Research
Papers

Where have all the Flowers Gone – is an evidence-based research which draws on the experiences of an anti-trafficking case management programme working in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The programme showed that if the assistance begins from the source areas / victims’ homes, then victims are often recovered even before they are sold into brothels; traffickers in the source areas (first procurers) can be arrested and evidence from destination points can be used to strengthen the case against them. And this has significant preventive potential – because the crime is made visible to the community at large. However, the programme’s experiences also raised questions about the wisdom of survivors returning to situations of deprivations and abuse – a context that had much to do with their being trafficked in the first place.rnrnWhile the study seeks hard evidence into the extent of trafficking of children and adolescents in the programme areas in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and scans the efficacy and efficiency of intervention strategies for prevention, protection, rescue and rehabilitation, and the scalability and sustainability of effective strategies, the poignancy of its title is brought home in the case histories – the individual tragedies of stolen lives, of forsaken futures.rnrnu0022Where Have All The Flowers Goneu0022 : should be useful for development practitioners at national and international levels, researchers and academics, policy makers and influencers. In particular, this research should influence welfare policies targeting the poor in India, children and adolescents in particular, with a bias towards girls and women.