Sara joined the RSO in September 2025 as Programme Manager for Counter-Trafficking in Persons, bringing 20 years of experience working across Asia to address human trafficking, forced labour, and migration governance. She has led regional initiatives to strengthen prevention, protection, and policy responses, most recently as Chief of Party of the USAID Asia Countering Trafficking in Persons programme, where she coordinated a network of projects across the region and provided technical advice to advance survivor-centred and evidence-based approaches.
Sara has extensive experience working with people with lived experience of trafficking, leading research initiatives to elevate survivors’ perspectives in prevention and reintegration efforts, and developing practical tools for practitioners such as a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) toolkit for Countering Trafficking in Persons and a practitioner’s guide for survivor engagement. Her work has also included designing and piloting migration management models to reduce vulnerabilities, prevent labour abuses and bonded labour, and strengthen pathways for safe and fair migration.
Recommended Film: In This World (2002), directed by Michael Winterbottom, follows the perilous journey of two Afghan refugees smuggled from Pakistan to London. Filmed in a raw, documentary style, it captures the harsh realities faced by migrants on dangerous routes. One unforgettable scene depicts people locked inside a shipping container while attempting to cross the Mediterranean; with no oxygen, most suffocate and die. That moment is seared into memory as a stark reminder of the human cost of irregular migration and the thin line between smuggling and trafficking—powerful and tragically still relevant today.
Recommended Podcast: Labor of Loss, a podcast series by Winrock’s USAID Asia Counter Trafficking in Persons Project and Freedom Collaborative, explores experiences of human trafficking and labour exploitation across Asia. Across seven episodes, it takes listeners on a journey from a fishing fleet in South Korea to a palm oil plantation in Malaysia to a brick kiln in Cambodia, amplifying the voices of survivors and practitioners to unpack the complexities and systemic drivers of exploitation.
Email: Sara.Piazzano@rso.baliprocess.net