Community of Learning Brings Sex Workers' Rights Advocates Together to Share Tactics and Tools

A coalition of sex workers' rights organizations have launched a user-driven web forum designed for advocates to share experiences, documentation tools, advocacy strategies, and ideas for joint action. The website, called the Community of Learning, highlights work by nine organizations supported by the Open Society Foundations, including Keeping Alive Societies’ Hope (KASH) in Kenya, the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) and the Women’s Legal Centre in South Africa, the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Legalife in Ukraine, JAZAS in Serbia, Tais Plus in Kyrgyzstan, and Healthy Options Project Skopje (HOPS) and the Coalition for Protection and Promotion of Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities in Macedonia. By posting information to the community about the challenges they have faced, victories they have won, and strategies for success, these partners will participate in the learning, growth, and organizing of advocacy groups working to end human rights abuses against sex workers worldwide. 

Visitors to the Community of Learning website will find information about advocacy tactics, including letter campaigns to inform officials of abuses faced by sex workers, models of effective and powerful video testimony, podcasts featuring interviews about victories and challenges in human rights documentation and advocacy projects, information about international human rights monitoring bodies, sample NGO shadow reports, and strategic litigation. The website also provides tools for the documentation of human rights violations, including examples of questionnaires, manuals, and guidelines. 

The Community of Learning website is available at http://www.sexworkersrightscommunity.org/.