Episode 3: Studying trafficking in persons in South Sudan - our findings and lessons learned along the way

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast about all things migration, with me your host Loksan Harley. I'm delighted to see that we're averaging almost 100 plays per week at the moment, with viewers tuning in from across the world - from the US and the UK to Angola, Botswana, Egypt and Grenada. Thanks to you all for continuing to share the podcast with your networks!

On today's episode we discuss a research study that I carried out for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) into trafficking in persons in South Sudan. I was lucky to be joined for this episode by my IOM project manager, Fitriana Nur (Programme Coordinator) - or "Ana", whom I worked side by side with to design and execute the study.

Ana has 12 years of experience managing international development and counter-trafficking projects both in her native Indonesia and overseas, notably in the Middle East and now East Africa. Ana has worked on a range of projects, including policy advocacy and capacity development, in addition to conducting research - often in very challenging and conflict-hit contexts like South Sudan.

Our discussion touches on the various themes of the research. It's well worth a listen if you're interested in learning how to conduct research on human trafficking in a complex context like South Sudan, which has unfortunately faced a number of conflict and governance challenges in its short history since becoming independent from Sudan in 2011. In addition to talking about our methodology and the national context, we talk about the main forms of trafficking in South Sudan, the current counter-trafficking response, and some of the recommendations that we developed to strengthen that response and better protect victims of trafficking.

As a very important disclaimer, please note that the views expressed in this podcast episode are our own personal reflections and do not represent the views of IOM or the UK government. Feel free to get in touch at loksanharley.com/podcast if you have any further questions.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy listening!

Useful links:

Link to the full study: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20200724%20TiP%20full%20report%20low%20resolution.pdf

Connect with Ana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fitriana-nur-a8a0834/

IOM South Sudan: https://southsudan.iom.int/