Social Protection Programmes. Narratives of Nigerian Women and Anti-Trafficking Practitioners in Italy

ABSTRACT

This book deals with social protection programmes targeted to people trafficked for the scope of sexual exploitation. It provides empirical evidence on the N.A.Ve programme, in the northeastern Italian Veneto Region, and its evolution. It elaborates on the programme by narrating the subjective experiences of practitioners and of a specific group of beneficiaries: young Nigerian women – some in transition towards the age of majority.

The book builds on qualitative research, including a long ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews carried out in the period 2019–2021, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It takes an intersectional, social work and humanitarian governance perspective to examine the multiple dimensions of vulnerability (age, gender, geographical origin, type of exploitation) characterising trafficked and sexually exploited Nigerian women. It draws attention to the precariousness of protection trajectories, but also their variability, stressing on the agency of these women. This is done with a postcolonial feminist approach by building on the autonomy of migration and the critical humanitarian governance literature, while shedding light on the temporal tensions between biographical and institutional times.

Calling for greater space for women’s voices and for their involvement in the co-development of protection programmes, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, social work and politics, as well as to practitioners and policymakers interested in migration and trafficking.