Vihaan works with victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, bonded and child labour, domestic servitude and beggary. Everything we do is directed at bringing light into their lives. 

The roots of our organisation were laid down in May 2007, when our co-founders brought together a group of dedicated professionals to pilot a new approach to tackle human trafficking using the end-to-end, pro-government, beyond borders and multi-disciplinary strategy. In 2012, they got together under Waste Management Society Yavatmal (WMS), an NGO incorporated under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in 2002 and registered under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950. In January 2021, we launched Vihaan, a new name for our project under the banner of WMS. Vihaan – meaning ray of light or the dawn in Sanskrit - stands for hope and freedom with a mission to facilitate protection of vulnerable women and children from situations of human trafficking and other forms of abuse and exploitation by empowering them through care, quality education, livelihood opportunities, and access to justice and collaborative action, enabling the creation of a resilient and sustainable society. At present, we have our offices at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata and our operations extend to states of Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu among others. 

Since inception, we have-

• Rescued 4,894 victims of trafficking from destination points across India.
• Supported 3,392 survivors through our three-year aftercare program.
• Facilitated rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation of 148 international trafficked survivors from Bangladesh, Nepal, Turkmenistan and Nigeria.
• Working closely with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, we have aided in the arrest of 1217 accused, handled 495 prosecution cases and secured 146 convictions.
• Established a pioneering and exclusive Skill Training Programme for survivors of human trafficking and vulnerable girls launched by the Hon’ble President of India.
• Provided training for employment opportunities to 456 survivors and individuals vulnerable to trafficking.
• Facilitated victim compensation for 200+ survivors amounting to around INR 77,00000 through government funds.
• Trained 50,477 front line professionals including law enforcement officials, government and non-government stakeholders.
• Created a unique Case Management and internal data analysis system to record all aspects of casework to achieve evidence-based analysis.
• Piloted the Safe Village Programme and the district prevention model in Bihar, which empowered high risk communities to drive away traffickers and say ‘NO’ to trafficking.
• Connected 2500 vulnerable households to at least one social security scheme.Established credibility and close relations with the State as a pioneering organisation in the fight against human trafficking and helped-      

• shape legislation by participating in State Committees, launching collaborative consultations, research studies, SOPs, and other documentary evidence
• create cross-border operating procedures along with UNODC and Border Security Forces
• facilitate innovative measures, such as child-friendly courts (designed and implemented South India’s first Child Friendly Court)
• promote video conferencing for witness testimonies during trials 
• institutionalize repatriation of foreign nationals to their country of origin

There is no easy or unidimensional solution to crimes of human trafficking and other forms of abuse and exploitation, since it is influenced by a complex set of factors, often working in combination with one another. Simply, control measures or a legal approach alone would be too narrow and cannot stop the flow of the offence. A holistic approach is required where a closely integrated eco-system operates at different levels in the best interest of the victim/survivor. 

Vihaan’s end-to-end strategy combines and balances punitive measures with protection of human rights, addresses the root causes of irregular movements and empowers stakeholders, brings new ideas and innovations to advocate an end to human trafficking. 

Our years of work has reinforced that department-based silo implementation is not effective in tackling the issue. A unique and fundamental aspect of our method is the multi-disciplinary unit, which brings together a team of social workers, case workers, lawyers, researchers and community development professionals throughout the victim life-cycle, thus ensuring a holistic, unified, efficient and effective solution. 

All our interventions with children adhere to the framework proposed by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. 

Vihaan's unique approach to combat the crime of human trafficking includes

End-to-end casework

Our approach of end-to-end casework focuses on individuals, families and communities vulnerable to or affected by the crime of trafficking. This aspect of our intervention sets us apart. It encompasses prevention, rescue, prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration.

Multi-Disciplinary

Our years of work have reinforced the fact that department-based silo implementation is not effective in tackling the issue of human trafficking, abuse and exploitation. A unique and fundamental aspect of our approach is the Multi-Disciplinary Unit, which brings together a team of social workers, case workers, lawyers, researchers and community development professionals throughout the victim life-cycle, thus ensuring a holistic perspective and unified, efficient and effective solutions

Building networks and capacitating stakeholders

We believe in the immense power of partnerships and collaborate with a network of stakeholders operating at different levels to generate awareness, build capacity and achieve lasting solutions.

Evidence building

It is of paramount importance to us to assess both internal and external data sets to build scientific evidence. Internally, we not only engage in activities/initiatives but analyse whether they manifest favourable outputs and outcomes. Externally, we examine data sets to understand the situation of trafficking and existing gaps, loopholes and good practices within the system.

We believe that to tackle human trafficking, the crime needs to be understood as an issue in its own right, and therefore, strategies that are specific to the issue need to be developed and implemented.

1. Credibility of our organisation

Vihaan is a credible and committed organisation working in the anti-trafficking space for over a decade. The roots of our organisation were laid down in May 2007, when our co-founders brought together a group of dedicated professionals to pilot a new approach to tackle human trafficking using the end-to-end, pro-government, beyond borders and multi-disciplinary strategy. In 2012, they got together under Waste Management Society Yavatmal (WMS), an NGO incorporated under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in 2002 and registered under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950. In January 2021, we launched Vihaan, a new name for our project under the banner of WMS. Vihaan – meaning ray of light or the dawn in Sanskrit - stands for hope and freedom with a mission to facilitate protection of vulnerable women and children from situations of human trafficking and other forms of abuse and exploitation by empowering them through care, quality education, livelihood opportunities, and access to justice and collaborative action, enabling the creation of a resilient and sustainable society.

2. Committed team

We have a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, case workers, lawyers, researchers and community development professionals working together to bring sustainable solutions to the crime of human trafficking.

3. National presence

Vihaan works across different regions and states. We have offices at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata and our operations extend to states of Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu among others. 

4. Unique approach of programme intervention

Vihaan’s end-to-end strategy combines and balances punitive measures with protection of human rights, addresses the root causes of irregular movements and empowers stakeholders, brings new ideas and innovations to advocate an end to human trafficking. A unique and fundamental aspect of our method is the multi-disciplinary unit, which brings together a team of social workers, case workers, lawyers, researchers and community development professionals throughout the victim life-cycle, thus ensuring a holistic, unified, efficient and effective solution. 

Vihaan’s uses a victim centric, right-based end-to-end approach to facilitate rescue, provide access to legal support leading to justice, as well as provide rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors.

5. Robust monitoring and evaluation systems

Vihaan has a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning system for the program based on the Logical Framework Analysis. Our indicators are set at different levels to map the progress of our projects towards its goal. For every project we have a goal which feeds into the organisational goal. From the project goal, we identify the objectives and then the activities. To analyse success, we monitor

• the activities to the outputs
• objectives to the outcomes
• goal to the impact

We maintain all our data in the Case Management System (CMS), which is a software designed to store, track and manage all casework related data.