APRIES - African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery

The African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) is an international consortium of anti-slavery researchers and policy advocates from the University of Georgia (UGA) and the University of Liverpool (UoL). heir goal is to reduce the prevalence of modern slavery in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by transforming the capacity of community-engaged agencies to implement prevention, prosecution, and protection strategies.

To reduce the prevalence of human trafficking in Africa they use research and the collection of baseline data to identify target populations that are exploited in a trafficking sector and then work with local agencies to implement rigorous anti-trafficking programs and policies.

APRIES members’ expertise and ongoing initiatives allow for strong cross-disciplinary work. Their initiatives include:

• Development of a best practice model for trafficking survivor reintegration services in Ghana using survivor surveys and interviews with stakeholders and survivors
• Research on cocoa cultivation and garment manufacture in SSA with the goal of increasing transparency in these industries’ labor supply chains
• Analyzation of anti-slavery roles played by community-based agencies, faith-based agencies, NGOs, INGOs, government, and international actors
• Development of evidence-based programs to reintegrate former child soldiers into society, leveraging individual, group, and community-based intervention practices to build on survivor strengths
• Evaluation of the value of methods from the arts and humanities in addressing modern slavery in SSA
• Research on victimization reporting and protection of slavery victims as they support the prosecution of their perpetrators.