Empowering children in the age of human trafficking is no easy feat. Efforts made to combat this must not end with one-time acts of charity. We must strive for long-term generational change.

In today’s episode, we will be talking to Rikky Murphy, the International Director of Project Justice International (PJI). He will share with us how they achieve their mission by 1) maintaining and measuring effectiveness in their organization, 2) collaborating with other institutions for their advocacy, and 3) focusing on one village instead of focusing on many.

Find out how YOU can make a change by tuning in! 

Beginnings of Project Justice International (3:34)

• Rikky Murphy visited Thailand to see his parents, and the humanitarian work they do for the children inspired him.
• Later on, he moved to Thailand with his wife and started different community projects to donate money to those in need.
• He eventually met Somkiat, founder and executive director of PJI, and was invited to help start the foundation.
  
  

Getting Involved with the Community (5:36)

• Rikky felt a genuine passion and care for the children who weren’t going to school, but he does admit feeling overwhelmed.
• Rather than moving to Thailand right away, he went back to Australia to teach for one more year to save up money.
• When he returned, he learned more about prevention work and decided he wanted to pursue it.
  
  

Challenges Faced (7:57)

• PJI heavily emphasizes the role of education in preventing child trafficking.
• Their team often deals with risk factors affecting the community, such as children being out of school, presence of drug and alcohol abuse, and lack of emphasis on education.
• Aside from this, children in Thailand are not automatically granted citizenship in their own country, making it difficult for them to enrol in government schools.
  
  

The Solution (9:29)

• Focus on one village at a time and go deeper into this in the long term.
• Rikky talks about the importance of understanding the village, communities, and hierarchy in Thailand. 
• They focused on building relationships with the community from the ground up. 
• They also create a position of authority so that they are respected in the community.
• The important thing is to be consistent.
  
  

Focusing on One Village (13:05)

• How do they focus on one village and say no to others?
• Rikky observed that groups who didn’t invest in the long term didn’t lead to generational change. No impact was seen in the communities months later.
• Despite it being difficult to say no to other communities, their team saw change after years of focusing on a single community, such as improved family structures.
  
  

Measuring Effectiveness (15:05)

• Setting a strong foundation is the first step to becoming effective.
• PJI rates their effectiveness by monitoring the number of days children in the village attend school every week.
• Other means of measurement include organizational policies and having key indicators and outcomes for their programs.
• Best way to measure effectiveness: be on the ground and see the impact firsthand. That way, they can make adjustments as they go along.
  
  

The Role of Collaboration (18:46)

• PJI also does rescue operations by working with the police to provide prosecution assistance.
• It sends a message that those who will continue with these kinds of operations will be prosecuted.
  
  

Tools to Combat Trafficking in Social Media (21:23)

• Rikky discusses common misconceptions about human trafficking.
• Adult trafficking is also present in the form of false job advertisements on social media.
• The investigation team from PJI scours through social media for commonly used words and phrases used by traffickers.
• Rikky discusses their collaboration with the police and NGOs to prosecute perpetrators.
  
  

Who is Rikky Murphy?

Rikky Murphy is the International Director of Project Justice International. He spent his earlier years teaching in Australia. After discovering his passion for the Thailand community, he and his wife moved to Thailand and eventually dedicated their lives to empowering children in South East Asia.

Contact Rikky Murphy or donate to PJI:

Project Justice International

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