Overview

Chab Dai has been building partners and competency within the anti-trafficking movement since 2005. Founded in Cambodia, Chab Dai means “joining hands” in Khmer and is an organization committed to working with diverse stakeholders to abolish all forms of abuse and exploitation.

The organization was initially established as a response to the rapid but uncoordinated growth of anti-trafficking individuals and organizations coming to Cambodia to combat the issue. Recognizing the gap in collaboration, Chab Dai connected with all these groups and asked if they would be willing to work together. Two years later, Chab Dai Coalition was established after conducting a baseline assessment among existing organisations to see what the main issues were, who was doing what to address them, and where were the gaps and overlaps. And today, our coalition of both international and local NGOs working on the issues of human trafficking, exploitation and abuse, has grown to a membership of 51.

Chab Dai also recognized the need for additional programs beyond coalition building and capacity support of organizations. With the ever-changing trends of human trafficking in Cambodia and around the world, we added on projects working on prevention and community engagement, community-based client care and legal support, and a research team dedicated to highlighting the voices to survivors of sexual exploitation. In 2018, our organization has grown to 55 staff members across 10 projects.

Background

Chab Dai is at the forefront of raising the standards of advocacy, prevention and care for individuals and communities affected by human trafficking and exploitation. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. We operate as a “learning community” because this recognizes the limitations of individuals and organizations working in isolation. Due to our collaborative ethos and foundation as a coalition, Chab Dai can map emerging good practices and patterns of trafficking and exploitation at macro-, meso-, and grassroots levels more so than organizations who work on their own.

Value

Facilitate connectivity
The issues of human trafficking, abuse and exploitation are complex and perpetrated by a network of criminals, corrupted systems and institutions. It takes a network to fight against a network. Joining our hands together creates the drive needed to combat the complex issues that cause human trafficking, abuse and exploitation.

Generate and share knowledge
As an NGO and a collective of various organizations, we are committed to generating knowledge through research, reflection, and documentation of our collective experiences. We aim to package these materials into shareable forms for training, workshops, forums, publications and other learning processes. Our knowledge generation and sharing is defined by our commitment to contribute to the body of knowledge and practice in Cambodia and globally to better address issues of human trafficking, all forms of abuse and exploitation.

Advocate for transformed societies and empowered communities
We seek to impact changes in policies, systems and practices in society that are detrimental to the most vulnerable communities and cause them to be trafficked, abused and exploited. We are committed to enabling communities and civil society groups to engage with the state while working with stakeholders and support agencies to perform their mandates.

Support and strengthen
Diverse stakeholders cooperating together are able to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses as well as provide encouragement when individually dealing with challenges inherent to organisations addressing issues of human trafficking, abuse and exploitation.

Promote hope for the future
We exist so that families and communities at risk and those who have been trafficked, abused and exploited can find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. It is our mission that they may all become what God created them to be, living as His children, protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation and experiencing His unconditional love.

Vision

Chab Dai (which means "joining hands" in Khmer) was founded in Cambodia in 2005. Our vision is to see individuals, organizations and agencies work together toward addressing human trafficking and exploitation, built upon the Biblical framework of working together as the body of Christ, in addition to frameworks for basic human rights. Our vision has moved beyond our work in Cambodia as we now work with coalitions and partners in over 20 countries.