The fight against human trafficking is a difficult one, primarily because of how hard it can be to identify trafficking victims. In many cases trafficked persons are lumped together with undocumented workers. In order to better serve victims of trafficking a three-part test has been created:

1. Has there been transport, shelter, harboring, and/or exchange of services that in some way has affected the person?

2. Has the person lived in conditions of forced prostitution, labor slavery, or conditions similar to slavery?

3. Was there coercion, violence or threats that compelled the person to stay?

- Sara Fajardo, CRS communications officers

Presenters at the “Human Trafficking: Responding to Trafficking in Persons in the Americas, conference report that the policies adopted by certain countries contribute to the flow of human trafficking. Take for example the dollarization of Ecuadorian currency. This shift from national currency to the U.S. dollar has caused a surge in migration, by people who are lured by the prospect of earning U.S. dollars. Traffickers take advantage of the constant flow of migration and have preyed on the most vulnerable.

- Sara Fajardo, CRS communications officer

Some quick trafficking notes:

In Moldova there are some orphanages that have been found to sell children for 100-200 euros a piece.

Brazil was the last country to abolish slavery in the hemisphere in 1888. Today tens of thousands continue to work in slave like conditions.

In Peru up to 33,000 people may be trapped in slave labor at mining camps.

Several Chinese slave labor scandals have been uncovered in the past few years. These were allowed with the complicit help of corrupt officials. Child slaves, working in brick kilns, were sold to other kilns when the first was forced to shut down.

- Sara Fajardo, CRS communications officer

Around 70 participants from all corners of the globe have gathered at “The Human Trafficking in Persons in the Americas,” conference being held at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington D.C. The presentations are bilingual and the room is buzzing with the sound of direct translations being whispered into people’s ears as the first panel of the day gets underway.

Nyssa Mestas has taken the stage. She specializes in Migration and refugee services for the Anti-Trafficking Program at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

There are two types of trafficking: sexual exploitation and forced labor.

Both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals are being trafficked in the United States, although they tend to be trafficked for different purposes. For U.S. citizens it is primarily for sexual exploitation, and with foreign nationals it is primarily for forced labor.

Sex trafficking is not just illegal prostitution as most might think, but runs the gamut of strip clubs, escort services, and marriage services to name a few.

Forced labor can take a variety of forms, from the legitimate business such as a nail salons, restaurants, or circus performances to non-legitimate businesses such as domestic servitude, and drug manufacturing and dealing.

These activities are not limited to specific regions of the U.S. and can be found in both rural and urban settings. Currently the top cities for human trafficking are Newark, L.A., New York, Houston and Miami.

Traffickers play on vulnerable persons, but they prey on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals differently.

Victims of domestic trafficking, according to Mestas, are usually women who are young, female, and fall within the 13-17 age range, but the USCCB has also seen as young as 12, and in some cases boys. They are coming from broken homes, in some cases living at a foster home, and end up running away or are lured away by adults over the internet. A few are kidnapped. The USCCB has heard of cases of kids being lured from malls or clubs. The traffickers tend to create an emotional dependency with the victims or foster drug and alcohol addiction in order to entrap them. They may also use violence and coercion.

In the past 2 years the USCCB has seen people from 72 different countries being trafficked into the U.S. Many are being recruited or lured and brought in by the traffickers. Many of those who are trafficked are looking for employment. They are frequently in the margins of society who are not protected, women, street youth, orphans. There are also cases of kidnapping.

They are being lured by a promise of a job, education, or marriage. Many see ads on the Internet or newspaper. Traffickers have found that recruiting is very effective tool to lure in potential victims.

- Sara Fajardo, CRS communications officer

Ben Hess is a CRS international development fellow living in Guatemala and working with savings-led microfinance programs.

One of the first things I ask participants at the CRS microfinance trainings is: “How many of you save money?” Invariably, I am told that that they cannot afford to save. When pressed, some concede that, although they do not have formal bank accounts, they do have small amounts of money that they can access if necessary. Yet the tendency to set aside a specific amount usually does not exist, especially when they face significant barriers to formal or informal savings mechanisms.

The next question I ask is: “How can you save more?” The two most common responses are “increase income” and “reduce expenses.” For families living in extreme poverty, however, both of these are difficult to do. Adults—and in some cases, children—are probably already working full-time, while the vast majority of family income covers basic expenses such as food, medicine, and lodging.

Even so, we try to help participants understand that small adjustments in how they spend disposable income would enable them to save more. For example, transportation costs could be reduced by making trips to the market every two weeks instead of weekly, and purchases of nonessential items like ice cream or beer could be scaled back slightly. Often, creating a budget that tracks income and expenses helps identify areas where families can save money.

It’s important to stress that we’re not telling participants that they can no longer buy ice cream. We are simply trying to get them to reflect on where their money goes, and whether opportunities exist to increase savings. Though the savings might amount to just $1-2 a month, these often constitute the minimum contributions required by savings groups and can make a big difference over time.

Above all, we try to promote a “culture of savings” among poor families. In El Salvador and Guatemala, I’ve noticed that children often accompany their parents to the savings group meetings. They observe the sacrifices their parents make to save and, hopefully, the fruits of those sacrifices in times of need. Just as parents in the United States teach their children the importance of saving money as an important component of good financial habits, so parents across the globe can impart these same concepts to their children so that they learn to effectively budget and manage their money.

Ben Hess is a CRS international development fellow living in Guatemala and working with savings-led microfinance programs.

After a two-day workshop trainers are ready to help others form savings-led microfinancing groups. Photo by Benjamin Hess/CRS

CRS sought to maximize impact by training a small group of women who have received literacy training and already serve as animators for community activities. They, in turn, would be responsible for forming and training the savings groups. This training-of-trainers method is considered more effective and sustainable because the animators have the community’s trust and confidence, enjoy personal relationships with many of the people they are trying to recruit, and understand the local norms.

The workshop covered how savings groups work and the benefits they offer, the roles and responsibilities of group members and leaders, and the systems and controls that ensure the groups’ transparency and accountability. We used games and interactive presentations to help the animators practice the promotion and organization of savings groups. Above all, we emphasized the importance of the animators’ role as trainers and facilitators. The group members make all decisions together: they elect their leaders, determine how much to save, evaluate and grant loans, and ensure that members comply with rules.

At the end of the workshop, hope and excitement filled the room as each participant described her impressions of the project.

“I want to teach members of my community to save money,” one elderly community animator declared, her bright eyes shining with determination as she addressed the group. “I also want to give them hope for a better future.”

“I realized that anyone can save money, even if it’s just a few quetzals a month,” a younger woman commented.

Others expressed their appreciation for having the opportunity to form savings groups among their neighbors and friends.

The participants’ interest and buy-in reassured me that the project would receive a similarly favorable response in the communities where we hoped to form savings groups. The real clincher, however, came in the form of a question.

“Can we join the savings groups we form?” several women asked. I’m happy to report that the answer was “yes.”

The global financial crisis and attendant market volatility has a lot of people wondering how hard a hit they’re going to take. They’re worried about the future. Will our retirement plans be delayed or derailed? Will we have to put off buying a new house or car? Or will it get quite a bit worse than that?

Certainly, during hard times, we know that there are millions of people whose best situations will never be as comfortable as our worst. Whether or not it helps to remind ourselves of that, the fact remains, we very likely face rough times ahead. Many of of us are already feeling the pinch. We’re just wondering how bad it’s going to get.

With that in mind, and Thanksgiving approaching, we’d like to hear from you. What are you thankful for? How do you stay grateful when times are tough?

Dear Friend,

As we Americans watch the financial crisis unfold, and our investments and retirement accounts plunge in value day by day, many of us are feeling an overwhelming sense of fear and helplessness.

We are beginning to reassess plans we’ve made, wondering whether we’ve saved enough for retirement or college tuitions. And in our neighborhoods and communities, we are seeing signs of economic stress. People are out of work. Auction signs are sprouting up in front of foreclosed homes. And food pantries are reporting depleted stocks as demand for their services rises.

This is a time of great uncertainty and anxiety. But imagine how much worse it would be if we could not afford basic food for our families. If we had to tell our kids, “There will be no dinner tonight—maybe we can eat something at breakfast tomorrow.”

This is what life is like for the working poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Poor families in places like Burkina Faso typically spend more than three-quarters of their income just on food. A sack of rice in this West African country that cost $28 this past January is now going for more than $50—more than a day laborer makes in a month. And the global food crisis, combined with the world economic meltdown, is only going to make things worse.

With the current economic turmoil, the plight of the world’s hungry people is getting much less attention in the media. And with hundreds of billions of dollars devoted to bailing out huge corporations, foreign assistance directed toward the poor will likely be a candidate for budget cuts.

We are feeling the stress at Catholic Relief Services. The increased cost of food and fuel, combined with the devaluation of the dollar, has made our work more challenging. We are calling upon the resiliency and creativity of our staff to strategically cut back in some areas and stretch our budget as far as we can. But there is one thing we will never sacrifice, and that is our mission: serving the poorest and most vulnerable people overseas.

We will continue to do what we have been doing. We’ll just have to do it smarter.

Throughout our 65-year history, the people of CRS have risen to the challenges before us. And we’ve learned how to do things better, more effectively and more efficiently.

It was 10 years ago that we faced a daunting task in responding to the devastation left by Hurricane Mitch, which tore through Central America, leaving 10,000 people dead, destroying crops and leveling houses. The need was overwhelming, and CRS was one of the first humanitarian agencies to respond.

It was in the wake of this tragedy that we refined the way we respond to disasters. We established a three-pronged approach. Our first focus is on saving lives and responding to immediate needs: providing food, water and shelter, as well as other basic necessities. But then we focus on development. The second prong is helping people rebuild their livelihoods and get back to work. The community’s involvement in their own recovery then becomes the third prong. Once the rebuilding is done, self-sustaining community organizations take over, preparing residents for future disasters so they will be more resilient and can act as their own first responders.

These were important lessons that we employed for subsequent emergencies, including the Indian Ocean tsunami. And it is this kind of insight, ingenuity and ability to adapt that will help us to get through this economic crisis and emerge as an even stronger, more efficient and more effective agency—better able to fulfill our mission. And we will do this in partnership with the American Catholic community, whose continued generosity we need and appreciate now more than ever.

Thank you for your continued support and your prayers.

Ken Hackett

President

Ben Hess is a CRS international development fellow living in Guatemala and working with savings-led microfinance programs.

In 1974, Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economics professor, lent the equivalent of $17 to 42 rural basket-weavers after hearing poor Bangladeshis recount how they were forced to borrow money at outrageous interest rates from usurious moneylenders because no formal bank would offer them loans. Yunus went on to found the Grameen Bank, which provides the poor—especially women, who account for 97 percent of loan recipients—with small loans for income-generating activities. To date, the Grameen Bank has provided more than $7 billion to approximately 7.5 million borrowers, with a repayment rate of 98 percent. Over time, other microcredit institutions were established across the globe. They eventually expanded their operations to offer a variety of financial services to the poor. “Microfinance” is a broader term that incorporates these different services, including credit, savings, and insurance.

One of the chief criticisms of traditional microcredit and microfinance, however, is that providing loans to poor people can place them further in debt if the investments do not generate enough income to pay off the balance and interest. Furthermore, microfinance institutions focus their services on microentrepreneurs, which exclude the very poor.

As a result, a new microfinance model was developed in India among its self-help groups, which were originally composed of poor women. In addition to promoting women’s empowerment, autonomy, and solidarity, these groups emphasized a savings-led approach to microfinance. For a long time, development experts assumed that the poor spent all of their income to cover basic needs. Studies have shown, however, that even the extreme poor are able to save very small amounts. Savings-led microfinance seeks to encourage a “culture of saving” among the poor, since savings can provide a safety net in the case of emergencies and enable them to expand their physical, social, and economic assets. Furthermore, groups use the accumulated savings to offer loans to their members at more affordable rates than formal banks and microfinance institutions, with the profits from the interest going back into the group fund.

The beauty of the savings groups is their simplicity. Group members establish their own rules, elect their leadership committees, and determine when and how much to save and loan. While CRS and its local partners provide training on the savings-led method and help form savings groups, they do not provide external financing. Although this may mean that groups grow more slowly, it also reinforces their autonomy, solidarity, and sustainability. Another benefit is that the savings groups are easily replicable. In many cases, members of existing groups help form new groups.

Recently, CRS has expanded its savings-led microfinance efforts to Latin America. It is especially interested in forming savings groups as a complement to ongoing projects in agriculture, health, and education. In Guatemala, where I work, CRS has helped form savings groups among persons living with HIV in Coatepeque. It has also trained community animators and staff at the Women’s Pastorate of the Diocese of San Marcos on the savings-led method so that they can organize savings groups among women whose children receive scholarships to attend school. Please check back here soon for updates on both of those initiatives.