India is one of the poorest countries in the world. A mind-boggling one-fifth of the country’s 1.3 billion people live below the national poverty line. For comparison, that’s roughly 320 million people or the entire population of the U.S. Imagine the desperation that a mother feels when she cannot provide food, shelter, or education for her children or herself. With no education, jobs, or resources, she must do what she can to survive. This makes her and her children incredibly vulnerable to trafficking and to other forms of exploitation.

One of the results of poverty, powerlessness is the belief there is nothing one can do to change one’s circumstances. Powerlessness leads to hopelessness, desperation, and isolation. We combat this by working with our partner centers to create powerful, caring communities. These communities break the cycle of poverty and powerlessness by giving women the chance to develop their own pathways forward with job skills and employment opportunities, all in the context of loving support.

While skills training and living-wage employment opportunities are crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty and trafficking, women and their children need access to other services and opportunities to truly experience lasting freedom. That’s why we invest in providing education for the children of the women we support, safe housing for those needing to escape abuse, health and wellness services and micro-loan opportunities for those who would like to start their own business once they’ve acquired the necessary skills and experience. By providing connections to these wraparound services, women and their children have the best change to experience a hopeful future.