Survivor engagement allows organizations to better serve individuals, craft programs, identify challenges and opportunities, and achieve agency missions and mandates. As a primary stakeholder in the anti-trafficking field, survivor leaders offer invaluable insight and expertise. Anti-trafficking efforts can only be successful with comprehensive inclusion of diverse professionals, including survivor leaders. It offers insight into the anti-trafficking field that, through application, adaptation, and validation, will contribute to the development of evidence-based practices. Consider ways that your organization can collaborate with professionals who have a history of human trafficking to further inform your response.
Regularly include survivor leaders in your organization's work, including:
- Informing mission, vision, and culture
- Approaching program development, implementation, and evaluation
- Building referral networks and partnerships
- Conducting outreach and awareness-raising activities
- Developing fundraising strategies
- Providing human resource and staffing development
Survivor leaders have subject matter expertise and should be compensated in the same way organizations compensate any other professional.
Additional Resources
- National Survivor Network
- Survivor Alliance
- U.S. Advisory Council
- Survivor-Informed Practice Self-Guided Assessment Tool
- Toolkit for Building Survivor-Informed Organizations