Homes of Hope

Homes of Hope helps communities build safety nets; encourages our network of stakeholders to combat trafficking; and empowers individuals to build new lives toward freedom from forced sex.Homes of Hope's approach in working with communities is to create ownership, give resources, and build referral pathways. Community leaders create action plans for protecting children, referring victims of forced sex, and creating a culture of freedom from sexual exploitation. Additionally, the victim's larger family, who struggled with sexual violence, was visited to provide family conferencing and awareness. Homes of Hope regularly worked in over forty (40) communities which represents over 9,000 individuals.Another arm of prevention is teaching children that they can protect themselves from sexual abuse and exploitation. This is done through teaching children they are responsible for their body and they may speak up in an evidence based three-week curriculum. This lesson is critical as the culture of silence has quieted so many victims of gender-based violence. Our preschool toolkit was used by 313 Fijian Early Childhood Teachers in their schools.Homes of Hope works primarily in the Fiji Islands. Yet, last year we were able to network and share knowledge with seven of the 15 other South Pacific Island nations to take our training, paradigms, and ideas of victim care. Homes of Hope also is a member of the Anti-Trafficking Task force and works closely with the Ministry of Women, Social Welfare, Homes Affairs, and others. Through the task force, we continue to reach out for awareness on trafficking and sexual exploitation from our 23 members.Our residential training campus is dedicated to girls aged 11-26 years old. These teen-aged girls joined to receive hard skill training in computer, hospitality, cooking, food processing, baking, and gardening. As well, they participated in programs to develop soft skills in financial literacy, therapy, mothering, and their inner life. Homes of Hope referred 53 girls to our networked partners; another 25 girls were members of the residential training center.