Delivering insight.
Igniting dignity.
We bring research expertise and lived experience to our global partnerships so that more survivors lead, more social enterprises thrive, and dignified employment unlocks more human potential.
Our Mission
We unleash the latent talent of survivors of exploitation and incarceration by providing social enterprises with evidence-based insights that unlock human potential and fuel organizational effectiveness.
Savhera \suh VAIR' uh\ noun (Hindi): dawn, daybreak,
a fresh start…a new beginning
Our Work
01
Advising
Social Enterprises
We deliver insight to social enterprises and other organizations through structured and research-backed insights. With these partners, we embed the Savhera Human Development Model in the culture of the workplace, to aid enterprises in retaining talent, maintaining dignity-centered systems, and reimagining opportunity as infrastructure.
02
Cultivating
Survivor Leadership
With our partners, we ignite dignity for survivors of exploitation and incarceration by underwriting and supporting their journey toward healing, stability, and long-term economic mobility. By investing in them through our twelve-month process, we create pathways for survivors to thrive, lead, and transform their futures.
03
Catalyzing
Systemic Change
By providing thought leadership through published research and public speaking, we generate awareness and engagement that fosters flourishing and establishes justice.
Our Story
“I need dignified employment to get out of this dirty business.”
In 2017, Dr. Vanessa Bouché was leading an academic program investigating transnational trafficking in persons, when a woman in a brothel district in Delhi, India declared that she didn’t need handouts, she didn’t need to tell her story or attract attention to her plight, she simply needed dignified employment to seize opportunity that had previously been denied her.
That one woman’s voice—an expression of her innate dignity—ignited a venture that brought transformative impact not just to her, but to survivors of exploitation and incarceration around the world.
Continuing that courageous legacy through collaborative leadership.
Savhera was founded not just in response to one person’s courageous voice, but to honor the dignity inherent to every voice, every life.
And while our work has evolved from creating dignified employment for one individual to cultivating opportunity for survivors around the world, our values have remained consistent: partnership, integrity, excellence, empathy, and selfless empowerment of others that subverts the very cultural forces undergirding exploitation.
Our People
Dr. Vanessa Bouché
FOUNDER
Over the past two decades, Vanessa has led over $3 million in federally funded research on human trafficking and wrongful convictions, in the U.S. and abroad.
Her deep experience includes conducting public opinion research on human trafficking in the U.S., Moldova, and Albania; designing and deploying trauma-informed surveys with survivors of human trafficking in the U.S. and Honduras; building the largest open-access database of federally prosecuted human trafficking cases; and maintaining one of the largest datasets on anti-trafficking policy adoption across the United States.
She has published extensively on human trafficking, delivered over 50 invited speaking engagements to diverse audiences globally, and serves as an expert witness in human trafficking litigation.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Freedom Business Alliance, and consults for a variety of organizations. Her data-driven insights have shaped legal cases, public policy, and systems reform across the anti-trafficking field.
She received her BA from Columbia University, her MPA from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, and her PhD in political science from The Ohio State University. She has formerly worked as an intelligence analyst and as an Associate Professor at Texas Christian University.
Ava Kamdem
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ava is a researcher, consultant, and executive who brings lived experience to all of her leadership endeavors.
A survivor of sex trafficking, her personal and professional journey informs her work across sectors, including specific experience and expertise in trauma-informed program design, equity-centered evaluation, and strategic advising for organizing and advancing justice, public health, and economic opportunity.
She earned a degree in Psychology from Columbia University, where she led system-impacted student initiatives and published research on leadership, human capital, and equity. Ava’s leadership is grounded in a deep commitment to structural transformation, survivor-led innovation, and the belief that healing and justice must be built into the very fabric of our institutions.