Peer HIV Prevention for Sex Workers in Malawi

This project, known as the ABC Programme (Alliance for Behaviour Change) has been supported by GlobalGiving over the last three years. We work with some of the most vulnerable women and girls in Malawi and every penny (or cent!) counts.

The ABC programme has 3 steps. The first is behaviour change – a process where sex workers are equipped with the skills to be able to negotiate sex more safely, and to be able to manage their own health more effectively. 12 former sex workers have been trained how to facilitate the process of behaviour change with young women and men in their community, many of whom are getting involved in sex work. A key part of the behaviour change is that we guide young people back into education, which many have dropped out of for a variety of reasons.

The second step is advocacy, where the groups lobby for their rights by performing their stories to people in power, locally and nationally. The women have embarked on a programme of Legislative Theatre where they perform to those in authority, and seek to change the attitudes and policies that impact their lives. A key group that they have targeted is the police – they have performed inside local police stations and have made a huge impact on the attitudes and behaviour of local police, many of whom in the past have been involved in abusing the women. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with police that underlines the new understanding and co-operation between them and the sex workers.

The third step is vocational skills training. We offer training through partner organisations in a variety of vocational skills that can enable the women who do not want to go back to full time education, but who want to leave sex work, to earn a living in safer, more dignified ways. 

These three steps are delivered partly through workshops facilitated by former sex workers, who are now our employees, and partly by performances. We have recently come to the end of a Legislative Theatre project, funded by GTZ, where the women have performed their stories to policy makers on a local and national level, with a view to changing attitudes among these influential people towards sex work and sex workers. With this aim, the women in the performance group performed their story in the Parliament building in Malawi - a first in Malawi, and probably a first in Africa. It is by using these innovative and participatory methodologies that they have been able to make their voices heard, and take a real part in the society around them. We recently had a visit from Annie Lennox - please see:http://www.tfacafrica.com/About-us/News/Annie-Lennox-comes-to-visit

Sadly, some of the participants in this project are children, who are at serious and urgent risk. In response to this we organised a training for our Malawian staff by the UK Charity, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in how we can provide better services to children who are being sexually exploited. The training was a great success, and we now have a framework for Child Protection which we will be implementing across our organisation. We have just published a report on the situation of children being sexually exploited in Malawi - please see: http://www.tfacafrica.com/What-we-do/Monitoring-Evaluation-Learning

£1 – Pays for a HIV Testing and Counseling session for a participant         

£5 – Pays a trained facilitator to deliver a behaviour change session to 20 sexually exploited children         

£30 – Pays for TfaC staff to conduct an evening outreach session, with the police, to engage with children who are
being sexually exploited and adult sex workers in bars.

£100 – Pays for a nurse to do 8 sessions of health care in the community for sex workers, clients and children involved in or affected by sex work.

We are very grateful to everyone who has funded us through Global Giving, and to our other donors, Comic Relief and The Guardian Newspaper - without your support, none of this would have been possible.

Thank you

Links:

• www.tfacafrica.com
• Impact at Theatre for a Change