Philippines - Women Transformation & Empowerment Project

ORAF is pleased to announce that it has recently agreed to fund this three year project.

The Women's Transformation & Empowerment Program aims to facilitate emotional, mental, social, economic and spiritual transformation of women survivors of prostitution through relevant training and leadership development.

Prostitution in the Philippines is a widespread problem with social, cultural, and economic implications. Estimates twenty years ago put the number of women in the Philippines involved in prostitution at 500,000. That number has certainly multiplied in the past two decades, particularly as the national economy continues to struggle. Many other Filipino women are trafficked outside of the country to other locations in Asia and beyond where they are sexually exploited in the “entertainment industry”, and many Filipino girls and women are being exploited through the internet. Women and girls are deceived, trafficked, and caught in the web of prostitution due to a variety of interrelated “push” and “pull” factors, prominent among them being poverty, poor educational attainment, lack of employment opportunities, and previous experiences of abuse.

This is one of four major complementary programs of Samaritana (ORAF’s local partner) in its mission to build, model, and empower communities that embrace vulnerable women and survivors of prostitution, enabling their transformation.