Moroccan sex workers take a participatory approach to identifying prevention needs
01 May 2007
Moroccan sex workers say they lack the skills to negotiate condom use with clients despite a good understanding of why condoms are important, according to a report from Alliance partner the Association Amal pour la Femme et le Développement (AAFD).
This was one of the key findings of a participatory community assessment led by sex workers in El Hajeb. The women’s association AAFD, a partner of Alliance linking organisation AMSED, has now gone on to develop a project component to respond to this need.
AAFD implements human rights education and awareness-raising projects in El Hajeb and the surrounding area for sex workers and women experiencing domestic violence, divorce and who lack job security. El Hajeb has a large sex worker community, working mostly in “closed houses”.
The partnership between AAFD and AMSED came about during the mobilisation of new associations to extend the coverage of AMSED’s HIV work in priority areas. Although the town traditionally has accepted sex workers within its community, an initial assessment revealed the sex workers to be highly vulnerable to HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
AAFD wanted to get a better understanding of the sex workers’ prevention issues and needs in terms of their sexual and reproductive health in order to integrate prevention activities into their existing projects. To do this, AMSED trained AAFD to carry out a participatory community assessment (PCA) which helped create understanding and co-operation with the sex workers.
The process of mobilising marginalised people around a community assessment exercise also strengthened the women’s skills, improved their community work and offered them a safe arena for discussion, while boosting their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. For AAFD, the PCA proved instrumental in understanding the sex workers’ needs and developing prevention activities.
Two key people were then selected from among the sex workers to facilitate data collection on sex workers’ knowledge and perceptions of sexuality, condoms, STIs and HIV, as well as to identify risky sexual behaviours and practices.
These two women developed stronger skills and self-confidence as civil society activists, association members and community leaders as a result of the project. One of them went on to join AAFD, and was recently chosen to run a new project with AMSED as part of the Global Fund’s prevention programme.
The PCA process and the project itself were not without challenges, and one lesson learned was the importance of involving the authorities. This resulted in the police, neighbourhood chiefs and other local authorities receiving information and awareness-raising about the PCA process so they could guarantee the facilitators’ safety during their work.
