Rescuing the sinking; rehabilitating the involuntary commercial sex workers from the HIV pandemic
dialogue with commercial sex workers through health education
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Other
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2008
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Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Invisibility of problem
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Mobilize peer groups and communities to raise awareness
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
This field has not been completed. (333 words or less)
Name Your Project
Rescuing the sinking; rehabilitating the involuntary commercial sex workers from the HIV pandemic
Describe Your Idea
dialogue with commercial sex workers through health education
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
dialogue with commercial sex workers through health education
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
Commercial sex workers in Kenya are not regarded in high esteem. This innovation will attempt to engage them with a view of understanding factors and circumstances that cause them to engage in commercial sex work and how they can be helped in tems of making important decision such as quitting, engaging in safe sex and also engaging their clients.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Dealing with commercial sex work in a Kenyan setup is an uphill task. It is an issue that hasn’t been tackled and the HIV prevention in Kenya doesn’t seem to focus on sex workers as a target audience. Commercial sex work is criminal in the Kenyan laws as yet. Their contribution to aids spread is not being focused. To an extent, forced prostitution is a form of slavery especially if it is forced or due to circumstances such as poverty. That denies the woman self respect and dignity. To challenge this arrangement, First, I will embark o fact finding mission and publicize the finding through locally acceptable media. A dialogue to address the issue would therefore be raised
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
I will first document the findings of the nature, factors that contribute to young girls being subjected to commercial sex work. I will approach various stakeholders to try and assist the victims that are forced into it such as non government organizations, donor agencies, and religious organization. The idea will be to try and use the initiative to reduce the avenue through which people can contract or transmit HIV, as well as restoring dignity to the reluctant prostitutes by figuring out ways which they can escape to. Donor agencies will be approached to avail money for establishment of centres where girls who are forced into prostitution can escape to and be taught life supportive skills such as computers, tailoring, weaving or even being supported to start small businesses. The overall aim is to restore dignity among the gals by challenging this form of slavery. Also, if there is evidence to suggest that they are forced into prostitution by their masters, a legal proceeding might be instituted against her masters.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
At the moment because it s just in inception phase, I don’t have partners as yet, but I have already started searching them on the internet and other media for local contacts as well as international orgainsations that deal with anti trafficking in the country and beyond. Already, I have a couple of them who I have written and waiting for their response.
I will persist in looking for partners through writing of proposals which will document exactly what are my intentions, as well as the government and donor agencies. I am also hoping to attend conferences where I can showcase these thought in hope that someone might be interested as well as tap into the existing pool of expertise and up and running initiatives, as a project may be more successful if it is linked to a partner that knows exactly what they are doing because they have experience in it.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
It is hoped that the project will be to restore dignity to women by rescuing them from forced prostitution, prevent HIV infection for those willing to continue and provide/propose an alternative and better lifestyle
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
Lack of finances and capacity to carry out the project. Also it will be a challenge because of stigma for the victims to volunteer and interact in a normal way. In addition, there might be lack of support from the government and other agencies that might not see the issue as of national importance. In addition, social reintegration and acceptance may also be a challenge.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
I need to first do a survey, but during a recent drive to town (Eldoret), I realized that the twilight girls are quite a number. So it is safe to talk about between 50 to 70 commercial sex workers. In addition, if the model works, it can be applied in other towns in Kenya especially where HIV rates are on the increase.
Directly
Directly, I intend to interact with the commercial sex workers themselves. They are the one at risk of contacting HIV/Aids because purchases sexual services, it is said that the prevention will depend on the purchaser. In addition, it will be important to know those who are forced into it for further specialized care and attention.
Indirectly
It is not known how many people seek these services. However, regardless of the number, looking at these groups of people as a conduit of HIV transmission and while addressing this issue, we might just be saving many families from breaking down and avoidable HIV transmission.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
The measure of success of the innovation will be gauged from the number of girls that will be rescued from prostitution and successfully rehabilitated. Also, although it is difficult to measure, the incidence rate for HIV transmission should come down.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
At the moment, there is no policy for the rehabilitation and monitoring of this group of people.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
First, the victims of poverty and slavery. Those who find themselves against their will being forced into se slavery . Also on the wayward, consumers of commercial sex who based on availability of these enslaved groups of people seek their services without giving regard to the right protection. Also, the relatives of this family who may have lost them due to poverty getting them back. Overall, the country stands to benefit for the outcome of these initiatives and it may make the government to pay attention to them and come up with a solution /policy.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Already a proposal is ready to be set out. Financial and technical assistance will be sought out and organizations that deal with these issues will be approached. Once the first batch of the commercial sex workers has been rescued, they will be equipped with the skills for life. During their training the proceeds that will be generated before they are released will go toward sustaining the program as a revolving fund. In addition, we intend to showcase our innovation to other parts of the world in hope that other people will join us and have a real impact.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
• Annual budget- the annual budget for the first phase is $39,000
• Annual revenue generated none
• Number of staff (3 boxes: full-time, part-time, volunteers) 3 are volunteers, one administrator, and one manager.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Generally, it is difficult to tell but judging by the way small girls are being recruited into the commercial sex trade - the situation is alarming. In addition, considering that HIV prevalence has refused to subside, I suppose there is a greater need to address this issue.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Donor fatigue might contribute. Also the agencies may lack interest in addressing the plight of commercial sex workers. In addition, the project might receive resistance from religious organization who can be potential funders.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
My story begins with the time I went to do my masters in community health nursing in South Africa. I was struggling to come up with a research topic. I finally settled for the roles of health professionals on the management of intimate partner violence in Kenya. The research went on well and I have managed several publications. When I cam back from my studies, I started visiting various centres to see what I can do especially regarding physically abused women. As I interacted with people, I began to realize that there are two aspects that are not being addressed in the fight against HIV: that of commercial sex work and domestic violence. I also got bothered when I went to shop in town at night and I was confronted by a group of three young girls (estimated age between 13-16 years) dressed scantly and were recruiting me to be their customers. This thing bothered me for I was certain that they might not be doing it willingly. This reinforced my commitment to speak out on this missing link in the prevention of HIV. I believe in prevention rather than cure, and I therefore decided to embark on a project dubbed Save the Girl Initiative: Give them back their Dignity Project.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
I studied nursing. I have a masters degree in Community Health Nursing and I teach the same subject at Moi University. I am also interested in research work on domestic violence, women’s health and HIV.
Emphasis of Work
The work that I intend to is both prevention and protection. It is prevention in the sense that I believe that these young girls engaging in prostitution may never want to be prostitutes for life, should there be a way out. I will therefore be preventing them against exploitation and possible infection as well as erosion of their own personal pride, dignity and self esteem.
I will be seeking to protect their delicate future and endeavor to make it brighter through provision of opportunities to reinvent themselves and be acceptable in the communities (a form of rebirth) while at the same time making a contribution towards the prevention of the spread of HIV. In addition, the success of this model will be applied in other major cities where sex slavery is rampant.
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Comments
Dear Geoffrey Maina;
Your project sounds interesting. In terms of your fact finding mission- will you be talking to girls in one area of Kenya or trying to obtain information at a national level? It seems as though you are categorizing sex workers into three categories- those are involved willingly, those who are physically forced into the trade (i.e. trafficking for sexual exploitation) and those who are forced into sex work because a lack of life opportunities makes entry into sex work "necessary" (i.e. because of poverty). Is this correct? Will your approach to helping people in each of these categories- specifically through the lens of reducing the transmission of HIV- differ? And if so- how so?
Also- while I commend your commitment to conducting evidence-based research- through your needs assessment- one concern comes to mind- and this is the pattern that can make tackling human trafficking so difficult- and that is the safety of the girls you talk to. If the girls you talk to fall into the second category mentioned above there is a real risk of causing creating more danger and potentially driving them further underground if they are caught talking to a researcher. What systems will you put into place to ensure the safety of the girls who you want to interview? I think that finding partners who are also working on this issue might be helpful to get a better sense of best practices around this area. IOM, which has had a presence working on these issues in Kenya since 2005 might be a great place to start!
Thanks-
Laura Cardinal
Public Health and Human Trafficking Specialist
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