Sophie Otiende

Sophie Otiende is the founder of a survivor-led initiative in Kenya called Azadi that focuses on supporting survivors of trafficking with long-term care and leadership skills to engage in the human rights space. Otiende is passionate about ethical engagement of survivors of trafficking and ethical storytelling. Sophie firmly believes in a future where empathy, harmony and trust can seamlessly be articulated in processes and systems within institutions. 

Otiende is a feminist, teacher, and survivor-advocate for survivors of trafficking. For the past eight years she has focused on creating ethical standards for the protection of survivors of trafficking, developing systems for organizations, training, and developing curriculum on both protection and awareness of human trafficking. She also speaks internationally on her standards of care and survivor engagement.  

Otiende studied education. She is a 2015 Vital Voices Fellow and the recipient of the US Trafficking in Persons Report Hero 2020. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. Previously, she worked as the Regional Operations Manager, Africa for Liberty Shared and later as the Director of Consulting for Survivor Alliance. She has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS).   

 ”I want to be a visionary leader that employs an intersectional approach in re-imagining solutions that centers survivors of trafficking in the world.”