DR. SMARAJIT JANAPRINCIPALSONAGACHI TRAINING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTEKOLKATA, INDIAEmail : smarajitjana@gmail.com; srti@durbar.orgURL : www.durbar.org

Presented at : UCLA, 20th April, 2011

Following a base line study in 1992 a

peer based HIV Intervention Program

was developed to curb the transmission

of HIV among the sex workers and their

clients in a brothel named Sonagachi in

Kolkata, India.

Sex workers who were trained

to play their role worker

started raising number of

issues what community

consider as more important

their life but is also relevant

for the success of the HIV

intervention program.

Treatment meted out to her/him by most of the Govt. Depts. Civil society and other social institutions are abusive and at best discriminatory in nature.

Service provider’s reluctance to respect her rights and confidentiality.

Disallowing her social and political representation even on issues related to her life and profession.

Sexworker finds social space for negotiation (because of her criminalized status) with other stakeholder including the service provider.

Inability to accesses social / juridical redressal mechanism even when her basic rights are violated.

The common perception is that they have no ‘human

agency’.

They are treated out of sympathy not with respect and

dignity.

As a result of which sexworkers are projected as a ‘victim’

who has no interest and ability to make change and to

improve her quality of life.

Stigma and discrimination is not just specific to sexworkers

but to their children.

Soon they started realizing that the underlying factors are many and multiple in nature. There are primarily social and structural.

Buyers control over the nature and type of sex practices

Gender disparity / inequity Social attitude towards sex,

sex work and sex worker Criminalization of sex work and

sex work environment

Sex workers were inspired to mobilize themselves focusing primarily the state sponsored violence (police raid etc.) and to stop eviction of brothel by a nexus of local goon, police, land developers and others.

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee the collective of sex workers’ came into collective of sex workers’ came into

existence in 1995existence in 1995

Collectivization based on their own of issues and

agenda. (not imposed from above)

Respond to the perceived need of the community

members

Create social & political space for sex workers

Appropriate strategy to address both rights and

development agenda of the sexworkers community.

Strategy of collectivizationStrategy of collectivization

Empowering sex-workers at individual, Empowering sex-workers at individual, community and at societal levelcommunity and at societal level

Responding to the perceived needs of Responding to the perceived needs of the community non formal education the community non formal education

program was initiated as early as 1993program was initiated as early as 1993

To reduce economic vulnerability develop To reduce economic vulnerability develop their own co-operative societytheir own co-operative society

Creating space through cultural activities.

Komol Gandhar, is the cultural wing of sex workers and their children, at present we have five teams representing 120 participants who are engaged in Dance, Drama, Mime, Street theatre, Songs, Music etc.

Starting from HIV – moving to Starting from HIV – moving to Development…Development…

•At present DMSC run 49 HIV intervention program

throughout the state of West Bengal, in addition to

that they run 29 non - formal schools for sex

workers and their children.

•They run co-operative society (a self banking

mechanism) where more than sixteen thousand

sex workers put their money and take loan

whenever needed. Annual turnover of the said

venture is around $2.5 million.

Durbar has succeeded in creating a political space through constituting self regulatory board in collaboration with other government departments (e.g. Health, Social Welfare, Labor, Municipal Corporation, and Panchayati Raj system) to curb trafficking of women in sex trade

…….. Creating bodies of control with .. Creating bodies of control with mainstream societymainstream society

DMSC tried to develop an

effective model to combat

trafficking into the sex

trade with the active

involvement and

participation of sex workers

and fostering partnership

between sex workers

organizations and other

government and non-

governmental organizations

Program Principles of DMSCProgram Principles of DMSC

i) Control the exploitative practices within the trade &

to reduce incidence of violence

ii) Prevent the entry of minors and trafficked women in

the trade in addition to slavery and slavery like

practices

iii) Advocate for long term social security scheme

(pension, health insurance vocational training

alternative job placement etc) for sex workers and

their children

iv) Institute social welfare measures for sex workers

and their children (health, education, water

sanitation facilities)

Function of the Self Regulatory Function of the Self Regulatory BoardBoard

DMSC run vocational training where till date

more than 300 sex workers have received

training (on computer skill, candle making,

lab technician) etc.

DMSC run two boarding school which

accommodate (80 + 30) children of sex

workers

Put daughters of sex worker as teachers in

non formal school (around 16) run by them

Involving rescued girl in Involving rescued girl in productive workproductive work

Building broader alliances to establish Building broader alliances to establish and to negotiate their ‘Rights’ with and to negotiate their ‘Rights’ with

the mainstream societythe mainstream society

Sooner …The Children of Sex workers Sooner …The Children of Sex workers came forwardcame forward

• Children of sex workers came together to develop their own collective called ‘Amra Padatik’ (We the foot soldier) by 2005. There are around 1500 members of ‘Amra Padatik’. The organization has nine branches in the state of West Bengal.

• They support their mother’s demand (to get recognize as worker) in addition to that they took a stand to fight other social evils like dowry, sexual exploitation, gender based violence etc.

• They encourage and support their friends and colleagues for enrollment in schools and colleges.

The babu’s also develop their organization to

stand by the movement of the sexworkers

They took a collective stand to fight against

violence in red light districts.

Support education and other development

activities of the children of the sexworkers.

Sports for the sex workers and their children

VISIONHelp building team spirit, in addition to skill development in various sporting activities meant for the children of the marginalized communities with an objective to integrate them as part of mainstream sports’ society. MISSION•To provide enjoyment and recreation to the children of marginalized communities•To make them healthy through participation in sporting activities•To provide appropriate and scientific training in various sporting events so that the children can build their career through sports•To help build team spirit and team work

Durbar has been the first organisation to start a ‘Soccer Camp’ for the children of sex workers and has been running it for the last four years. It has also organised a Soccer League for the children of sex workers.

COACHING IS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE WELL KNOWN FOREIGN FOOTBALLERS

MEMOIRS OF DURBAR FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Durbar has U-14 and U-16 football team which has been taking part in various tournaments•Stood runners in two tournaments•Got multiple ‘Fair Play Trophies’•One of the trainee represented the Bengal U-14 State Team which became champions in the tournament held at Jamshedpur in January, 2010•Two of the trainees represented the Bengal U-14 State Team in the tournament held at Neveli in March, 2011•One of the trainee has been called for the U-14 India Team

Durbar got the permission to conduct Football League for the junior team in Kolkata duly endorsed through Indian Football Association (West Bengal)

BUILDING OF A SPORTS COMPLEX

90 MT

S

18 MT

S 28 M

TS

15 MTS

9 MTS BOYS’ QUARTER GIRLS’ QUARTER

MULTI GYM

DRESSING ROOM

BOYS’ QUARTER

PASSAGE

PROPOSED BASKETBALL

GROUND

PROPOSED VOLLEYBALL

GROUND

PROPOSED SWIMMING

POOL

PROPOSED FOOTBALL GROUND

STUDY ROOM

25 MTS

120 MTS

15 MT

S

PROPOSED SPORTS COMPLEX AT RAHUL VIDYA NIKETAN, BARUIPUR, RAMNAGAR, DURBAR MAHILA SAMANWAYA COMMITTEE

N

The area marked with the dotted line and the Boys’ and Girls’ Quarters and the Study Room exists

Objective of the ‘Sports Complex’ is to organise various sporting activities thus help in building team spirit, in addition to skill development in the sports meant for the children of sex workers with an objective to integrate them as part of mainstream sports’ society.

• To provide enjoyment and recreation to the children of sex workers

• To make them healthy through participation in sporting activities

• To provide appropriate and scientific training to the participants so that they can build their career in sports

• To organise ‘long-term coaching camps’ both for the children of community and non-community members

• To develop avenue which could be utilized to organize camps for state level sub junior and junior teams

• To arrange appropriate and scientific training on various sports

• To provide physical and psychological strength to engage into appropriate coaching activities

• To provide necessary physiotherapy and related services for the trainees

• To provide additional nutritious diet to help endure hard work and stressful condition

• To create opportunity to take part in Higher League to acquire experience

Thank You