Thank you Mentors. With your support we have each been working to assist and support trafficking victims in Indonesia.  Human trafficking is a serious problem in our country, affecting women and men, boys and girls.  Victims are trafficked to Indonesia, from Indonesia to foreign countries, as well as within Indonesia.  And yet these individuals do not always get the help they need to recover and reintegrate after their trafficking exploitation.

We have for the past two years conducted in-depth, community-based research with trafficking victims to learn directly from them about their trafficking experiences, their reintegration needs, as well as the issues and challenges they face in their lives over  time. We have conducted repeat interviews with more than one hundred trafficking victims in seven districts of West Java, Indonesia as well as family members.

To ensure that reintegration programs meet the real life needs of trafficked persons, it is important to speak directly with and learn from trafficking victims about their experiences of exploitation as well as their issues and challenges after trafficking.  This helps us to learn what services and support trafficking victims need and how services can better support their self-sufficiency in the long term.

NEXUS Institute, a global leader in tackling human trafficking has, since 2013, been conducting a longitudinal study on the reintegration of trafficking victims in Indonesia, with funding from the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This project has built an evidence base on how reintegration takes place in the country and how we can improve our work. With the support of Mentors we have been fortunate to be involved in this innovative and unique NEXUS research project, the first of its kind in Indonesia and one of only a few conducted in the world. We are also grateful to our mentor, Rebecca Surtees, Senior Researcher at NEXUS Institute, for her guidance, support and mentoring throughout this interesting but highly complex project.

Through this research project we have learned many things. Reintegration is a little understood concept in Indonesia and the project has introduced new ideas and approaches in our professional field of work. There is much that we want to share with our colleagues who working directly with trafficking victims, both in the government and amongst NGOs.

Support from Mentors allows us to organize and facilitate seminars and technical discussions with service providers like social workers, lawyers, NGOs staff, medical staff, and volunteer community workers on the very critical issue of reintegration of trafficking victims. These technical seminars are an important starting point to help us design and implement better reintegration programs in Indonesia and make sure that trafficking victims get the help and support they deserve. We are proud to be part of this work and grateful to Mentors for its contribution toward improved support for trafficked individuals in Indonesia.

Terima Kasih (Thank you), Mentors Foundation!