The Keep Girls Safe Project

ADRA Thailand’s Keep Girls Safe (KGS) project works in collaboration with government agencies, local non-government organizations and community groups to raise awareness and reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The project provides education opportunities, a shelter for high risk girls, plus youth clubs and community activities which provide awareness and knowledge raising of human trafficking issues.

Thailand suffers from a drastic difference in the standard of living between rural and developed areas of the country especially in the northern region of the country. Many live well below the poverty line with an alarmingly low standard of living. The average per capita income in Thailand is $3,251(USD) per year but in Chiang Rai province, ADRA Thailand has found some annual incomes to be as low as $500(USD).

Thailand is a source for transit route and destination for trafficked persons*. Here, trafficking is done for both commercial sex exploitation and cheap labor. Families in the rural regions are already trapped in a cycle of poverty and debt are often the targets of traffickers. Families survive usually as subsistence farmers or day laborers with few work opportunities. Many of the families along the border do not have birth certificates or family documents, making going to school impossible. Drug and alcohol abuse also contribute to debt. All these factors make these families targets for recruiters who focus on the poor, rural areas of Chiang Rai.

KGS is part of ADRA Thailand’s Human Trafficking Vulnerability Reduction Program. The program includes Keep Girls Safe and the Trafficking Risk Reduction project (TRR – see more under the Programs Menu of this website). Community based traffic prevention activities are conducted by both TRR and KGS staff members. These activities include peer education training, child rights and trafficking awareness raising at target schools, networking with partner organizations, and work with local authorities to improve systems and policies.

The history of the KGS project goes back to 2004. The project has two parts; a shelter for 30 high risk girls and education scholarships for 100 girls in the Education Assistance Program. The girls in the shelter have come from situations of abuse, orphaned or abandoned or have been rescued from trafficking situations. This puts them at “High Risk”. ADRA Thailand has trained caregivers on staff to meet the physiological needs these girls face. The ADRA shelter focuses solely on these high risk cases. Additionally, ADRA plans to reach 2,500 students with anti-trafficking awareness training through Girls’ Clubs and other community youth activities.