The McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University is committed to advancing leadership based on security, economic opportunity, freedom and human dignity in the United States and around the world. To focus on innovative ways to overcome challenges in the fields of humanitarian affairs, human rights, and national security; the Institute started the Decision Theater to help leading decision makers, policy analysts, government officials, civil society actors and academics build strategies and identify pathways to solutions. The Decision Theater is a unique system for visualizing and integrating data behind real-world problems, and uses system-science methodologies and technology-based collaborative experiences to empower the decision making process.

Since the establishment of a Washington D.C.-based Decision Theater in Fall of 2012, the Institute has convened thought-leaders and practitioners from around the United States and the world to stimulate debate and design solutions. Recently, representatives from Praescient’s Initiatives Group attended a working group session on human trafficking. In short, participants discussed the driving forces behind conceptualizing, developing, and deploying a national database on human trafficking. The idea is not only an imperative to combat the cycle and improve quality of life for victims, but also revolutionary because stakeholders – including NGO’s, non-profits, church-based organizations, commercial companies and government entities – will have the capability to collect, analyze and disseminate human trafficking data persistently in a main repository.

Working towards such a solution will enable stakeholders to assess in more depth whether the data presently available is relevant, of standard quality, and useful for decision makers. In turn, as a result, the formation of a national database on human trafficking holds the potential to advance currently-employed methodologies and enrich the ways in which thought leaders and practitioners tackle the problem that affects 27 million people.