Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Kelsey Morgan and the two discuss the importance of measuring survivor progress.
Kelsey Morgan
Kelsey Morgan is EverFree co-founder and Chief Program Officer. In 2015, Kelsey founded Willow International to meet the growing demand for quality aftercare and to transform the systems that fuel trafficking. In 2021, Kelsey teamed up with Jeremy Floyd, CEO of 10ThousandWindows, to unite their two organizations to become EverFree. Kelsey is currently pursuing her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine.
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Sandra Morgan 0:00
You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast. This is episode #305: Measuring Victim Service Progress, with Kelsey Morgan.
Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast here at Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice in Orange County, California. My name is Sandie Morgan and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Kelsey Morgan is EverFree co-founder and chief program officer. In 2015 Kelsey founded Willow International to meet the growing demand for quality after care, and to transform the systems that fuel trafficking. In 2021, Kelsey teamed up with Jeremy Floyd, CEO of 10ThousandWindows, to unite their two organizations to become EverFree. Kelsey is currently pursuing her PhD from the University of California, Irvine. I am so excited to have Kelsey here in our studio for this recording, and I should let you all know, I am on Kelsey’s dissertation committee, and it really makes me happy to see the amazing impact that is growing.
Kelsey Morgan 2:02
Thank you, Sandie. I’m so happy to be here.
Sandra Morgan 1:51
Well, let’s just dive right in. You are just knocking down old myths that we can’t measure victim services in a way that’s easy. Everybody has been so challenged by how to tell people what our impact is, how to tell when a survivor is ready, maybe for the next step. I want you to give us a little insight into what drove you to choose a research project, tackling a question that everybody was asking?
Kelsey Morgan 2:36
Yeah, so I’ve been doing anti human trafficking work since 2010. Long story short, I moved to East Africa to help an aftercare organization startup and when we started developing these programs, I looked to the research. What works? What are the proven models, the best practices, and how do we measure? How do we show impact? But these things didn’t exist. And it was really hard being in the field, doing this work, without having the tools to measure what’s most effective, and without having data on what do survivors need most. What is most impactful in helping them attain a life of lasting freedom? So the team and I built programs, we found that they were working. Survivors were going back into their community, they were thriving, but we had no measurement tools to show this impact or to prove what parts of our programs were creating that impact.
Sandra Morgan 3:28
So I’ve been in a lot of conversations with donors who want to know what their funds are actually doing in the individual lives of survivors. Donors will say to me, “Well, the anecdotal story is really motivating, brings tears to my eyes, but I want more than one story.” How does this change how we deliver on impact?
Kelsey Morgan 4:02
Sandie, I’ve had the same questions asked of me and of our work, and I think we’re at a critical juncture in the anti trafficking space, where we don’t have important data that’s needed for survivors themselves, for service providers, and for funders and policymakers. Up to this time we’ve been doing interventions, doing programs, trying to help out of passion and good heart, but really without data on what’s most effective. This tool helps philanthropists, helps policymakers, helps funders understand where survivors most needs support, and then it identifies what interventions are most effective in helping survivors attain a life of lasting freedom.
Sandra Morgan 4:43
And tell us the name of the tool and how it started?
Kelsey Morgan 4:49
Yeah, so the tool is called Freedom Life Map and I was introduced to methodology a different way of measurement, through a group called Poverty Stoplight. They were coming out of Paraguay, and their whole start was in microfinance. What they found was that the World Bank’s measures of poverty were all about $1 amount. If you make $1 a day or less, you’re poor, if you make above, you’re not poor. Their experience on the ground was so much more complex than that. They said, “Poverty is multi dimensional.” It’s not just about money, there’s so many factors that impact whether someone’s poor or not. Most of the measurement tools that they were also equipped with, were not a self assessment of the person living in poverty, but with someone else. An outsider getting to decide that person’s fate basically, “Are you poor or are you not poor?,” and also choosing for them. “You need this, you need this, here’s your pathway forward.” So they decided to turn this way of doing development work totally upside down, and to build a multi dimensional measure of what poverty looks like, and then instead of assessing someone else, asking those people living in poverty, to self assess. What are their strengths, and what are their vulnerabilities? I fell in...
