Collaborating against Human Trafficking: Cross-Sector Challenges and Practices

In this book about how to establish and sustain healthy counter-trafficking collaborations, Dr. Kirsten Foot takes an evenhanded approach to discussing the risks and rewards that can arise during interdisciplinary collaboration. She states that collaborations pose a natural risk of territorialism stemming from opposing values and beliefs between sectors, but that the rewards of collaboration—namely, stronger and more comprehensive networks of counter-trafficking professionals and survivors—far outweigh these risks. The length of the book is then used to teach practitioners from policy practice, advocacy, law enforcement, victim services, faith-based agencies, and other nonprofits how they can tip the scales to reap the rewards of collaboration while minimizing its many risks. Foot's aim in writing the book is to change the way leaders from these various disciplines work together to address trafficking at every system level, and she does so by providing practical tools, tips, and wisdom for counter-trafficking collaborators in an interdisciplinary context. Of note, Foot does not explicitly include researchers as her target audience within her purpose statement, but she still uses several of the book's chapters to subtly point to questions that may be of concern to counter-trafficking researchers for further inquiry.