The following powerpoint presentation contains further information on this pilot project, including; the preliminary steps, selection criteria for PD families, and the PD informed initiatives that resulted from this work: The Positive Deviance Approach for Preventing Girl Trafficking
Numerous PD strategies are illustrated in the following interview with a PD father who has successfully prevented his daughters from working in the sex industry: Interview with a PD father
In May 2003 a meeting was held with the Cadres and LPKP staff to provide them with a deeper understanding of the PD approach in general, and to introduce how it could be utilized to address the problem of girl trafficking in the community. This near verbatim transcription of the meeting illustrates how the Cadres came to view PD as a tool that they could use to tackle this sensitive topic: Workshop with village cadres. What Happened next? An Update is available here
In May of 2003 Save the Children (SC) and a local Indonesian non-governmental organization (LPKP) met with a consultant to explore how Positive Deviance (PD) could be used to build a community- based movement to protect girls from being trafficked into the 'special entertainment industry' (sex industry.) The NGO's were working in villages where it has become common for girls from poor families to end up working in the sex trade after leaving their villages in search of work. While some members of the community (e.g. village health workers (Cadres), village leaders, and a few families) asserted that this was a problem, the larger community considered the issue a "taboo" subject.
The first pilot program began in a community that was recognized as a 'sending area'. Seventeen volunteer Cadres were trained in the PD approach. Through an informal baseline survey they established that more than 100 girls had left the village to work in the special entertainment industry. They then identified and interviewed families of the same socioeconomic class who had successfully protected their girls from leaving the village to obtain this type of work ('PD families'). Through these interviews the Cadres discovered replicable protection strategies utilized by the PD families.
Illustrative of the successful strategies are those reported by a poor farmer, Pak Darma. Despite having the same small plot of land as his neighbors, Pak Darma plants cash crops that could be harvested at different times of the year to ensure that he has money to pay for his children's education. When his daughters leave the village for employment he speaks to their employer to verify the type of work they will be doing and he has family members regularly check-in with them so he can cross-check the information that they provide him. He and his wife also have a successful parenting strategies for communicating with their children.
Village leaders, who initially reported feeling helpless to address girl trafficking, have become more proactive since the program started. The Cadres have established an anti girl trafficking "Community Watch Post". They have done community mapping to identify "at-risk girls" (girls between the age of 15-18 who are not in school) and begun approaching their families to discuss the importance of schooling, issues of safe migration, and the dangers of work in the sex industry. Since beginning they have prevented several girls ages 15-18 from leaving the village to work in urban areas- most likely in the sex industry- by enforcing government regulations that villagers have 'travel papers' with clear destinations before migrating. This project has also caught the attention of the provincial government, which has identified two neighboring districts for program expansion.