Comfort Monayonnoh Gray is an alumna of the International Visitor Leadership Program and a 2023 recipient of the IVLP Impact Awards for her project Drawing People's Attention to Issues Surrounding Trafficking in Person. Meridian International Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, implements the IVLP Impact Awards Initiative. IVLP Impact Awardees from across the world administer community impact projects that build on their experiences and promote innovative solutions to shared challenges. The IVLP Impact Awards Initiative aims to engage alumni, strengthen global networks, and support lasting community impact.
The "Drawing People's Attention to Issues Surrounding Trafficking in Persons" project raised awareness about the detrimental effects of human trafficking and community-based strategies to combat it. Stakeholders closely collaborated with the project team and worked to recruit participants and ambassadors who now act as community watchdogs, diligently monitoring the movement of children.
The project collaborated with Liberia National Police, Liberia Immigration Service and the National Anti-Human Trafficking Secretariat and Magisterial Courts.
Collaboration with various organizations and agencies significantly contributed to the project's success:
These collaborations enabled participants to grasp the urgency of addressing human trafficking and recognize the vital involvement of various stakeholders.
The project adopted a community-based approach, enabling active participation from community members to decide their own method to address issues relating to human trafficking and children movement. As expected, receptivity varied across different regions, but leveraging our professional skills, we persevered in reaching out to communities and effectively conveying our message.
The training sessions of the project brought about a positive shift in the comprehension of human trafficking among investigation officers. They came to recognize the widespread presence of human trafficking issues in those counties, emphasizing the necessity for collective action. Consequently, they pledged to collaborate with local authorities within the communities, aligning with the project's guidelines on child movement. A remarkable incident involves a Liberia Immigration Service officer who lauded the project for its innovative ideas recounted, "The chiefs are effectively disseminating project information; they've conveyed it to other chiefs who couldn't attend the workshop.”
Women and youth groups were also actively engaged through separate workshops as part of the project activities. These workshops trained them to become ambassadors tasked with monitoring child movement and addressing issues related to human trafficking within their communities.
As per the project protocols, individuals intending to relocate children from a village or town are required to notify the local authorities for appropriate documentation. In a proactive measure, they provided their personal cell phone numbers to stakeholders and participants for direct communication and swift response.
The project team, community ambassadors, and local authorities established a chain of command to oversee children's movements within the community, ensuring thorough documentation to enhance monitoring and safeguard against human trafficking.
Community ambassadors, including local authorities, women, and youth groups trained by the workshops, monitor human trafficking and child movement. Thirty ambassadors per district—fifteen women and fifteen youths—are collaborating with local authorities to report incidents. These integral efforts provide long-term sustainability by engaging community structures.
Comfort Monayonnoh Gray was a participant on the IVLP Project Combating Trafficking in Persons, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center. Learn more about her IVLP Impact Award project, Drawing People's Attention to Issues Surrounding Trafficking in Person on our website.
