For any type of company or organization, change is never easy. Even if they are a necessary step for growth and development, transitions require sacrifice, resources, passion and a lot of commitment from qualified staff to guide the whole process through to the end.
But what do you do when that transition is rooted in a controversy that has shattered your organization’s image, with the issue lying at the very core of the advocacy — and, to a certain extent, identity — of what you are fighting for?
This is the dilemma that the Somaly Mam Foundation, one of the biggest anti-trafficking foundations in the world, and its affiliates have not only been tackling over the past few months but will continue to do so likely for years after its founder and figurehead resigned in May over strong allegations that parts of her story as a former child slave and sex worker in Cambodia were fabricated and exaggerated to raise more funds.