Project celebration
In November 2006, 30 representatives from sex worker organisations, groups of people living with HIV, transgenders and men who have sex with men came together for Project Celebration – a series of activities to share experiences and learn from the work of the Alliance’s Frontiers Prevention Project.
Each country – Cambodia, Ecuador, India, Madagascar and Morocco – showcased their work and associated successes and challenges, with question and answer sessions after each presentation. Role-plays, discussions and talk shows enabled further learning and sharing.
Despite participants coming from different countries and contexts, Project Celebration highlighted that certain issues facing key populations are common and fundamental. These populations continue to be marginalised in the response; they face human rights abuses and are left out of national AIDS plans.
Project Celebration culminated with a one day conference where participants shared a platform with key policy and decision makers and funding agencies to examine the implications of their experiences on delivering universal access to prevention, care, treatment and support to key populations.
"We’ve all learned something new from each other. It doesn’t matter whether we’re sex workers or men who have sex with men, the fight is the same one. It’s going to take time. It’s a long process, but it’s not impossible.”
Maria Elena Acosta Rodriguez, Kimirina, Ecuador