World Vision and community leaders from five communes in Iasi County, north eastern Romania, have joined staff for a two-day meeting in Iasi Area Development Programme (ADP) to discuss the issue of human trafficking.
High on the agenda was the integration of anti-trafficking initiatives into the ADP's development work, based on community and World Vision staff capacity.
“I am glad that we joined as representatives of our communities to prevent human trafficking," said one community member. "As teachers, parents and leaders of our communities, we are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of our community and our children. It is up to us to take into account everything that we learned here and make sure these horrible things don't happen to the members of our communities.
“The secret is working together with the local authorities and creating a network of dedicated and responsible people.”
Community members sat down with World Vision staff to discuss and analyse risk factors, as well as identify the vulnerable groups in each of the participating communities - "an important step in understanding the problem and in figuring out what we need to do next," said another participant.
"We knew that people, especially young adults, are leaving to work abroad but I think that we never seriously understood the risks involved."
“Community awareness of the trafficking phenomenon and their ownership of a response to the issue is exactly the result we hope to see at a grassroots level. By understanding what factors put people at risk, communities like Iasi are positioning themselves to address trafficking where its influence on the community starts,” said Matthew Stephens, regional anti-trafficking coordinator.
