Giving Compass' Take:

• Global tech companies and other organizations have collaborated on projects that utilize technology to eradicate human trafficking. 

• What other ways can technology be leveraged to address a social issue or need? 

• Learn how donors can make an impact on ending human trafficking. 

In June 2018, a coalition of global tech companies, civil society organizations, and international institutions jointly launched Tech Against Trafficking, a collaborative effort to support the eradication of human trafficking.

By tapping into their technical expertise, capacity for innovation, and global reach, the company members of Tech Against Trafficking believe that technology can and must play a major role in preventing and disrupting human trafficking and empowering survivors. The group will work with anti-trafficking experts to identify and investigate opportunities to develop and scale promising technologies.

The group has embarked on an ambitious project to understand and map the landscape of existing tech tools being used in the anti-trafficking sector. Over 200 anti-trafficking tools were identified, with the majority (approximately 69 percent) working to identify existing victims of human trafficking and address and manage the risk of child and forced labor in corporate supply chains.

Following this initial identification process, Tech Against Trafficking is evaluating each of the more than 200 tools to better understand how they work, how effective they have been, and the barriers they face to scaling their impact. The evaluations are based on publicly available information and are ongoing as the group conducts outreach to organizations developing technology applications.

Tech Against Trafficking intends to make this map as comprehensive as possible and invites all organizations using technology to combat human trafficking, in every language and every region around the globe, to review and recommend additions to the list of identified tech tools, found here. We encourage interested organizations to reach out to the BSR team with any additions.

Read the full article about fighting human trafficking by Hannah Darnton and Peter Nestor at BSR.