David Okech, MSW, PhD

David Okech is an associate professor at the University of Georgia and the Director of African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES). He conducts research on human trafficking – the exploitation of men, women, and children for the purposes of labor and sex. He focuses on designing evidence-based interventions and policies to inform programs and policies that will improve psycho-social and physical health, increase economic empowerment and put survivors on a path to recovery, stability and social integration. He has published on human trafficking and PTSD, financial capability and trafficking, as well as conducted a review of social work literature on the subject. Dr. Okech serves on the International Steering Group of the Antislavery Knowledge Network at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom and is also a founding member of the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES). Dr. Okech is currently leading a US Department of State, TIP Office grant in West Africa. He received his PhD from the University of Kansas in 2008 and is a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research as well as the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research.