Nearly 50 million people face conditions of modern slavery today. This is not the consequence of a handful of bad actors. Rather, it’s due to deeply entrenched social, economic and political systems. If we are to see an end to this exploitation, we need to shift from traditional approaches that simply focus on punishing offenders and supporting survivors, to approaches that aim to change the systems that perpetuate abuses.
This requires the use of multiple interventions that target different parts of the system, from improving legal frameworks and business practices to strengthening frontline community movements. If we’re to see true, sustainable change, it is crucial that we involve a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, businesses, civil society actors and communities affected by modern slavery.
The Freedom Fund has developed two reports on achieving and measuring systems change in the anti-slavery sector. Both draw on lessons from our own programming, research and evaluations, as well as insights from others from across the sector and relevant social movements.
The first report, Systems Change in Practice: Pathways Towards Eradicating Modern Slavery, highlights a strategic approach to tackling core issues driving exploitation. The report outlines the following seven types of intervention that – together – can promote sustainable systems change when adapted to local contexts and prioritised effectively.
- Improving the effectiveness of laws and policies to eliminate modern slavery
- Expanding survivor-centred services and access to entitlements
- Boosting resources available to anti-slavery responses
- Transforming social norms that allow the existence of modern slavery
- Advancing business practices that protect workers’ rights
- Bolstering survivor-led movements and having people impacted by modern slavery at the core of decision making
- Building community resilience against modern slavery.
Anti-slavery organisations can use this approach to empower affected communities, tackle root causes of modern slavery and strengthen communities’ resilience to exploitation. The report urges NGOs, donors and policymakers to work closely with affected communities and survivors, prioritising their insights into how exploitative systems can be dismantled.
The second report, Measuring systems change: Examples from the movement against modern slavery, highlights the importance of developing effective approaches for measuring our systems change efforts. It can be very difficult to measure systems change effectively. Systems are complex and constantly changing, and change is typically triggered by several interconnected factors rather than one intervention. It can therefore be challenging to assess our specific contribution to change, particularly if different stakeholders have differing perspectives about what ‘worked’.
However, measuring systems change is certainly possible. The report outlines features of successful systems change measurement, including:
- Designing interventions with a systems change approach in mind
- Clearly defining intended outcomes at the start of the intervention
- Setting a realistic timeline and budget
- Being mindful of unintended outcomes and consequences
- Using multiple methods for assessing and measuring change
- Using a multi-stakeholder and an intersectional lens.
The report suggests methods that are well-suited to measuring the types of intervention included in our systems change approach. Case studies are presented to outline learning from our efforts using several of these methods.
The report calls for continued investment in developing robust monitoring and evaluation methods and approaches that can help us to measure systems change. We only stand a chance of eradicating modern slavery once we fully understand the impact of our interventions and can build on, and learn from, our successes and failures.
Image credit: Filmatory Nepal / The Freedom Fund
