Portfolio Management Kamonohashi Spiralling up through

theory of change and portfolio management

Kamonohashi (Kamo) was founded in 2002 with the mission to create a world without sexual
trafficking and exploitation as well as to prevent vulnerable women and children from being
trafficked.i Kamos mission of combatting sex trafficking is the primary incentive for Kamos activities.
It is this mission, Kamos theory of change and the subsequent model development that influence
Kamos portfolio of activities.
Today, Kamo is present in Cambodia and India, receives support from 3,211 members monthly and 90
corporate members with 500 volunteers ii and has a total annual revenue of 1.277 Million USD iii .
Revenues come to 44% from membership fees, to 22.5% from factory sales and other livelihood
activities and to 21.4% from one-time donationsiv. This untied financial source gives Kamo flexibility
to allocate its resources only to impactful programmes. It also carries out due diligence strictly in
alignment with its mission. Together with its history of redefining and refining the theory of change,
these are the strength of Kamo to choose impactful organizations to partner with and to achieve its
mission.
Kamo started initially in Cambodia. The Cambodian venture began with IT classes in 2004, Kamo
established its first factory in 2006 and another factory in 2008. In 2009, the organisation involved the
police force and orphanages in its quest to reduce trafficking by offering the Law Enforcement Against
Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking in Children (LEASETC) together with the UN and other agencies,
which was renamed in 2011 into the LEAP (Law Enforcement Advancing Protection of Children and
Vulnerable Persons). Concurrently, the community factory had grown to 125 trainees covering most
poor families in the district and had begun to sell handicraft in the local market. In 2012, the second
store opened in the market and programme evaluation took place for law enforcement initiatives.
Learning from experience: changing the Theory of Change from Cambodia to India
The Indian operations were started in 2012, when Kamo decided to explore expansion to other
countries worldwide, and it build partnerships with local NGOs in 2012. The Indian venture is
particularly interesting as it shows what Kamo has learned from its initial organisation in Cambodia
and how its theory of change has been developing.
Kamos theory of change in Cambodia was built around the assumption that poverty eradication and
prevention are key to eradicating sex trafficking. This is why Kamo focused on building an income
stream for the community by starting IT classes and setting up the factory. Subsequently Kamo also
started working with law enforcement agencies to increase arrest and prosecution of perpetrators
and reduce incidences of trafficking. Through these actions, Kamo learned that while poverty is one
reason for sex trafficking, vulnerability to trafficking has more complex reasons than povertyv. For
instance out of one village, only a few persons may be trafficked, so what vulnerability do these
persons have that makes them prone to trafficking? This is where impact assessment becomes crucial:
in terms of the factory in Cambodia, it was difficult to see the direct correlation between employment
and deterrence to sex trafficking, as well as difficult to link the micro-level impact to the trend shift in
the macro-level. By contrast, the effect of law enforcement was more clearly observed from the
Cambodian LEAP programme.

In India, the theory of change shifted to enhancement of criminal justice system and rehabilitation of
trafficked survivors, keeping ecosystem building in the centre of these two focuses. Tomomi Shimizuvi,
senior project manager at Kamo in India, outlined the rationale: Providing employment is maybe
affecting the sex trafficking, but the law enforcement agencies were the obvious link. If law
enforcement agencies work rigorously, more traffickers are being indicted, the business of trafficking
is becoming costly and is expected to wind down. So the enhancement of criminal justice system
working with government is crucial. In India we have been working with the criminal justice system
firstly and also increasingly the rehabilitation of the survivors, because we found that survivors of sex
trafficking are not heard by the system, so survivors need to be empowered, and for this the
rehabilitation is crucial. In contrast to Cambodia, the criminal justice and rehabilitation are the key
angles in India to change sex trafficking.
Manifestation of theory of change in Portfolio
While Kamos theory of change is still evolving in India, Kamos activities are manifested in its
continuous model development, research pared with impact measurement and ecosystem-building.
This is reflected in Kamos portfolio in Indiavii:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Model development
Research
Ecosystem building
Miscellaneous.

- 49%
- 17%
- 16%
- 18%viii

Model development integrates questioning the initial theory of change and continuously refining it
according to rigorous trial and error. Initially Kamo decided to focus on the corridor Bengal to
Maharashtra based on government data, which showed that 48% of trafficked persons rescued in
Maharashtra come from West Bengal. Starting with this data, Kamo develops a hypothesis and then
do a model around the hypothesis. The model is then implemented in one area with continuous data
collection in order to see if the model works. Once the model proves to work, Kamo scales up to other
locations and again examines what factors may have contributed to the success beyond their own
activitiesix.
One example is the dance movement therapy that Kolkata Sanved and Kamo are implementing to
facilitate the psychosocial recovery of trafficked survivors under institutional care. In 2012 Kamo
invested 5 lakhs INR/ 10 000 USD into the research to understand the context and situations of
institutional care and psychological issues that survivors are currently facing at institutional care. Then
based on the findings from the research, Kolkata Sanved developed a specific model for trafficked
survivors and rolled out the model in Mumbai in 2013. In 2014 the model was modified and the revised
model has been tested again with the same setting in Mumbai. Simultaneously, the revised model has
been tested in West Bengal also to see how the model works in different context and what patterns
exist to make the model successful. Right now the programme is in the phase of impact assessment
to see the feasibility of scale-up/out, and for Tomomi Shimizu, this is essential because this is when
we realise what works and when we put money into a programme, we put the money in the right
model.x
Kamo assesses the timing of exit by the degree of improvement in the issue. This assessment process
was started in 2012 in Cambodia, when Kamo started thinking about localisation of the Community
Factory. By 2018, it plans to hand it over.

Research has various functions for Kamo externally and internally. To start with the internal function,
research influences the inclusion of different parameters into Kamos impact measurement for
instance from 2012 measuring number of those rescued to 2013 measuring numbers of survivors
receiving legal support in the Maharashtra-West Bengal route xi . The theory of change changes
according to the data from the ground, as can also be observed in the shift away from poverty
alleviation based on Cambodian insights and the stronger focus on law enforcement coupled with
rehabilitation in India.
Externally, its a way to pull together data and can be a fact finding missionxii. One example of this is
the report with Sanjog Tafteesh: In search of justice (2013) xiii which also has an impact on model
development in 2014xiv by understanding the roles and systemic gaps in the current justice delivery
mechanism for survivors.
Another external function of research is creating awareness. The report with Dasra on the initiatives
in India to end sex traffickingxv generated much momentum and increase awarenessxvi. Ultimately,
Kamo aims to put an end to this inhumane issue with philosophy of EVIDENCE-BASED with data from
the ground, STRATEGIES shared and agreed with stakeholders, and coordination with the ECOSYSTEM
of anti-human trafficking.xvii
To this end, Kamo invests heavily into eco-system building in order to achieve convergence of all
agencies working on the issue of sex trafficking in Indiaxviii. Beyond data collection and sharing, Kamo
concretely builds the eco-system to enhance and work with law enforcement agencies in
strengthening deterrence to this inhumane business of human traffickingxix. In particular, Kamo is
directly and indirectly catalysing for the partnership with following stakeholdersxx:

The State agencies

Survivors
Local community
Global community
CBOs and NGOs

However, while the areas are listed separately in the portfolio, the three areas are very much cutting
across each other. For instance, while the model development is being done, then the eco-system
building happens simultaneously. So flexibility is high between the three areas.
In sum
Kamos rigorous approach to exploring its theory of change has a significant impact on portfolio
management and allocation of its resources. Leveraging synergies between the model development,
research and eco-system building are crucial for Kamos mission-driven approach and is being
continuously refined to reduce if not eradicate the complex issue of sexual trafficking.

http://www.kamonohashi-project.net/english/about/
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 2
iii
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 11
iv
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 11
v
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
vi
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
vii
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 7
viii
Miscellaneous includes support for institutional growth, such as operations, stabilisation of other ecosystem players, and to generate data and insights; conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
ix
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
x
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
xi
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 4
xii
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015 and see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23sSzj1DoHI accessed on 15 April 2015
xiii
http://www.kamonohashi-project.net/english/project/
xiv
Kamonohashi Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 7
xv
http://www.dasra.org/files/zero-traffick_report.pdf accessed on 15 April 2015
xvi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23sSzj1DoHI accessed on 15 April 2015
ii

xvii

Written comments by Tomomi Shimizu on 13 April 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23sSzj1DoHI accessed on 15 April 2015
xix
http://www.kamonohashi-project.net/english/project/img/kamo_india.pdf - p. 4
xx
Conversation with Tomomi Shimizu on 14 April 2015
xviii

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