The MATE MASIE project strengthens capacity, connections, and accountability across child labor enforcement and monitoring within cocoa cooperatives in Ghana. The project builds the capacity of cooperatives to support vulnerable member households both directly and by linking their members with other service providers. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of…
The U.S.-brokered 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Sudan and Southern Sudan provided for a referendum on secession in 2011, ushering in an era of promise that began officially on July 9, 2011, Independence Day for the new Republic of South Sudan. Before and after independence, Winrock worked with South Sudanese leaders and communities to begin…
Each year, more than 80,000 secondary school students in Malawi face economic and social impediments that prevent them from accessing higher education to obtain the skills needed for jobs and business ownership. In response, government, universities and international donors are forming partnerships to create innovative approaches that extend higher education opportunities to youth in more…
The ATLAS project is a global initiative that has worked in four countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia to strengthen enforcement of labor and criminal law to address child labor, forced labor and human trafficking. ATLAS works collaboratively with host governments to bolster the legal and criminal frameworks surrounding these issues, improve the enforcement…
In Southeast Asia, Laos is a primary source and, to a lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women, children and men who are subjected to trafficking in persons. Especially in the southern part of the country, Lao trafficking victims are often migrants seeking opportunities abroad who then experience labor or sexual exploitation in…
Rising poverty and unemployment in Central Asia has increasingly led laborers in the region to migrate in search of work. Unfortunately, migration often leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation. The five-year Safe Migration in Central Asia activity aims to strengthen the mutual accountability of governments, NGOs and the private sector in efforts to prevent trafficking in…
The United States Department of State and the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) pledged in 2018 to jointly prevent and respond to child trafficking in Jamaica. The U.S. government supports Winrock International as well as partners Lawyers Without Borders and the University of the West Indies to carry out protection and prevention activities under this partnership.…
Economic realities mean that child labor is widely accepted and very common in Bangladesh. The dried fish sector in Cox’s Bazar and surrounding coastal areas is plagued by some of the worst forms of child labor. Children work for up to 13 hours in the sun, using knives, wearing no protective gear, and climbing on…
Adolescent girls in Mali confront a host of barriers to educational access. Although enrollment rates have risen over the last 20 to 30 years, a gender gap persists nationally; girls are enrolled at a much lower rate than boys. But there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between adolescents’ health and their educational attainment. When they…
As a source, transit and destination country, Thailand faces multiple manifestations of trafficking in persons. The USAID Thailand Counter Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) program works with communities and champions among government, civil society and the private sector to address the enabling environment for trafficking and exploitation, empower at-risk populations to safeguard their rights, and strengthen…