10/19/2026
As the Philippines works toward becoming an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country, the voices of survivors of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery are essential to shaping the country’s priorities and roadmap for SDG Target 8.7.
From September 14–16, Free the Slaves Philippines brought together 12 survivors from across the country for the LEAD 8.7 Capacity-Strengthening Sessions and Development of Recommendations Workshop in Quezon City. The activity began with a Message of Support from Atty. Hannah Manalili, Executive Director of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), who affirmed the importance of survivor voices and meaningful participation in shaping responses to trafficking and related forms of exploitation.
Across three days, participants strengthened their understanding of SDG Target 8.7 and the Pathfinder process, explored survivor participation, advocacy, and leadership, and developed concrete recommendations across four areas: forced labor, child labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery. These recommendations will serve as survivor-informed inputs to the Philippine Alliance 8.7 Roadmap, with participants continuing to bring their perspectives into the next stages of the Pathfinder process.
The activity concluded with messages from Jackline Mwende, Survivor Engagement Lead at Free the Slaves, and Fauziah, a survivor leader from Kenya, encouraging participants to continue engaging and advocating alongside other survivors. As Fauziah reminded us: “Nothing about us without us.”
We are grateful to all our collaborators, resource speakers, facilitators, survivor leaders, and organizations/networks who helped make this process possible. See our acknowledgment graphic for the full list.
The recommendations are now part of the conversation. The voices behind them must remain part of the process.
