Applications Invited for Supporting Survivors of Modern Slavery Challenge

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About the Organization

Solve is an initiative of MIT. We believe that to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future for all, we need new voices and ideas. We launch open calls for exceptional and diverse solutions to the most pressing global challenges from anyone, anywhere in the world. Selected innovators get the backing of MIT and our community of supporters to scale their impact and drive lasting change. Join us on this mission.

About the Challenge

Over 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery worldwide, with women and children disproportionately affected. One in three human trafficking victims are children under the age of 18. While survivors include individuals of all ages and backgrounds, exploitation is more prevalent among migrants and those with lower socioeconomic status. Eighty percent of survivors are re-victimized if they do not have a safe place to go. While many groups are working to educate about and mitigate the risks of modern slavery and forced labor, improved solutions to provide resources and access to support are needed for survivors to thrive in society.

Survivors of modern slavery face tremendous challenges in their efforts to rebuild their lives including alienation, lack of basic documents, and limited access to financial resources, shelter, and viable employment opportunities. Ethically designed and deployed technology, such as AI, has the potential to enable greater efficiencies, increase impact, and drive better solutions to the world’s most complex challenges. Yet, there is still a lack of support for scalable and tech-focused solutions and the organizations that provide services to survivors of modern slavery.

Organizations across the world are innovatively leveraging technology and scaling resources to support survivors of modern slavery as they rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society – resources such as bank accounts and credit, affordable housing, childcare, trauma-informed health care, and career placement. We know that effective change requires not just support for individual solutions, but support for a thriving ecosystem of innovators united in a common purpose.

This Challenge seeks exceptional solutions for and by survivors that leverage ethical technology – like AI – to improve and scale critical resources by:

• Bettering existing resources for legal, financial, physical, psychological, and social well-being 
• Improving access to, and awareness of, critical survivor resources
• Strengthening the ecosystem of providers by enhancing efficiencies in communication, data collection and sharing, and coordination
• Training and supporting existing organizations and agencies in ways to reach out to and appropriately work with survivors.

Eligibility

We invite submissions from individuals, teams, and/or organizations. We especially encourage and welcome applications from survivors or those with lived experience of or proximity to human trafficking/modern slavery.

• Solutions can be for-profit, nonprofit, or hybrid models and must be at least at the prototype stage. 
• Per MIT Solve’s Terms of Service, US law prevents MIT Solve from accepting applications from people who are ordinarily resident in Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, or the Crimea, Donetsk People’s Republic, or Luhansk People’s Republic areas of Ukraine. Applications from people in Venezuela, Belarus, China (including Hong Kong), Saudi Arabia, and Russia will undergo legal review and may be removed from the website if US law prevents MIT Solve from accepting them.

How to Apply

Challenge close: July 1, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

Submit a Solution

For more information please check the Link

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