Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with Sex Workers Implementing Comprehensive HIV/STI Programmes with | Page 33

1 Community Empowerment

different sex work communities have different needs and challenges that may be addressed through
community empowerment initiatives.
Flexibility, responsiveness and adaptability are essential in implementing community empowerment
initiatives. Intervention goals need to be aligned with and address sex workers’ needs, even if these
change over time. Box 1.4 shows how sex worker organizations in India and Kenya have adapted
their programming to local needs and contexts.

Box 1.4

Case example: Local needs and contexts in India and Kenya
VAMP (Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad), a sex worker organization in southern India supported by SANGRAM
(Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha, an HIV organization), has adapted its programmes to directly address
the needs of sex workers, who face financial exclusion and significant stigma and discrimination from health
authorities. Community-led processes have resulted in sex workers being trained to support community
members’ access to non-stigmatizing, subsidized health care. This is done by negotiating access to a range
of government service providers and providing support for sex workers in financial difficulty. The result is
strong collectives of sex workers empowered to claim and exercise their rights, improving the health and
welfare of individual sex workers, their communities and their families.
In Kenya, frequent problems with law enforcement officers became an issue for collective action by sex
workers. The Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) developed a programme in
Nairobi to train local sex workers as paralegals. They studied local and national laws that affect sex work
and the human rights of sex workers. The paralegals now educate other sex workers about their rights, help
those who need legal advice and document human-rights violations, such as arbitrary arrest. Each paralegal
works as an advocate responsible for 10–15 other sex workers. They are trained to identify the specific
issues group members may have and to request additional resources from BHESP staff when needed.
The result is strong and empowered sex workers who know the law and the rights of sex workers and
are able to mount straightforward challenges to arbitrary arrest and detention. Similar paralegal systems
are being implemented by the Women’s Legal Centre, which is funded by the Open Society Foundations
in Cape Town, South Africa, among others. Such programmes addressing local needs and contexts build
individual competencies and community resilience.

1.2.5 Promoting a human-rights framework
Promoting and protecting the human rights of sex workers is central to all community empowerment
processes. The 2012 Recommendations specifically address the human rights of sex workers.

2012 Recommendations: Good Practice Recommendation 2

11