Aimed at rehabilitating crisis-stricken survivors of human trafficking, women and girls who have faced the stigma of sex trade and the travails of bonded labor, discrimination and social taboo, Anudip’s pioneering BEST (Building Entrepreneurs to Stop Trafficking) initiative readies such people for viable and respectable professions through skill development training. The BEST program counsels, mentors and skills groups of women and girls rescued after being trafficked (sometimes multiple times) in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal to become digitally literate and develop entrepreneurial proficiencies for crowdsourced tasks in the gig economy.

WHY MURSHIDABAD IS A HAVEN FOR WOMEN TRAFFICKING?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that West Bengal ranks among the 8 Indian states when it comes to women trafficking owing to a shared porous border of 2,217 kilometers with Bangladesh. Thus, it often serves as a transit location for thousands of Bangladeshi women who are trafficked into India each year. Sex trafficking is known to be particularly prevalent in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, due to its close proximity to the Bangladesh border. Often attributed to the lack of available economic opportunities in the region, migration is common in the district leaving families vulnerable to women trafficking. The district has a population of 7.1 million, with a 70% Muslim population, and an average literacy rate of 67.53%.

OUR APPROACH TO EMPOWER VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING:

The BEST program offers three-months training following which it set the students up with online work to generate income. By employing technology as a skill-force, Anudip directs disadvantaged women and girls, the victims of women and girls trafficking, to join the national mainstream and get a secure and dignified life through entrepreneurship and IT skills training.

So far, we have enrolled 31 at-risk girls and women, placed 11 of them in one of the leading digital data companies and 10 are involved in Crowdsourced Contributors’ training program, as a part of the gig economy.