Empowering communities against modern slavery
We're working with communities to co-produce a blueprint for building trust, resilience, and the tools to tackle modern slavery
Project summary
The Challenge
Modern slavery affects people from diverse backgrounds, but cultural barriers can limit trust, awareness and access to support services.
The Approach
Bringing together survivors, communities and practitioners to co-produce a shared roadmap for a stronger regional response to modern slavery and human trafficking.
The Outcome
Our collaborative roadmap is shaping regional planning and helping communities and agencies to build trust, improve cultural awareness and tackle modern slavery together.
Institutes and centres
Lead academics
Project funded by
Project Partners
Working with voluntary and community sector stakeholders across the Humber Region
We’re taking collective action for safer communities
Our collaborative roadmap is strengthening partnerships and embedding cultural competency across the Humber region, helping the fight against modern slavery and improving outcomes for survivors.
The Challenge
In 2024, the Modern Slavery PEC published a Wilberforce Institute report on Cultural Competency in UK Responses to Modern Slavery, based on collaborative research with the Shiva Foundation and West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network. The report identified that support for modern slavery survivors could be improved, if organisations increased their understanding of how diverse cultural backgrounds can impact vulnerability, exploitation and barriers to support, as well as seeking to build trust and Increase victims’ awareness of their rights.
There were 385 nationalities represented in modern slavery referrals to the UK Home Office in 2025*
*National Referral Mechanism end of year summary, 2025The Wilberforce Institute coordinates the Humber Modern Slavery Partnership (HMSP), a strategic network of regional organisations, committed to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking. According to Home Office statistics, there were 131 different nationalities of potential victims of modern slavery identified in the Yorkshire and the Humber region in 2025. HMSP recognised a need to work with modern slavery survivors and other stakeholders to identify and address cultural issues that may be affecting the regional response to modern slavery.
The Approach
The Wilberforce Institute’s Justice Hub hosted a Humber Modern Slavery Partnership event to discuss the role diverse cultural and community groups can play in co-producing efforts to tackle modern slavery. The event brought together over 180 participants, including people with lived experience of modern slavery, community groups, the faith sector and practitioners, including Humberside Police.
With a focus on the Humber Region, the group worked together in order to map out:
- The level of existing knowledge, resources and skills for tackling modern slavery
- How well knowledge, resources and skills are utilised
- What the gaps, barriers and missed opportunities are in the current response to modern slavery
- What is needed to collectively develop the knowledge, resources, and skills to improve regional responses to modern slavery.
When asked about how we can build on the good work we already have, one participant said:
We need to involve communities at every stage of the process - a truly collaborative approach creates a sense of belonging, community inclusion, and prompts trust.
The findings, recommendations and voices from the event were collected, transcribed and summarised. The project team worked with an artist to illustrate the group’s vision of a collaborative roadmap for building a stronger, more informed and resilient region. This artwork was launched with an in-person exhibition during Refugee Week, which will tour community setting including schools and colleges.
The Impact
We can build on this work and improve trust by working collaboratively. Creating spaces (co-location) for communities and agencies to work together would bring communities and services closer together and reduce cultural differences.Participant quote
The project engendered dialogue between practitioners, stakeholders and people with lived experience of slavery. The meeting enabled the planning of regional agencies’ modern slavery response to include representation from every community, at every level from community action to service delivery. By representing the collective voice, the roadmap outlines the necessary steps needed to achieve a culturally competent, reflective, and proactive response to modern slavery across Yorkshire and the Humber.
The artwork produced during the project has been used to engage with further community groups and voluntary sector organisations. The findings from the project will inform Humber Modern Slavery Partnership strategic planning for the next three years and are helping statutory partners to embed cultural competency into their response to modern slavery.
The project will ultimately help to improve regional support services and the experience of modern slavery survivors.
Safer and healthier communities are active communities. By combining our knowledge and resources addressed the drivers of slavery and trafficking, we improved tolerance and mutual trust and contributed to a safer communityDr Andrew Smith
Humber Modern Slavery Partnership Co-ordinator, Wilberforce Institute
Publications and outputs
Read the Wilberforce Institute report on Cultural Competency in UK Responses to Modern Slavery, commissioned by the Modern Slavery PEC
Access our modern slavery expertise
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