Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund, on modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
This episode looks at modern-day slavery and we host Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund — a collaborative fund tackling slavery and human trafficking globally.
Many people think of slavery as something from 200 years ago but, in reality, it is a serious problem plaguing our world today — not just in developing countries but in the UK and US as well. The scale and prevalence of the problem is eye-opening.
Nick Grono shares insight on key trends and statistics, and causes and solutions to this problem -- indeed, slavery takes many forms and we explore some of the most common issues.
We also look at how the Freedom Fund works with grassroots organisations, collaborates with diverse stakeholders, and fosters knowledge-sharing to raise awareness, improve advocacy and encourage effective policy.
About Nick Grono
Nick was appointed as the inaugural CEO of the Freedom Fund in January 2014. The Fund is an ambitious effort to mobilise the knowledge, capital and will needed to end modern slavery. It was launched by President Bill Clinton in New York in September 2013, who declared at the time, “This is a huge deal and we should all support this.”
In its first eight years of operation the Freedom Fund has worked with some 140 frontline partners around the world to directly liberate over 29,000 people from slavery and return over 82,000 at risk children back to school. Overall, its programs have positively impacted the lives of more than 1,000,000 of those most vulnerable to exploitation, and it is changing the systems that place many millions more at risk of slavery.
Nick is a board member of Girls Not Brides: the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, and was previously the Chair of the Jo Cox Foundation.
Prior to the Freedom Fund, Nick was the inaugural CEO of the Walk Free Foundation, a key international actor in the fight against modern slavery. And before Walk Free, Nick was the Deputy President and Chief Operating Officer of the International Crisis Group (ICG), the world’s leading conflict prevention NGO, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, with offices in over 20 countries.
Nick is a lawyer by background and served as Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser to the Australian Attorney-General from 1999-2001. He has a law degree with first class honours from the University of Sydney and a Master’s in Public Policy from Princeton University.