David Okech, Lydia Aletraris, Katherine McLaughlin
Research that seeks to document the prevalence of human trafficking has greatly improved over the past two decades. Numerous organizations continue to document global estimates of the various types of human trafficking in annual or biannual reports. Despite significant progress, a need to improve on conceptual and empirical challenges remains. Reliable and valid data that can better direct resources where human trafficking is most prevalent and help us better document the impact of our efforts. The Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) project sought to bridge this gap in research by testing the various sampling methods in prevalence estimation in selected economic sectors in Brazil, Costa Rica, Morocco, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Tunisia. This commentary draws on lessons from the seven studies and offers recommendations for future efforts to improve baseline and endline research that can meaningfully inform interventions geared at reducing human trafficking.