BRAVE Education exists to fill a need in the field of human trafficking prevention education. BRAVE conducted a series of focus groups in 2018 regarding human trafficking which revealed that there was a gap in prevention education for young people. BRAVE Education was formed to fill this gap. Since then, they have been delivering prevention education primarily to educate children ages 8 to 18 years old, with research underway regarding age-appropriate research-informed programming to empower and protect younger children.
Findings have revealed that 7 to 12 year old children are at a most critical age to receive prevention education. There are three reasons for this:
1. Children in this age group are more open to learning.
2. This is before the average age of recruitment in Canada, which is 12 to 14 years old.*
3. Increased internet usage equals increased risk of exploitation.**
* Berk, L. E. (2018). Development through the lifespan (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education
** Estes & Weiner, 2002
Getting the tools of prevention education of BRAVE Education into the hands of children to empower them to recognize exploitative behaviour is important and time sensitive. Getting those tool to them BEFORE the average age of recruitment (12 to14*) is critical to preserve their innocence.
The BRAVE leadership team has diverse and solid experience that brings a high level of determination and personal commitment. The executive director has more than a decade of work addressing complex social issues using a background of education, research, program development and behavioural change expertise. BRAVE is committed to being survivor-informed and working from a collaborative community approach to ensure that all the voices that need to be heard have a platform and can take an active role in building safer communities and empowering children.
The BRAVE Education team believes it’s possible to positively impact lives by protecting and empowering children in a fun, age appropriate and relevant way. We can change the story of lives for positive outcomes, together.
