Giving Compass' Take:

• The UK government is running a new anti-slavery campaign called Not For Sale to shed light on aspirational stories of Nigerian female survivors of human trafficking.

• This campaign approach focuses on survivors' success and ambitions, rather than their hardships and tragedies. How will this strategy help make a lasting impact or potentially gain more funding and support for its mission?

• Read about how donors can make a difference in reducing human trafficking. 

“I am not for sale” is the message from Nigerian women participating in a new advertising campaign supported by the UK government, which aims to tackle the scourge of modern slavery.

The Not for Sale campaign seeks to tell positive, aspirational stories that might help discourage women in Nigeria from being lured by traffickers selling false promises of a better life in the UK.

Nigeria is the fourth largest source of human trafficking to the UK and and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that approximately 80% of girls arriving to Europe from Nigeria through irregular migration are potential victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Meanwhile, the Global Slavery Index estimates that 136,000 people in the UK are living in modern slavery.

Women featured in the campaign have real-life stories of their own – for example, Gift Johnathan, a mother of two who was tortured and raped while attempting to get to Europe, but managed to make it back to Nigeria and find work as a chef.

The website includes links to women’s groups, entrepreneurship programmes, and job sites, and has a form where people can submit their own stories in the hope of inspiring others to think again about what they might be able to do at home before going with traffickers.

Not everyone working in the field is convinced the message will be effective due to the lack of options desperate women face. "It’s not that people who were trafficked haven’t considered opportunities at home,” Anna Sereni of Anti-Slavery International told the Thompson Reuters Foundation.

But those behind the campaign believe that a new approach is worth trying.

Read the full article about Not For Sale campaign by Helen Lock at Global Citizen.