Delta 8.7 Policy Guides: What Actually Works to End Modern Slavery in the Context of Markets?
Delta 8.7 is a global knowledge platform exploring what works to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labour, an aim set out in Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Between April 2020 and March 2021, Delta 8.7 convened global expert Working Groups to produce three Policy Guides to address “what works” to achieve Target 8.7 in three broad domains: Justice, Crisis, and Markets.
We are glad that Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC) has contributed to the process of creating the Policy Guide. Our Director, Mina Chiang, is a Working Group Member of the Delta 8.7 in the domain of markets and has contributed to the drafting of this Guide.
To celebrate the efforts and showcase all three Policy Guides, a panel discussion will be hosted on 25 May 2021 from 10.00 am —11.00 am EST. You can register from here.
The Working Group
Delta 8.7 convened a global expert Working Group to produce the Markets Policy Guide. Members were selected following an open call for nominations, with members appointed to bring together a diverse group with reference to gender, geographic, age, institutional, stakeholder group, and discipline.
The process endeavored to include one or more survivor voices in each Working Group consultation process, either through having a survivor member of the Working Group or through bespoke consultations on the draft Policy Guide documents. Working Group members were allocated into subgroups based on their expertise and asked to assess the two research inputs for the hypotheses linked to their respective “sub-theme”.
Purpose
The purpose of these Policy Guides is to provide a highly credible and current articulation of what we know about the global and national policies needed to accelerate progress towards Target 8.7 in a format that is useful for policy actors. They provide a snapshot of “what works” to achieve Target 8.7.
Further, the aim is to provide an evidence-based policy resource that is useful across contexts and to policy actors around the world, including those thinking about multilateral policy frameworks.
Collecting Evidence and Understanding the Results
Between July and September 2020, Delta 8.7 assembled a database of evidence on what works to achieve Target 8.7. This database enables the Working Group to map the contours of bodies of evidence relating to specific thematic areas and specific hypotheses about what works to achieve Target 8.7. Ten hypotheses have been created in this regard and tested with evidence.
For instance, one hypothesis is that collaboration between brands, buyers, and suppliers improves the effectiveness of efforts to reduce forced labour and human trafficking in supply chains. The reason for the high confidence score for this hypothesis is that a large number of high-quality studies have supported it. Further, the studies covered a diverse geographical area and its findings were consistent with the practical experience of the reviewers.
Working Groups were asked to indicate their level of confidence in the effectiveness of an intervention or the validity of the hypothesis using a prescribed scale. Confidence in the certainty of a finding is based on the strength of evidence — this is assessed on the:
a) diversity of evidence;
b) size of a body of evidence and;
c) technical quality of the evidence and on the experience of Working Group members.
Being a social enterprise dedicated to ending modern slavery, globally, we at HRC are extremely proud to have made a contribution to this important development towards ending forced labour, human trafficking, and other forms of slavery. This Policy Guide will help us understand “What actually works to end modern slavery in the context of markets?” and will help to highlight areas where evidence is strong and areas where it is lacking.