Recommendation 2. Use a community-based participatory approach to determine effective measures for anti-human trafficking efforts.

Pathfinders did a research project collaboration on prevention of human trafficking with the CLEEN Foundation (formerly known as Centre for Law Enforcement Education), a nonprofit organization that promotes “…access to justice through empirical research …” 6 Their data concluded that the Oredo Local Government Area (LGA) community, a pervasive 'hot spot' for sex trafficking recruitment in Edo State, Nigeria, strongly recommended community-led design of effective anti-trafficking programs, explorations of strategies to address the problem and formulation of recommendations to mitigate vulnerability to trafficking.6 Undertaking the design and development of training, education outreach efforts, and other appropriate measures empowers the community and has shown promise in making sustainable change with regard to addressing sex trafficking. In addition, part of the anti-trafficking measures came from the input of survivors of trafficking and previous traffickers. Ms. Benson-Idahosa keenly (and pragmatically) observed that “sitting down with survivors and former traffickers and saying, ‘Look, how do we frame this intervention?’ in not just the design… of projects, but also in the implementation of projects. They're the ones that bring credibility.” This evidence-based, survivor-centered, and interactive approach to addressing sex trafficking is what has led to the documented successes of Pathfinders.

4

Pathfinders Justice Initiative, Inc. (2018). About. https://pathfindersji.org/about/ Pathfinders Justice Initiative, Inc. (2018). Resources. https://pathfindersji.org/about/ 6 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. (2021). CLEEN Foundation - MacArthur Foundation. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/cleen-foundation-34596/ 5

Women of Color Advancing, Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation Illicit Trafficking Working Group

Recommendation 3. Fund courageously and trust generously.

‘Fund courageously’ is an invitation to funders to create funding mechanisms that are more accessible and inclusive, as well as to accept greater levels of uncertainty and possible failure. When funders accept the possibility of program failure, it opens the door to innovative and flexible funding approaches, such as funders taking on the brunt of the bureaucratic work or adopting context-specific measures of success. Efforts and examples in this realm include organizations pooling funds to mitigate risks, direct funding, Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) funding,7 the TrustBased Philanthropy Project,8 setting targets for the provision of unrestricted funding for local organizations, adapting due diligence requirements for local organizations, and modifying eligibility criteria that give preferential treatment to Western International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs).9 .

Recommendation 4. Invest in indigenous knowledge creation and value local knowledge.

Rather than funding Western researchers’ travel, funders and organizations should invest in local researchers whose work is rooted in local indigenous values and incorporating indigenous methods. When designing a program, INGOs should work with local leaders to examine existing models, log frames, and theories of change, and adopt new ones rooted in local approaches. Programs must be evaluated through culturally specific frameworks established by local practitioners. Expertise should be reframed to require the inclusion of guidance from youth experts, feminist experts, women experts, and faith/religious experts, among others, thereby allowing for contextual solutions, technical expertise, and active locally led decision-making. To ensure that the relationship between funders, INGOs and local communities is not extractive, the results of the program and/or research must be shared with the local community and should serve its needs above those of the funder organization.10 Conclusion This policy brief has sought to contribute to a growing body of recommendations on how locally led, community-based participatory approaches may enable improvements to anti7National

Academy of Sciences. (2021). Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement In Research (PEER): Development Security and Cooperation: Policy and Global Affairs. https://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/peer/index.htm 8The Whitman Institute. (2005-2020). Trust-based Philanthropy. https://thewhitmaninstitute.org/about/trust-basedphilanthropy/ 9Time to Decolonise Aid Insights and lessons from a global consultation Full Report https://www.peacedirect.org/us/timetodecoloniseaid/

Women of Color Advancing, Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation Illicit Trafficking Working Group

human trafficking efforts in Nigeria that previous interventions have not been able to achieve. The report highlights that current funding practices to address trafficking support solutions rooted in westernized values. Initiatives that get funded don’t consider the local perspectives of affected people and those that work closely with them, nor do they consider well-documented root causes of human trafficking. These root causes include, but are not limited to, corruption, poverty, gender-based violence and inequalities.

Thus, current funding practices have led to ineffective interventions against trafficking.

Overall, my research has found that effective funding practices should: Recommendation 1: Support initiatives led by Black women to leverage their lived experiences on systemic racism and oppression.

Recommendation 2: Promote participatory approaches on the development of solutions led by affected communities and local advocates of these communities to assure appropriate intervention implementation strategies.

Recommendation 3: Invest graciously and courageously in local CSO’s through multiyear, unrestricted funding to support anti-trafficking interventions with strong potential impact.

Recommendation 4: Rely on the expertise of indigenous and local knowledge in decision making to assure the needs of the local community are served.

The top two effective funding practices are Recommendations 2 and 4 because they both are at the crux of reforming aid to localize solutions which can then make an impact in anti-trafficking efforts.

ILLICIT TRAFFICKING WORKING GROUP About the Author Uchenna Mbawuike is an Intern at Women of Color Advancing Peace AND Security (WCAPS) with their Illicit Trafficking Working Group. Her current research interests include human trafficking and sex slavery networks in Nigeria. Her internship is in partnership with Women In International Security (WIIS), Ford Institute for Human Security and the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies. While pursuing her Master’s of Public Policy and Management Candidate (MPPM) at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), she also works full-time as a research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, working on federally funded projects addressing racial disparities in Alzheimer's disease research participation through co-creation strategies that leverage local knowledge of the communities most vulnerable to the disease.

Email: umbawuike@wcaps.org