Are Lessons Learned? The Case of a Sex Workers’ Project in Madagascar

Abstract

All over the world prostitution is linked to poverty and the responsibility for aged parents and large families. Women who have little or no education and who lack job skills fall into prostitution because they see no other alternative. Social rehabilitation of sex workers should be the priority of government programs like the one described by Tabibul Islam in Contemporary Women's Issues (Rights-Bangladesh: New Attempt to Rehabilitate Sex Workers, from Global Information Network 1999). In various parts of the world there are NGOs (non-governmental organizations) involved in health developmental issues and the prevention of AIDS, and some are offering rehabilitation programs for sex workers. For example in Bamako, Thailand, India, Haiti, and Viet Nam, some NGOs are educating sex workers about the risks of Sexually Transmiitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS and promoting job programs along with training classes in sewing, cooking and secretarial skills. Others are involved in the development of small businesses so that sex workers become economically independent from the sex industry (see Women, Poverty and AIDS: Sex, Drugs and Structural Violence. Edited by Farmer, Paul, Margaret Connors Margaret, and Jane Simmons. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press. 1996). This paper examines a project implemented in 1993 and 1997 in Antananarivo (Madagascar) for the purpose of empowering a group of sex workers. The project sponsored by foreign donors had the goal of training about 50 sex-workers in sewing and embroidery skills for the making of clothing and household goods for the tourist market. The main purpose was to promote the social reinstatement of sex workers by giving them the opportunity to learn new skills that would enable them to support themselves with dignity.