The Freedom from Slavery Forum is an annual gathering designed to bring leaders from the anti-slavery field together to coalesce, create partnerships, discuss promising practices, and develop a shared agenda for action. Each year, Forum participants build relationships and prioritize actions in areas such as advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and collaboration with other sectors. Additionally, the Forum is meant to educate the public about the issues of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Accordingly, the 2017 Forum was a two and a half day event comprised of a public event, featuring author Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, and private meetings for anti-slavery experts. As the fifth iteration of the Forum, this convening was designed with input from participants of the 2016 Forum along with the guidance of an Advisory Committee representing participating organizations. Five primary themes were prioritized for the 2017 Forum in response to the priorities established by participants. Each theme had an associated working group of Forum participants who met throughout the spring, summer, and fall to design their topic’s session and prepare presentations on their group’s findings.