To address the root causes of human trafficking and other modern forms of slavery, VF models innovative community based programs with parents, children and youth in the urban poor communities of Paco and Pandacan in Manila and in the source region of Negros Occidental.
The community-based program entails the provision of specialized community based services and genuine participation for parents and the children themselves in empowering their own ranks. VF established the Bantay-Bata sa Kumunidad or Community Child Watch Network to monitor the condition of working children and cases of child abuse. Parents play a very important role by watching out for traffickers and by ensuring that the children go to school. Children and youth members of the community also organize their own workshops, seminars and sports festival.
