Request for Proposals – Baseline Measurement for IJM’s European Anti-Trafficking Program

International Justice Mission (IJM) is a global organization that protects those vulnerable from violence. IJM partners with local authorities in 31 program offices in 16 countries across Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America to combat slavery, violence against women and children, and police abuse of power against people who are vulnerable. IJM aims to support governments and institutions to rescue and reintegrate victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and help strengthen public justice system response.

International Justice Mission launched its European Anti-Trafficking Program at the end of 2019 with the goal of supporting governments across Europe to end impunity for cross-border trafficking. By 2030 IJM seeks to strengthen cross-border collaboration among criminal justice system actors and to create a network of civil society partners across Europe that will ensure a continuum of care for victims and accountability for perpetrators, leading to a significant reduction in the prevalence of human trafficking across Europe.

IJM Programs are considered successful when they demonstrate a reduction in the prevalence of specific crimes within their jurisdictions and simultaneously provide evidence of improvements in justice system performance, vulnerable people’s reliance and confidence of key stakeholders in the CJS. In the context of the European Anti-Trafficking Program, the crime that is being tackled is cross-border human trafficking from Eastern European source countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland) to Western European countries of destination (UK, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain and France). The criminal justice system performance refers to the performance of CJS in Eastern European countries, people reliance refers to the extent that populations in Eastern Europe rely on their justice system and confidence refers to key stakeholders confidence in each other to collaborate cross-border. In the European Anti-Trafficking Program, by human trafficking we understand commercial sexual exploitation or labor exploitation, as these are the most prevalent forms from existing data so far.

In this context, IJM is looking for a vendor, preferably a highly regarded academic institution or consortia of such institutions, to perform a baseline study across all four key domains in Romania & Bulgaria:

1. Prevalence of the Crime: Measuring the percentage of the population affected by trafficking.
2. Performance of the Justice System: Evaluating how effectively the justice system combats cross-border human trafficking.
3. Confidence of Key Stakeholders: Measuring stakeholder confidence in the justice system across destination and source countries.
4. Reliance of Vulnerable Populations: Determining how much vulnerable populations trust and rely on the justice system for protection.

IJM is looking for a Vendor with experience in academic research as it pertains to the field of
modern slavery or trafficking in persons. Experience working with government officials in the public
justice system, international organizations and European research institutions is preferred.

The research findings will provide critical insights for shaping future anti-trafficking initiatives in Europe, aligning with IJM’s broader mission to significantly reduce human trafficking across the region.