ABSTRACT. Trafficking in persons (TIP) has become a globally prominent issue which has attracted the attention of countries worldwide because of its devastating consequences on human beings. The Vietnamese National Action Program against Trafficking in Women and Children 2004–2010 (the VNAP) was considered to be the state’s official commitment to fight against TIP. Evaluating the VNAP and its impacts on target populations is the main objective of this paper using both primary and secondary data. This paper presents a Gender Sensitive Approach to evaluate anti-TIP policy. By using gender as an umbrella analytical category, the GSA helps evaluate both the state’s commitments and women’s effort in promoting gender empowerment, and the fulfillment of women’s needs. The findings show that although the Vietnamese government has demonstrated a strong determination to combat TIP, anti-TIP policy in Vietnam is still incompatible with gender sensitive development practices. The VNAP has helped engender women’s security to reduce risks of being trafficked; however, the available support was not suitable to promote sufficient empowerment for women to achieve positive changes in their lives. pp. 145–158

Keywords: anti-human trafficking policy; gender; empowerment; women’s needs

How to cite: Duong, Kim Anh (2016), “Engendering the Evaluation of Anti-Trafficking Policy: A Gender Sensitive Approach,” Journal of Research in Gender Studies 6(1): 145–158.

Received 11 September 2015 • Received in revised form 12 December 2015
Accepted 12 December 2015 • Available online 25 February 2016

doi:10.22381/JRGS6120164