Frequently Asked Questions

Our Work

  • Who is Give Freedom?

    We are a non-profit, Australian-based charity that partners with communities at risk of human trafficking worldwide to deliver life-changing and sustainable education and development projects.

    Our current goal is to complete The Pokhara Project in partnership with 3 Angels Nepal. This sustainable building project includes a self-funding school, women’s safe haven, vulnerable children’s homes, a community medical centre and vocational training facilities.

    We rely on the generosity of people like you, who share our heart for a world without trafficking.

    100% of your tax-deductible gifts goes to our work in human trafficking hotspots.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

  • Where does Give Freedom work and why?
    We partner with communities at risk of human trafficking to deliver life-changing and sustainable education and development projects. Our development model is to work with one Field Partner at a time, on one project at a time, until they reach self-sufficiency. Right now, we are working with our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, to deliver a sustainable building project in the human trafficking hotspot of Pokhara, Nepal.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

  • Why does Give Freedom have one Field Partner at a time?
    Our development model is to work with one Field Partner at a time, on one project at a time, until they reach self-sufficiency. This individualised approach means we can give our full attention to hearing, understanding, and responding to a community’s needs and strengths. It also allows us to build a real and authentic relationship with our Field Partner. This partnership becomes the bedrock for creating genuine, long-term community change.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

  • Does Give Freedom rescue women and children from trafficking?
    Our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, fights against child and human trafficking at all levels—including rescue, rehabilitation, and education. With your support, our role is to help 3 Angels Nepal achieve this goal. Every dollar you give today will help fund the construction of a sustainable building where children and women can access safety, counselling, and education.

    In 2021, our Field Partner rescued or intercepted 3660 people from human trafficking. Their border monitoring stations intercept an average of 12 people every day. Since 2006, the total number of lives saved is well in excess of 50,000.

    Your gift will help to free, restore, educate, and empower people against trafficking.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

  • What is the role of Give Freedom’s Field Partners?
    Located in human trafficking hotspots, our Field Partners are well-established and respected non-profit organisations who share our mission and heart for eradicating human trafficking through education.

    Our Field Partners are the experts on their community’s needs, and the directors of their own holistic projects. They determine what projects are needed by their community, source local resources and specialists for the work, and oversee each step in the implementation process.

    Our role, with your support, is to build our Field Partners’ capacity and impact. Your tax-deductible gifts are critical to making this possible.

    Find out how our Field Partners are selected.

  • Why doesn’t Give Freedom use survivors’ real names and images when sharing stories from the field?
    To uphold the safety and dignity of trafficking survivors, we will use pseudonyms as indicated by the use of an asterisk. The images associated with these stories are representational only. While we do share some real images of safe haven women, we will never do so where the specifics of trauma and violence can be linked to any individual.

    All stories of safe haven women are shared with permission. We acknowledge the difficult line we walk in sharing these stories—we would never want to contribute to the ongoing trauma of any victim of human trafficking, nor be exploitative in any way. This is a responsibility we feel deeply, and we commit to being open to learn and make changes when needed.

  • What is The Pokhara Project?
    The Pokhara Project is a sustainable building project being delivered in partnership with 3 Angels Nepal and generous supporters like you. The project is located in the trafficking hotspot of Pokhara, Nepal. Once complete, the building will include a self-funding school, women’s safe haven, vulnerable children’s homes, a community medical centre and vocational training facilities.

    Read more about The Pokhara Project or make a tax-deductible gift.

  • Why are new facilities needed in Pokhara?
    Our Field Partner’s existing facilities in Pokhara have served their community well for more than a decade. When repairs and rent payments were required, generous supporters like you helped to meet this need. However, our Field Partner has now reached a critical make-or-break point in their work.

    For outreach and impact to continue to grow, larger and more sustainable facilities are essential.

    Here’s why:

    • The existing facilities are rented spaces—and rental costs are increasing each year. This has become an unsustainable financial drain for our Field Partner, and significantly capped their growth and outreach. Your support will enable our Field Partner to become self-sufficient, directing future funds into growing their programs for women and at-risk children.

     

    • The existing facilities have reached maximum capacity. The 3 Angels School, which opened in 2011 with just a handful of children, is now at bursting point. Your support will allow a larger, self-funding school to be constructed, as well as a new women’s safe haven, vulnerable children’s homes, a community medical centre and vocational training facilities.

     

    • As services expand, better security and operational facilities are crucial. The Pokhara Project will centralise our Field Partner’s work within one sustainable site. This will not only enable more efficient day-to-day operations, it will also provide a more safe and secure environment for all the women and at-risk children that participate in the full breadth of 3 Angels Nepal’s programs.

     

    Read more about the Pokhara Project or make a tax-deductible gift.

  • What will happen to the current women’s safe haven in Pokhara?
    We fundraised for the purchase of the current women’s safe haven and adjoining block of land back in 2011. Moving out of rented facilities gave our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, much needed stability and security. When the new facility is built, the current safe haven home will be sold and the funds will be directed back into the running of 3 Angels Nepal’s programs and support their dream of self-sufficiency.

    Read more about The Pokhara Project or make a tax-deductible gift.

  • When will construction for the Pokhara Project start?
    Short answer: as soon as possible! Realistically, it may be a few years before we can begin construction. The land has been purchased, and the architectural designs are ready to go. Now we need to raise the funds needed to complete the build. To ensure the most efficient and cost-effective building process, we won’t commence construction until The Pokhara Project is fully funded. The sooner we reach our funding goal, the sooner we can begin—the ideal time to start building works in Nepal is in September of any given year, due to the monsoon season.

    Read more about The Pokhara Project or make a tax-deductible gift.

  • Will the new facilities in Pokhara be sustainable?
    Yes! We always prioritise financial and environmental sustainability, with the goal of delivering projects that can be locally managed and maintained for many generations to come. It is important to us that our Field Partners are the owners of their own projects, both now and in the future. Your support will build our Field Partners’ capacity, resources, and impact until they’re ready to self-sustain their program activities without our help.

    Find out how our Field Partners are selected.

  • How does Give Freedom respect people’s voices and autonomy?
    We are committed to providing support that frees, restores, educates, and empowers. Paternalistic intervention has no place in our work—instead, we collaborate with local Field Partners who ensure the beneficiaries of their development programs have a voice and are empowered and equipped to determine their own futures.

    Find out how our Field Partners are selected.

    • The Issue

  • What is human trafficking?
    Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transferring, harbouring, or receiving of people with the intention of exploiting them for profit. This might look like forced labour, sexual exploitation, involuntary marriage, criminal activity, or the forced removal of organs for sale.

    Women, men, and children can all become victims of human trafficking. Human traffickers typically use deception, abduction, fraud, or force to ensnare their victims—and violence or blackmail to prevent their escape. People living in poverty are especially susceptible to these tactics, lured by false promises of education or employment, and the desperate hope of a better life.

    Human trafficking is a global crime, and yet it happens in every region of the world. Our current work focuses on the region of Pokhara, Nepal. The open border between Nepal and India means that more people are being trafficked out of Pokhara than ever before. Our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, is working on the frontlines of this trafficking hotspot.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

    Sources: United Nations, 2021; 3 Angels Nepal, 2021

  • What makes people vulnerable to being trafficked?
    Poverty is the leading cause of community vulnerability to the tactics of human traffickers.

    Poverty robs people of hope and options, making them more susceptible to human traffickers’ false promises of education, employment, and a better life. Out of desperation, a parent might consider the unthinkable—such as selling a child into marriage. A teenager might agree to travel far away for work—only to find themselves receiving little or no pay, isolated from family support. Poverty can even drive a person to become a human trafficker themselves.

    Our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, works with vulnerable children, women, and men in the trafficking hotspot of Pokhara, near Nepal’s open border with India. You can support their life-changing work by giving to The Pokhara Project, brand-new facilities dedicated to freeing, restoring, educating, and empowering people against trafficking.

    Learn more about who we are and what we do.

    Sources: United Nations, 2021; The Borgen Project, 2015; 3 Angels Nepal, 2021

  • What is the human trafficking situation in Nepal?
    The open border between Nepal and India means that more people are being trafficked out of the country than ever before—more than 54 young girls and women every day. Most of these women are aged between 12 and 25, although some are as young as eight years old.  

    Our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, is working on the frontlines in Pokhara—one of the country’s notorious trafficking hotspots. Between 2006 and 2020, they helped more than 50,000 people escape trafficking and access education and services such as counselling to rebuild their lives.

    Your support of The Pokhara Project will help 3 Angels Nepal expand and grow their work even further over the coming years—and give freedom to many more vulnerable women and children.

    Learn more about The Pokhara Project.

  • What about the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal?
    Updated 27 August 2021: Nepal is experiencing a third wave of COVID-19 cases, with surging numbers placing increasing strain on the nation’s health system. Like many countries worldwide, the situation is serious. It is with deep sadness that we report the loss of a beloved staff member from our Field Partner 3 Angels Nepal. A dear friend to many, the staff member lost their life to COVID-19 in August 2021. 

    The country-wide death toll is approaching 11,000, and total new cases for the past week exceeded 17,000. Community transmission is occurring across all seven provinces, with numbers highest in the provinces of Bagmati and Lumbini. Though Nepal’s COVID-19 vaccination roll-out began in January 2021, the process was delayed when India stopped exporting vaccines in March to focus on their own deadly wave. Almost 16% of the population has now received their first dose, and almost 12% have received the full dose. 

    Our Field Partner, 3 Angels Nepal, is doing their best to navigate this crisis day by day. The generosity of supporters like you during the 2020 Christmas COVID-19 relief appeal has allowed for additional resources to be on hand to assist with emergency support. 

    This pandemic has highlighted the importance of getting 3 Angels Nepal into their new home as soon as possible. They would have been significantly safer in their new, secure facilities—and would have been able to facilitate lockdown much more easily across all of their programs in a centralised location—not to mention they would have their community medical facilities up and running (see The Pokhara Project for more information about the full building project).

    We are moving forward with these building plans as we are committed to the long-term sustainability and self-sufficiency for our friends and Field Partners, 3 Angels Nepal.

    Sources: WHO Situation Update #70, 16 August 2021; Government of Nepal Ministry of Health and Population Sector Response Update, 26 August 2021.

  • Does human trafficking happen in Australia too?
    Human trafficking happens in every region around the world. Unfortunately, this includes Australia. Australia is a destination country for people trafficked from Asia, particularly Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

    Give Freedom is committed to raising awareness of human trafficking as a global problem, and to partnering with established organisations working on the frontlines to end human trafficking in their communities. Our development model is to work with one Field Partner at a time, on one project at a time, until they reach self-sufficiency. Right now, we are working with 3 Angels Nepal in the trafficking hotspot of Pokhara, Nepal.

    Learn more about The Pokhara Project.

    Source: Australian Federal Police, 2021 

    • Your Support

  • How much of my gift goes to the field?
    All of it! Our 100% Giving Model means that every dollar you give goes to our international development work. This is made possible by our generous Give Freedom Foundation Members, who cover the costs of administration and fundraising. All Australian donations are tax-deductible.

    Learn more about our 100% Giving Model.

  • How does the 100% Giving Model work?
    We promise that 100% of every dollar you give goes directly to our international work. 

    This 100% Giving Model is made possible by the Give Freedom Foundation, an incredible group of private donors who cover all of Give Freedom International’s fundraising and administrative costs—everything from credit card processing fees to website hosting costs. This means that every dollar you give is freed up for program activities that directly support women and children at risk of trafficking. Australian donations are also fully tax-deductible.

    Learn more about our 100% Giving Model.

  • Is my gift tax-deductible?
    Yes! All Australian donations to Give Freedom are tax-deductible—and 100% of every dollar you give goes to our international development work.

  • What is the Give Freedom Foundation?
    The Give Freedom Foundation is a small group of private donors who generously cover all fundraising and administrative costs—so that you don’t have to. This means that 100% of your gift goes directly to our international development work.

    The seed funding from Give Freedom Foundation Members started our charity, and continues as a crucial investment in our future, enabling our capacity and impact to grow year on year. 

    Interested in becoming a Give Freedom Foundation Member? We welcome expressions of interest.

  • Can I become a Give Freedom Foundation Member?
    Yes! Our Give Freedom Foundation is a small group of private donors, and we welcome expressions of interest from those who wish to join.

    Give Freedom Foundation Members have a deep desire to see trafficking eradicated from our world. Their donations are invested in fundraising and administration that enable Give Freedom to grow year on year.

    If this sounds like you, we invite you to consider becoming a Give Freedom Foundation Member today. We welcome expressions of interest.

  • Can a Give Freedom representative speak at my workplace, conference, or community group?
    Yes! We love being invited to speak at conferences, community groups, schools, and businesses about our work with Field Partners in human trafficking hotspots. We will always do our best to accommodate your request for a speaker—whether that’s in-person or via video conferencing.

    Contact us to find out more.

  • Can I fundraise or volunteer for Give Freedom?
    You can fundraise for Give Freedom in lots of creative ways! You might like to host a bake sale, run a marathon, donate the proceeds from a garage sale, or simply share a social media post asking your friends to donate. 

    While we can’t currently facilitate fundraising events on your behalf, we may be able to provide you with anti-trafficking information and promotional images to support your fundraiser. Simply send us an email—and share a little about your fundraising idea and required support—and we’ll be in touch.

    If you would like to volunteer for Give Freedom, please contact us.