Ecotextile News covered the release of the Freedom Fund’s Evidence in Practice paper, “Unlocking What Works: How Community-Based Interventions Are Ending Bonded Labor in India,” which presents the findings of four leading institutions – including Harvard University and the Institute of Development Studies – that the Freedom Fund’s interventions were effective at stopping labour abuses, protecting workers and changing the structural conditions that enable unfair labour practices.
“A five year programme to eradicate bonded labour among workers in India – including garment factory employees – has succeeded in reducing modern slavery, according to a new report.
“The Freedom Fund initiative has been trialling two major programmes in India, including one in the southern state of Tamil Nadu where spinning mills employ hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers producing for both the domestic and international markets.
“It has invested about US$15.8 million in more than 40 frontline Indian NGOs who have been working together to address the systemic causes of bonded labour and trafficking.”