Over the last six years, the United States has contributed $447 million to fighting human trafficking around the world. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study on the success of anti-trafficking projects set up cooperatively by governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations in different countries. The GAO report also analyzes the means employed by the U.S. government to supervise and evaluate these anti-trafficking projects. Despite increasing collaboration, governments still have the most power to combat trafficking within their borders. According to the report, governments often lack commitment and the ability to implement effective programs. In addition, it is difficult for the United States to monitor such efforts. Anti-trafficking programs are usually successful at setting goals, but need to improve their tactics of measuring performance. The GAO report concludes that obtaining better information on the scope of trafficking in a given area can aid the U.S. government in evaluating anti-trafficking projects. The report suggests modifying the project design by clearly outlining strategies and their expected outcomes.
Compiled from: "Human Trafficking: Monitoring and Evaluation of International Projects are Limited, but Experts Suggest Improvements," United States Government Accountability Office, July 2007.