An Evaluation of our project and our plans for its continuation

Evaluation & Outcome Report

Upon evaluating our overall project as a whole product, it is evident that we have come a long ways since the project’s onset and the beginning of this human rights course. We have accomplished so much in a very short amount of time and while our final product is something that we can be proud of, it is imperative to realize that the process doesn’t end here but that continuous development and a fostering of new ideas is necessary to truly make a difference and maintain support for our cause. This raising of awareness is our first step, and while it has been a good objective to fulfill in its own right, we must also continue to demand action and take action ourselves in fighting for the cause. This report will encompass several of the strengths and weaknesses within our report, where we want to go next with this project, what we might have done differently/still have the ability to change, and some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

In the initial stages of creating this project, we as a class were very thoughtful in our speculation about which human rights issue we wanted to pursue and also about which resources we should investigate in our research. Between all of us, we did an excellent job of exhausting all resources we encountered and by combining all of our annotated bibliographies, constructed a detailed source list and further literature review of what research has been conducted in the area of human trafficking. The literature review is one of the strongest aspects of our project for it provides both detailed information about what little research has been done, while also revealing the main concern, that there isn’t a great amount of research on this topic in the first place, magnifying our concern for awareness. Another strength about our literature review is that it uses a wide variety of sources including journal reports, articles, personal accounts, and novel type readings. The wide variety of sources in our research is definitely a strong aspect of the literature review for it provides multiple views on the subject from very different perspectives. There are also several strengths present in our Competitive and Stakeholder analysis report as well. It effectively addresses all of the stakeholders involved including the victims and their affiliates including their families, friends, loved ones, etc., the traffickers, the media, the buyers of either the individuals, the labor produced, the products produced by the slave labor, or the sexual favors, politicians facing a choice to either advocate for or neglect this issue, and the general public as well. Our report also identified the other competitors in terms of our ideas, including the traffickers, which are in direct competition, but also other positive forces such as other causes that are in competition for resources and support. The Aims and Objectives report that we have compiled is also strong in the sense that it pinpoints and identifies our initial goals for this project while still maintaining a larger vision and long-term goal of producing tangible and helpful action through the awareness we raise. Our hope is to raise awareness and encourage more research to be conducted so that larger movements of action can be undertaken and we can discover how to best address the issue. This is all clearly laid out in the Aims and Objectives Report. The Blog itself is another strong portion and is one of the most important aspects where people can get involved and have a dialogue about the importance and urgency of this human trafficking issue.

Some weaknesses present in our project, due to lack of time and other causes appear throughout the multiple different sections. Time in general was a very hindering factor in this process and if we had more of it, we would have been able to produce more as well. Though there is such a minimal amount of research conducted on human trafficking, it might’ve been beneficial to include an overview of human rights in our literature review, possibly describing which of the human rights from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are being violated by the act of trafficking. This would’ve helped to lengthen the report and also would’ve provided the reader with a better background as to how these trafficking acts are legal violations as well as traumatic and horrific crimes in themselves. It also might have been beneficial if we would have utilized a few more personalized sources or if we would have come into contact with individuals whom we could interview about the situation, potentially even trafficking survivors. This would have provided us with a lot of valuable and highly personalized information. As far as the blog itself is concerned, several improvements can be made and with more research and investigation we, as a group can turn this dialogue and informational blog into something more like a website. The blog for now though, is perfect so that we can get people to start talking and voicing their concerns, experiences, and/or opinions about the role of human and sex trafficking in our world today. With more research and connection with the right people and networks, it would be awesome to try and take our campaign to the next level, having an official website with even more information for people to investigate.

As our process continues, slavery enduring all the while, we must work hard to advance its abolition for everyone, everywhere. In this way, I think we are headed in the direction of making a website and furthering our ability to reach wide audiences. With more research, it would be awesome if we could separate out the individual types and categories of human trafficking. In order for the public as well as ourselves to better understand the experiences of those trafficked and understand how to best address these cases, it is necessary that each is given its own individual voice for there is not one solution for every type of human trafficking problem. Each type of trafficking must be addressed individually in their uniqueness. By doing this, we would also potentially enable more people to get involved for on the whole human trafficking can sometimes seem like a very intimidating issue. But, if it is broken down into categories such as sex trafficking, different types of slave labor, etc. then people may be more empowered to get involved because they will feel that they have a clearer focus and can pinpoint one issue instead of trying to tackle the whole problem at once. Though it will be complicated to enact at first, and difficult to research, it would also be nice if we were somehow able to identify several of the general areas where heavy trafficking takes place on a regular basis. In this way, we could separate the information out locally and internationally by region and people can click to find out what they can do in their area and/or how they can help in other interest areas abroad as well. Though this would have to happen much later, as we gain more support and a larger network, eventually, we could potentially have contact information per state or region for as many as possible around the world so that people can contact human trafficking experts and/or specialists if they are available in their locale. We would also provide what one should do if they suspect trafficking is going on.

Structurally, a website would provide us with the most freedom and we could include tabs with drop down bars for the different topics. This would also allow for us to put into place our idea for individualized calls to action so that each individual may have a better idea of what they can do specifically to help end human trafficking. Other promotional ideas such as T-Shirts and merchandise should be considered as well. These are just s few ideas for the future and will take massive amounts of planning time as well as organization and much more research. For now, it is just a vision, a vision that is successfully unfolding. The blog will be an excellent tool and will most likely help us identify who will be interested in supporting our cause, and what some different opinions/approaches to solutions are. We are all hoping to get an active and sizeable response, which will be helpful in continuing with the campaign.

As a result of this experience, and specifically this human rights course, we have all learned so much about our rights as humans, the disparity between these rights and the lived experience of the majority of the world, and what amendments need to be made to the law in order for them to be properly enforced. In researching human trafficking specifically, we have found ourselves horrified at the conditions of life these trafficked individuals experience, the commonality of their experience in places all over the world, how easily susceptible people are to becoming trafficked, and how little there is known about this multi-million dollar industry. We have also learned how to begin to put together a campaign, how to target an audience and market our ideas, how to set up a dialogue for people to access, and get others involved by raising awareness. Overall, it has been an incredible experience that we all hope will make a difference.