Case Studies

Who are we?

The Zimbabwe Sex Workers’ Alliance (ZIMSWA) is a sex worker led organisation that engages a human rights framework in its advocacy. We are based in Bulawayo, and work in urban and peri urban areas. ZIMSWA envisions a society in which all sex workers – male, female, and trans – can enjoy the full spectrum of their fundamental rights, and live lives free from all forms of violence and discrimination. ZIMSWA believes that change happens incrementally and works to influence public policy and practice in the field of human rights. ZIMSWA believes in movement building and in the power of collective action in the fight to improve the human rights status of sex workers. It contributes to the collective work by designing and implementing innovative, evidence-based and cost-effective advocacy campaigns.

What was the issue?
Sex workers in Zimbabwe are often treated as though they are second class citizens, with their access to and safety in public spaces compromised because of the work that they do. The wider Zimbabwean public thinks that sex
workers are people of poor character, prone to differing forms of criminality. Society at large struggles to understand that sex work is work.
The framing of sex workers as criminals means that sex workers are at risk of violence and of exploitation at the hands of the authorities and of people who expect sex workers to be isolated, and either unaware of their rights, or unable to use the law to enforce them. This includes sexual harassment, demand of spot fines, confiscation of sex worker earnings, and detention of sex workers on the grounds of loitering with the intention to solicit, with the police using possession of condoms and other protective barriers as evidence on the charges. This made it increasingly difficult for sex workers to practise safer sex. Trans women sex workers would be subjected to a heightened form of violence due to their gender expression.
If sex workers were victims of any kind of crime in the course of their work, or if they experienced violence, they could not seek legal protection, and were therefore not getting access to the victim friendly unit and associated medical services, including HIV testing and counselling, and STI screening and services. Furthermore, health service providers sometimes deny services on the basis that sex workers have brought the harm on themselves.

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Who are we?

TIRZ is a newly formed youth, trans* and intersex-led organisation. We are funded by a small programme grant from the Other Foundation. We consist of an advisory committee of Zimbabwean trans* and intersex activists based around the globe, a management team of four queer persons based in Harare, and a team of twelve trans* and intersex identifying volunteers (known as Community Advocates), spread across Zimbabwe. We focus on strengthening the trans* and intersex communities and their allies, so they can advance themselves. We do this mainly through community-level interventions in the sectors of religion and culture, information development and sharing, health, personal support structures, and livelihoods. We are guided by the principle that arming the community and its allies with relevant information and psycho-social support will give them the personal and organisational power to advocate for their own rights in the relevant spaces. What was the issue? Zimbabwe’s trans* and intersex community is a hidden one (even within the national queer movement). Very little accessible data exists to guide and motivate the work that needs to be done around promoting access to health for this community. In addition, members face several barriers that limit their ability to access health care:

(i) lack of understanding of themselves as trans* and intersex persons, and their unique health care needs;

(ii) lack of supportive personal and community structures to encourage and promote their access and adherence to health care; and

(iii) health services and service providers (SPs) that are not equipped to provide trans* and intersex specific health care.

What was the change we wanted to see?

We wanted to see trans* and intersex persons equipped with an understanding of their identities and the unique health issues that come with these identities. We wished to see trans* and intersex people having the selfassurance to advocate for, and seek, health services because they have supportive allies in their families, friends, and other personal structures; as well as service providers who offer the desired services.

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Who are we?

Zambia Sex Workers Alliance (ZASWA) is a newly founded national chapter of the African Sex Workers Alliance. It is a sex worker led and focused organisation that works to tackle the challenges faced by sex workers in Zambia. ZASWA focuses on advocacy and linking sex workers to services. ZASWA also asserts that sex work is work, and works to make the Zambian environment safe for sex workers to operate in, free from violence, stigma and discrimination. Currently, ZASWA has six staff who are all volunteers.

What was the issue?
• Sex workers face stigma and discrimination when trying to access health care services. These include STI screening and treatment, HIV testing and ART referrals, cervical cancer screening, safe abortions, ante-natal care, and access to condoms, including knowledge of use of female condoms.

• The legal framework in Zambia can be described as one of partial criminalisation. This refers to a situation where only the activities related to sex work are criminalised, and not the actual act of selling or buying sex.

• Some of the provisions criminalising these activities are found in the Penal Code of Zambia. • The declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation has exacerbating effects on the negative perception of sex work in the country; and, consequently, most of the blame for the HIV epidemic is placed on us. • The children of sex workers are bullied at school due to the societal perception of sex workers. • Sex workers are unable to access other employment opportunities as their past records are informally kept in people’s minds. • The police, health care providers and clients of sex workers exploit these vulnerabilities. Sex workers are blackmailed, raped, insulted, publicly shamed, threatened and killed.
What was the change we wanted to see?

We wanted to see an environment that recognizes sex work as work, with legal and policy protection for people that engage in it. This will reduce the stigma, discrimination and violations that sex workers and their dependents endure in health, educational, political and religious institutions. We also wanted to have spaces where sex workers can go to access health services, including mental health and wellness services.

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Who are we?

The Autonomy Project is a collective of 25 activist organisations and individuals working in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. We are currently mobilising in Livingstone (Zambia’s tourist capital) and the Copperbelt province. Some organisations represented in the collective are: Women’s Alliance for Equality, Transbantu Association Zambia, Friends of Rainka, Zambia Sex Worker’s Alliance, Network of People living with HIV, Generation Alive Zambia and Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia. These organisations work on issues around lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LBT) persons, sex work, women living with HIV, and women working on sexual and reproductive health (SRH), specifically, women seeking or advocating for abortion services. The collective evolved out of the Autonomy Project of the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL). Through funding from CAL, we have employed two people as coordinator and assistant coordinator. We work to build a world where all people are able to make decisions about their bodies and lives without interference from fathers, brothers, husbands, the state, religion and society. The collective embraces intersectional feminism as both a practice, and an approach to bringing about change.

What was the issue?
• Women in Zambia have no autonomy over their bodies. This is manifested in: o the restriction of abortion services o the criminalisation of sex work as well as of consensual sex between women o the fact that society prescribes how women should dress, whom they should sleep with, and where they should go. This policing is related, not only to patriarchy as a root cause, but also to the fact that our society blames women for the spread of HIV.

• Women have normalised the consequences of the lack of autonomy and have been raised to believe that this is how the world should be. • Despite this lack of autonomy being a cross cutting issue, women in Zambia were working in silos and holding on to identity politics which prevented a common and amplified voice in different spaces.

What was the change we wanted to see?

We wanted to see marginalised women (LBT, sex workers, women living with HIV, abortion activists) being aware and conscious of the roots of the challenges they face daily, and being able to recognise that, although belonging to different groups, their oppression was connected. This in turn was going to foster afeminist movement that is intersectional in its approach, with women from these groups being able to individually or collectively recognise the oppression, challenge it and advocate for a positive and supportive political, social-cultural and economic environment for marginalised women.

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Who are we?

African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR) is a Pan-African coalition of organisations led by men who have sex with men (MSM) and/or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. AMSHeR works to promote non-discrimination, particularly based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), and to advance access to quality health services for MSM/LGBT persons in Africa. As an advocacy and capacity strengthening organisation, AMSHeR provides a platform for exchange and learning among MSM/LGBT community-based organisations, human rights and HIV service organisations, and other agencies working with and for MSM/LGBT organisations. The organisation also advocates for increased resources, community leadership and strengthening of community structures and capacity to address these issues. In Zambia, AMSHeR has one member, Friends of Rainka (FoR), an LGBTI focused organisation. This study relates to the localisation, in partnership with FoR, of the Robert Carr Network Fund project which AMSHeR was implementing in Southern Africa.

What was the issue?
• The LGBTI community in Zambia had not been exposed to knowledge on sexual health, and so its members were engaging in risky sexual behaviors. This led to high HIV prevalence rates within the community, which worsened the national statistics.

• The problem exists because of the hostile: legal environment; traditional, cultural and religious norms; political environment; and media reporting. The anti-LGBTI rhetoric leads to fear of arrest, making LGBTI people reluctant to seek health services.

• Although grassroots LGBTI organisations existed, they had limited capacity to undertake effective advocacy at community level due to the existing law, limited technical capacity and inadequate financial resources.

What was the change we wanted to see?

Change happens when people become informed, and begin to act on what they have learnt. The change we wanted to see was:
• Sexuality education for the LGBTI community, so that they can make informed choices concerning sexual health

• Members of the community displaying health seeking behaviour as a result

• The community being linked to treatment, prevention and care services from LGBTI friendly health care institutions that would provide these services without stigma and discrimination • A community informed about human rights and able to advocate for an end to stigma and discrimination.

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Who are we?

House of Our Pride (HOOP) is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisation working in the Manzini region of Swaziland. It is membership-based, and makes every effort to be democratic and accountable. We strive for the meaningful participation of all members of the community in influencing policy towards achieving equity, and attaining full and equal human, social and economic rights for the LGBTI population.
HOOP’s mandate is to provide practical support, guidance and assistance to LGBTI persons in relation to various matters, including (but not limited to) law, security, health and general wellbeing. We implement education, counselling and other programmes to empower the LGBTI community; as well as support – and take, when required – direct action to protect its vulnerable members. We work to minimise HIV/AIDS prevalence among our community; and we address other health issues, such as STIs and Transgender wellbeing.

What was the issue?

LGBTI people in Swaziland are discriminated against by their families, their communities and society at large, and so are isolated, with nowhere to turn when they need help. They are so marginalised that even those whose duty is to serve the public refuse to attend to them. Members of the community have faced this discrimination when seeking health services, not getting any help from health care workers. For this reason, many would not go to health care facilities when sick; and even if they did reach out, were not honest about their sexual behaviour and would not say what the real issue was – with the result that they did not get the help they needed. In either case, they would end up staying home, getting sick, getting worse and even dying – alone, and without help.
Another problem was a lack of knowledge – on the part of our community, about sexuality and sexual health; and on the part of the wider society, about LGBTI lives.

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Who are we?

Afrika Tikkun is an organisation that was founded in 1994 with the goal of making a difference in the South African economy by developing and uplifting young people living in underprivileged communities. The Young Urban Women (YUW) Project is run by Afrika Tikkun under its empowerment programme, and is implemented in four of its centres in Johannesburg (Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Alexandra and Braamfontein). We work with young women 13 – 18 years old on issues of access to decent work, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and services. We also support their participation in leadership in three key ways – empowerment, campaigning and solidarity. The Project understands that the challenges to young women exercising bodily integrity and autonomy are multiple and interconnected. We have selected three focus areas that we understand to be critical to living a life of dignity. These are: bodily autonomy, which means being free to do as one wishes with her body; decent work, which speaks to finding work that supports a reasonable standard of living and casts a spotlight on the issue of unpaid care work that burdens young women and places unfair expectations on them in the home; and the empowerment of young women to advocate for their rights.

What was the issue?

Access to SRHR information and services: Young women reported receiving treatment that was unprofessional, unkind and, in some cases, insulting, from healthcare workers who at times refused to attend to them. Questions like: “why are you having sex so young?” or “does your mother know that you’re sleeping around?” or “why not just focus on books and not boys?” were common. These were not only unhelpful but discouraged other young women from seeking services. With little information being received from school, their parents or health centres, the gap was being filled by peers and online sources. Myths around sex and sexuality, such as not falling pregnant if one has sex in certain positions, or not getting HIV if you are a virgin, abounded among the groups. This resulted in a high rate of early and unwanted pregnancies. This problem seemed overwhelming to the young women because it had so many elements that they felt they did not know how to face. How would they all come together to agree on a way forward? How would their families view them if they advocated for their SRH rights? How would their peers outside of the program view them? Who would take them seriously? Did they have something to say that was important? These were some of the questions that arose for them.

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Who are we?

I’m a survivor is a national campaign of the Diamond Project, which is an organisation that works in the Gauteng province to bring support to HIV positive young people and create a support system for them. The campaign works in different locations in Johannesburg such as Diepsloot and Daveyton, and works with artists as a way of both raising awareness, and getting funding for the work that is done in communities. Community interventions vary widely and the people within communities are encouraged to develop their own initiatives that promote the message of living positively with HIV. Our activities include theatre and sports clubs for young people; community dialogues with men and women; and developing and promoting message music. In Daveyton, where the young women with whom the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) has been working are based, the I’m a survivor campaign works with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to bring positive messaging and support groups to young people in the location.

What was the issue?
• Despite all the work done around decreasing the stigma associated with HIV and living with HIV in South Africa, HIV+ people continue to struggle with accepting their status, and live in fear of being discovered by their loved ones. They are afraid to disclose because they worry about being ostracized, discriminated against and rejected.

• Programmes targeting young people are focused on prevention and offer no guidance on how to live positively with HIV as a young person in school, or how to deal with the challenges of being HIV positive at that young age. They do not take account of those young people who are not sexually active, and have contracted the infection through, birth, rape or other involuntary cause.

• Information and materials tailored for young people living with HIV – about health, their sexuality, challenges and how to take care of themselves – were therefore hard to find, and this gap made young people living with HIV feel isolated and unsupported. The added layer of living a life of secrecy from family and friends intensified the feelings of loneliness and resulted in depression and other forms of stress. After testing, many young people did not know where to go, or how to handle their diagnosis. As young people who are living with HIV ourselves, we knew first-hand the experiences and challenges that they faced.

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Who are we? Kubatana Kwedu (KK) was established in January 2016 to address the issue of unemployment, and exclusion from employment opportunities, of young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other gender-diverse (LGBT+) South Africans. Its aim is to uplift the socio-economic status of its target group through entrepreneurship. It is a non-profit membership-based organisation working currently in the Johannesburg area. We have 50 members and 10 staff, most of whom are volunteers. They use social media platforms and word of mouth to get information about our organisation to the public. What was the issue? As a direct result of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, young LGBT+ persons find it very difficult to access financial and economic resources and opportunities. Some have been denied, or lost, jobs; or have received discriminatory treatment within their work environment, because of their sexual orientation. Those who are artists or small manufacturers are excluded from mainstream markets that offer small businesses an opportunity to display and sell their wares.

What was the change we wanted to see?

We wanted to eradicate internalised stigma among our target group, and to shift the focus from sexuality towards financial and economic advancement. We wanted to create links between young LGBT+ people interested in business and entrepreneurship and other young people and business enthusiasts who do not identify as LGBT+. This would help to dispel the feeling of isolation often felt by young LGBT+ persons and to expose them to opportunities outside of their own circles. We also wanted to provide mental and emotional health support, as well as help people find ways to sustain themselves. Most of all, what we wanted to see was a focus on our common humanity – on what makes people similar, rather than the ways in which we are different.

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Who are we?

The Women’s Leadership Centre is a feminist women’s rights organisation based in Windhoek, Namibia. We work towards building a society in which all women actively engage in shaping the politics, practices and values of both public and private spheres of life. Our organisation supports the development of leadership among Namibian women at the grassroots by building the voice, visibility, creativity, pride and transformative agency of women from some of the most marginalised sectors of society. We empower them to form women’s groups and to articulate their experiences, needs and desires through texts and photography, informed by a critical feminist consciousness of their human rights as women and as citizens. Our Zambezi for Women’s Rights Programme focuses on the prevention of harmful cultural practices that subject girls and women to all forms of violence and high risk of exposure to HIV. We run this programme in villages across Zambezi Region in north-eastern Namibia, as well as in the regional capital Katima Mulilo. We do not have members, but operate through volunteers and village community facilitators across Namibia, with whom we communicate via mobile phone.

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