Evaluation of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific – The Philippines

Background

CATW-AP Philippines is part of the international alliance of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women that was launched in October 1988 during the First Global Conference Against Trafficking in Women, attended by over 500 women from different countries in New York, United States.

CATW-AP initiated activities and programs together with its partner organi¬zations and networks in the Asia-Pacific region since 1993. The initiatives focused on promoting women's human rights and assisting victims of trafficking, prosti¬tution, and all forms of male violence against women and girls. The CATW-AP is the network that has the strongest presence in a developing country and region, and is characterized by its growing influence in the areas of policy and legal change at the national and regional levels. Its chapter in the Philippines has the largest membership in the region compared to other member countries in Asia.

Purpose/objective

The evaluation was carried out to document the good practices, lessons learned, immediate impact, challenges and recommendations of the programs of the Coalition against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific's (CATW-AP) in addressing trafficking and prostitution.

Methodology

The evaluators adopted the rights-based programming framework and women's rights developmental approach framework which adhere to three principles: the accountability of the government and its agencies, the participation of civil society, particularly women, men and children, and equity/ non-discrimination.

Applying these frameworks, the evaluators sought to determine how CATW-AP, through its programs and services, has contributed in changing people's lives, especially the lives of women and girl children, by making the Philippine government and its agencies, to fulfil its obligations to women and girl children and at the same time, empowering the latter to demand for their rights from and hold the former accountable.

Key findings

CATW-AP's programs are comprehensive and have addressed the various aspects of trafficking and prostitution - prevention, protection of victims, prosecution of perpetrators, and re-integration of survivors. The package of services provided by the various programs complemented each other and the synergy of these could create greater impact in the long-term. The survivors, CATW-AP members and partners and the young men camp graduates played key roles in the imple¬mentation of the Programs.

The comprehensiveness of the programs has created an enabling mechanism to prevent and address the issue of trafficking and prostitution. Viewed from the rights-based framework, the programs have contributed to strengthening the capabilities of both the national and local government officials and its agencies in order to perform their duties in preventing trafficking and prostitution, protecting victims/survivors and potential victims, enforcing the law, and prosecuting the perpetrators. Similarly, the programs have contributed in empowering people - the survivors, the Coalition members and partners and the young men and women to demand from the government and its agencies to enact and enforce laws, and to protect women and girls from trafficking and sexual exploitation. The programs also provided the opportunity for both the government and the people (CATW-AP members, partners and survivors) to work together in the campaigns, advocacy and implementation of projects.

Recommendations

1) Trafficker/Pimp Watch Programme
-Adress poverty as a root cause of trafficking
-Training orientations on trafficking should be conducted in more places
-IEC materials should be improved
-Strategies should be better documented
-Work with law-enforcers should be institutionalized

2) The Young Men's Camp
-There is a need to develop monitoring and evaluation indicators to assess attitudinal and behavioural changes and impacts.
-Enhance replication of the Camp project by Coalition members and partners.

3) The Programme on Research, Documentation and Publication
-Adress delays in research projects.
-Document and publish CATW-AP's lessons learned.

4) Empowerment of survivors
-Document the experiences of CATW-AP in organizing and working with survivors groups
-Document CATW-AP members' experiences in implementing reintegration programmes for survivors.
-Facilitate regular coming together of survivors through conferences and consultations.