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Winrock International

Legacy Project

Bangladesh Counter Trafficking-in-Persons Project (BC/TIP)

Though human trafficking is a global problem, successful efforts to combat it must start at the local level. Focused on 20 highly vulnerable districts, the Bangladesh Counter Trafficking-in-Persons Program aims to mobilize and coordinate the actions of local and national governments, non-governmental organizations, and citizens and community leaders. Program activities include: supporting and empowering survivors; increasing the effectiveness of prosecution; and engaging all layers of society to end human trafficking.

Funder: USAID

Project Timeline: October 24, 2014 - May 31, 2021

Country: Bangladesh

Program Areas: Human Rights, Education and Empowerment , Education, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion and Countering Trafficking in Persons (TIP)

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BC/TIP’s main objective was to reduce human trafficking and child marriage in Bangladesh in order to achieve improved protection of civil and human rights in six interrelated areas:

To achieve this, BC/TIP connected local and national government representatives, non-governmental organizations, the business community, community leaders, and citizens. The project prioritized the sustainability of CTIP efforts by strengthening community capacities to identify at-risk and vulnerable people, victims/survivors of trafficking and CM, and take action for their protection through a district referral mechanism and via volunteer groups, including youth Peer Leaders and survivor ANIRBAN groups.

BC/TIP was reinforced by the following theory of change: if awareness and capacities of community members to identify and take actions against trafficking activities, traffickers, and child marriage (CM); if access to support services by trafficking survivors and those at-risk and victims of child marriage is improved; if the responsiveness of criminal justice actors is increased; and if all concerned stakeholder partners to combat trafficking and child marriage are coordinated in effective way, then the prevalence of these human rights abuses and vulnerability factors in Bangladesh will be reduced.

Changes to the context led to some significant changes in the approach and scope of BC/TIP in 2018, in response to the exodus of 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into the Bangladesh Cox’s Bazar area. BC/TIP worked with the Rohingya population and host communities to address the increased risk of human trafficking, child marriage, and gender-based violence (GBV). In 2017 the Government of Bangladesh enacted the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA), which enabled BC/TIP to integrate interventions against child marriage into its community-level efforts the following year, since CM is identified as a risk factor for human trafficking. Additionally, a Knowledge Management and Learning component was added to the project to reinforce the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting mechanisms used in BC/TIP’s work enhancing the capacities of stakeholder groups for systematic change. BC/TIP conducted a situational analysis and needs assessment of male survivors in 2018 and in 2019, Bangladesh remained on the US State Department’s Tier 2 Watchlist for the third year in a row. BC/TIP, therefore, worked closely with the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) to prioritize and implement recommendations in the 2020 US State Department’s Annual TIP report, resulting in the country’s promotion to Tier 2 in 2021. BC/TIP was flexible and resilient in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, adapting their activities to virtual platforms and developing comprehensive contingency plans to maintain project continuity, including in Cox’s Bazar.

Priority Areas:

More About BC/TIP Program

The seven-year Bangladesh Counter Trafficking-in-Persons (BC/TIP) Program, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Winrock International, works in 25 trafficking-prone districts in Bangladesh and with 12 sub-grantee non-governmental organization (NGO) partners to implement the 4P Paradigm (prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships) to mitigate human trafficking (HT) child marriage (CM), and to promote safe migration.

Project Goals

4,034

at-risk people received information, skills training and livelihood support

4,105

migrants trained on safe migration, TIP, migrant rights and redress

3,465,392

individuals reached through the mass media campaign on TIP awareness