M7’s Govt Backs Footprint to Freedom Strategy to Strengthen Fight Against Human Trafficking –

Footprint to Freedom launched a revised three-year strategy focused on prevention, survivor protection, recovery and sustainable reintegration.

State Minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations Simon Mulongo officiated the launch of the Footprint to Freedom Revised Strategic Plan 2026–2029 and the opening of the organisation’s new office and facility at Namyoya Village in Goma Division, Mukono District.

Footprint to Freedom is a survivor-led organisation working to prevent human trafficking and support survivors through protection, recovery, empowerment, advocacy and pathways to sustainable independence.

The strategy is anchored on four pillars: prevention; empowerment and skills development; protection and recovery; and reintegration, survivor leadership and advocacy.

The organisation’s strategic direction is summarised as Prevention → Empowerment → Protection and Recovery → Reintegration and Independence.

Presenting the strategy, Footprint to Freedom Board member Emmanuel Wataka said the revision was driven by the recognition that preventing trafficking must be matched with sustained support for people who have already experienced exploitation.

Footprint to Freedom says sustainability will also depend on diversified funding, strategic partnerships, local resource mobilisation, in-kind support and carefully assessed social enterprise opportunities.

The organisation will monitor outcomes including survivor safety, access to psychosocial and health services, skills development, economic empowerment, safe reintegration and sustained independence.

The revised strategy is intended to complement Uganda’s wider efforts to combat trafficking by placing survivor needs at the centre of prevention and response.

At the launch, Minister Simon Mulongo officially unveiled the strategy and opened Footprint to Freedom’s new office and facility in Mukono, marking what the organisation described as a new phase in its survivor-led approach to ending trafficking and modern slavery.

The organisation says its ultimate goal is to break the cycle of trafficking by creating a pathway from vulnerability to resilience, exploitation to recovery, and recovery to sustainable independence