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GDI incubating Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, new public-private anti-slavery initiative

GDI is pleased to announce its incubation of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS), a public-private initiative focused on sustainably ending modern slavery by making it economically unprofitable.

According to recent estimates released by Alliance 8.7, an estimated 40.3 million people around the world are affected by modern slavery, a term that encompasses forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude. Modern slavery generates $150 billion in criminal profits each year, yet existing efforts to combat it do not begin to meet the scale and complexity of the problem.

In response to these particular challenges, GFEMS’ bold approach to eradicating modern slavery anchors on four principles: 1) creating a coherent, global strategy; 2) raising resources to match the scale of the problem; 3) ensuring clear accountability and action by developing national strategies that will ultimately be co-owned and co-funded by partner countries; and 4) promoting proactive business engagement and market-based solutions.

GDI will serve as an operational partner to GFEMS for its first three years of ramp-up. GDI will provide integrated strategic, programmatic, and operational support – in areas ranging from investment strategy to team structuring and recruiting, and everywhere in between – to ensure the initiative’s long-term impact.

GFEMS has already made marked progress in raising resources dedicated to fighting modern slavery with commitments of $25M and £20M from the U.S. State Department and the UK’s Department for International Development, respectively.