Practice approaches to combat child trafficking in trafficking-sensitive areas in Ghana: Experiences of practitioners involved in child trafficking interventions

•Effective community engagement and participatory efforts contribute to identifying and rescuing victims of child-trafficking.•Undercover investigation (private investigators) is an alternative resort to identifying perpetrators of child trafficking when community efforts fail.•Children rescued from trafficking undergo psychosocial healing processes before they are re-united with their families.•Adapting African indigenous restorative justice systems could facilitate the healing process of survivors of trafficking and make communities conducive for the return of survivors. Efforts to identify child traffickers, rescue victims of Child Trafficking (CT) and facilitate a smooth reunification of children with their families remain important child protection components of the CT crisis in Ghana. This study utilizes the experiences of practitioners in three (3) regional offices of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) – International Needs Ghana, that is at the forefront of implementing national strategies aimed at protecting and safeguarding the welfare of children. We solicited the views of 15 practitioners involved in CT interventions on the approaches used to identify traffickers and rescue and care for trafficked children in Ghana. Evidence was gathered by means of semi-structured qualitative interviews. Narratives from the practitioners were organized using NVivo and analyzed thematically following reflexive thematic analysis procedures. The study identified three inter-connected approaches used by practitioners to rescue and protect victims of trafficking. These include the following: 1) community engagements and participatory efforts, 2) The use of private investigators, 3) The provision of aftercare support to rescued children through placing them in care homes where they are prepared for reunification with their families. Based on these, the findings recommend the intensification of trafficking awareness campaigns in rural communities where education is lacking. The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has been identified as an appropriate national body to spearhead such a mandate. Considering that some traffickers are protected by communities, it is recommended that government and non-profits make efforts at creating awareness in communities about the dangers of shielding traffickers through community durbars and informative sessions during cultural festivities like the “Hogbetsotso” festival, “Asogli Yam Festival”, and the “Odwira” festival