Shelter Self-Improvement

Despite the fact that anti-trafficking organizations and victim service agencies have been working steadily to improve the services available to trafficked persons, there are still shelters in the GMS that are in violation of international standards and basic human rights. These facilities are often run by well-meaning government or non-government shelter managers who lack the financial or technical resources to improve the conditions of their facilities, or the quality of services that they offer to trafficked persons. While many government and non-government agencies are involved in the longer term process of developing and implementing procedures for improved comprehensive victim protection under COMMIT PPC 5, UNIAP aims to jump-start this process through an innovative project in partnership with IOM and World Vision that builds the capacity of shelter managers and helps them to help each other improve the conditions of their facilities.

Within the process of victim protection, from victim identification to reintegration, shelter (and other custodial facility) stays are just a fraction of the services that may be appropriate for an individual victim. Still, investing in better shelters and transit centers that meet international standards, and in the capacity of facility managers to provide better services, is an investment that trafficking victims deserve.

The objectives of the Shelter Self-Improvement Project more specifically are:

• To measurably improve shelters and other custodial facilities that serve trafficked persons throughout the GMS;
• To build the capacity of shelter / facility managers to maintain international standards for victim care and support; and
• To build a sustainable network of government and non-government shelter managers and other victim service providers who know how to maintain international standards in victim care and support, and can help other victim service providers reach these standards in their programs and facilities.

The UNIAP Shelter Self-Improvement Project will follow six steps in China, Cambodia, and Vietnam (and eventually all GMS countries) as follows:

• Outstanding and engaged government and NGO victim service providers and shelter managers will be trained by UNIAP and partner technical staff on how to do shelter inspections, and how to train others to do shelter inspections,
• The national group of victim service providers will then develop a schedule for group visits to selected shelters to conduct inspections, using a scoring sheet that rates various aspects of shelters according to international standards (facilities, services, case management systems, etc.) Included in these visits, both health and psycho-social needs will be identified and documented. This information will be used to incorporate a shelter-based strategy that will ensure proper referral, testing (voluntary basis), care and treatment for HIV-positive victims that might be identified. This strategy will ensure that there will be no discrimination and no stigma toward HIV-positive persons.
• After the shelter visits and based on the scores and the identified areas that require the most improvement in each of the shelters, the national shelter self-improvement group will determine the best way to allocate funding among the shelters for immediate improvements;
• Shelter improvements will be made and the HIV/AIDS strategy will be operationalized, working closely with NGOs that specialize in providing these services;
• In 7-9 months (depending on the improvements required), the national shelter self-improvement group will reconvene to revisit each of the improved shelters and conduct follow-up inspections. Shelters whose scores have significantly improved in their weak areas and who score no less than a 4 in all areas will be certified by the group as an outstanding shelter;
• A national workshop will be sponsored by UNIAP and the shelter self-improvement group to recruit other newer provincial facilities into the program, to design a longer term plan for shelter improvement for a given country, and to encourage donors to recognize the certification and only provide support to shelters that meet these international standards (or to provide support for shelter improvement, with the goal of meeting these international standards.)