APNE AAP WOMEN WORLDWIDE

Our approach is to help every Last Girl regain control of her destiny. The Last Girl is the most vulnerable of human beings because not only is she a poor, female, teenage, but from a marginalized caste or religion in India, Black or Native American in the US, a refugee in Europe, an ethnic minority in Africa or a caravan migrant or climate victim in Latin America. Additionally, she may be the daughter or sister of a prostituted woman or a victim of child marriage or domestic servitude. She is preyed on by traffickers because she is hungry, homeless, unprotected and un-educated. Our Ten Assets are based on gaining the four most essential rights for at risk and trafficked girls and women: 1) Right to access Justice 2) Right to Education 3) Right to a sustainable and dignified Livelihood 4) Right to safe and independent Housing . We break the cycle of inter-generational prostitution by educating the most vulnerable girls from nomadic groups trapped in inter-generational prostitution and red-light areas. We enroll women to form a Mandala (circle), bring them to our community centre, start a classroom for their children and train them to gain the ten assets of a safe space, education, self-confidence, political knowledge, government IDs, government welfare like food, housing and health care, legal support, savings and loans, income-generating skills and the support of the big Apne Aap Mandala ( friendship circle). Each step reduces their vulnerability and creates an exit pathway out of prostitution.

We have been in operation since 2001. Our work has had on changing the individual lives of 15,000 women and girls trapped in the prostitution system. We have also played a role in changing laws and policies in the USA, India and France. We have had a role in supporting the United Nations in creating a Fund for Survivors and in the passage of the UN Protocol. Based on our track record in impacting individual lives of the most marginalized and vulnerable girls, as well as mentoring more than 200 students to understand and combating human trafficking, we feel we can do more .

We maintain an Asset Holder Database in which we put down the name of each beneficiary. Each asset serves as a progress indicator of the gains that our beneficiaries make. The ten assets are: a safe space, education, self-confidence, political knowledge, government IDs, government welfare like food, housing and health care, legal support, savings and loans, income-generating skills and the support of the big Apne Aap Mandala ( friendship circle). Each Asset addresses a specific vulnerability that traffickers take advantage of-for example a safe space addresses the issue of homeless, education addresses the issue of illiteracy, govt welfare addresses the issue of food, clothing, shelter etc.

Our organization has helped more than 15,000 women and their family members exit systems of prostitution, educated more than a thousand children through school and college, and put over a 100 traffickers in jail. We have also been instrumental in the passage of Section 370 I.P.C India's first anti-trafficking law, as well as the first life imprisonment of a trafficker. Our 10 Asset approach is being replicated and scaled up by others.