Reintegration is a long and complex process. AFESIP Cambodia's main objective is not simply to provide short-term assistance to victims, but instead to ensure their long-term financial independence after reintegration. To date, thousands of rehabilitated residents have been reintegrated into their home communities, including those who were repatriated to their country of origin. The women are also provided with support as long as they need it, so follow-up of their reintegration is necessary. AFESIP works in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, and local authorities to ensure this task is carried out.
Cloth cutting lesson Sewing Lesson
AFESIP Hairdressing Shop Daily Practice at the Shop
Reintegration involves the following processes:
1-Family tracing and visits
AFESIP Cambodia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, traces the victims’ families. The wishes and opinions of the victims as to whether and when they want to go home are a top priority and are always followed and respected. Family visits are then undertaken and when appropriate, victims are reintroduced and reunited with their families. The family visit can be made along with AFESIP staff; alternately, the reintegration team can first visit a family without the resident or a resident can visit her family without AFESIP staff, depending on the resident's wishes. After making arrangements with AFESIP, families may also pick up or visit their relatives who are residents at the centers. In addition, there are meetings with local authorities and other community resources when necessary.
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| The reintegration staff takes a girl for her family visit at Poipet, an area around 360km from Phnom Penh in the presence of a local authority |
A private charity donor visits a reintegrated woman at her business shop in a small village in Phnom Penh. |
2-Family Assessment and Reunification
Once family origin is traced, the AFESIP staff makes an assessment of the family and the possibility of reunification. Several factors are considered, including local market opportunities, the conditions of the family, whether the center resident's vocational skills training is easily adaptable to the community, and the desires of the victim. Many steps are followed in this process, including investigations, community assessment, counseling, decision-making with the victims, and professional family reorientation. This information is compiled and analyzed in order to determine how feasible reintegration into the community will be. Once a reintegration decision is made, a reintegration plan is then organized.
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| Reintegration kits are sent along with residents to their home communities and are followed by an AFESIP trainer, who helps in starting a new business shop. |
This Vietnamese girl was sent back to her family after refusing to stay at the center. A local authority and ASFESIP staff were witnesses along with the girl’s family members. |
3-Resettled independently in the community
New lives are shaped after a few months' stay in one of AFESIP’s centers for vocational skills training. Such residents can finally become small-scale business women and run their own shops. They are proud to be financially independent as leaders of their own trades.
One girl opens a hairdressing shop. Another opens a sewing shop.
60 percent of the victims AFESIP rehabilitates are willing to be resettled back into their communities. When family reunification is impossible, AFESIP staff will work with the women themselves to determine future options.
4-Monitoring and follow-up
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Monitoring and follow-up is an integral part of the whole reintegration process. It is undertaken once or twice a month during the first 3 months and can last up to 3 years. Emphasis is made on economical, medical, and psychological aspects. |
| Somaly Mam visiting reintegrated women |
The goals of the monitoring and follow-up process are:
- To check on the situation of the girls and women in their families or communities and make sure that they are being treated well.
- To check the status of their businesses or jobs.
- To provide counseling to the reintegrated women and their families.
In order to facilitate reintegration, AFESIP provides each woman with a "business starting kit" either in kind (stock for a micro-business) or in cash (through micro-credit). Providing good quality follow-up of former residents is key to successful reintegration. Every effort is made to avoid situations of re-trafficking.
By providing comprehensive and specialized care for victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cambodia, AFESIP Cambodia plays a much needed role in society, filling a gap, which would otherwise not be filled. Because AFESIP Cambodia only deals with cases of sexual exploitation, it has become one of the most specialized victim support agencies in Cambodia. Victim care is the organization’s priority and consequently, all activities are structured around this objective.
Left, a visit made by Somaly Mam to one of the residents’ families; right, hairdressing kids are brought to a resident’s home village shop.
AFESIP Cambodia also aims to develop and increase the capacity of the Cambodian government through the organizations’ collaborative. Through the organization’s extensive and comprehensive work in the area of trafficking over the past decades, AFESIP Cambodia has acquired significant knowledge about all aspects of the issue. AFESIP is keen to share this knowledge with the government and other key stakeholders in an attempt to combat trafficking in persons.
