How we work
CAPACITY BUILDING OF OUR MEMBERS
We develop the individual and organisational capacities of sex workers in the region by:
- Assessing and consulting members about their needs.
- Developing training for individual activists/organisations.
- Delivering training and online skills development.
- Regional convenings and exchanges.
We represent and amplify the voices of sex workers by:
- Listening and being responsive to the needs and perspectives of sex workers, particularly those who are most marginalised, and the evolving issues they face.
- Ensuring our staff and leadership are made up of a diverse group of sex workers who come from the movement.
- Working directly with sex workers and groups across Europe to build and mobilise an engaged, empowered and effective movement for change by providing training, opportunities for shared learning, developmental assistance, and sub-granting.
RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE BUILDING
We expand and build the evidence base by:
- Leading and assisting the development of the evidence base on sex workers rights through our own research, academic institutions and allied movements.
- Working with our members at the national level to support high quality, community-led research.
- Developing accurate, accessible information resources.
Use research and evidence to promote rights-based laws and policies by:
- Basing our advocacy and activism on evidence, lived experience and what works best for the protection of human rights.
- Making this evidence accessible and using it to inform political debate and decision making.
- Demanding accountability from leaders who make policy and introduce laws based on biased assumptions, moral judgements or prejudices, rather than evidence.
ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNING
We inform and advance public opinion by:
- Creating content, communications and digital engagement that outlines the personal stories and experiences of sex workers in Europe.
- Developing impactful and engaging campaigns for change.
- Producing accessible materials that educate and protect against the stigmatisation of sex workers and misinformation on decriminalisation, human trafficking and labour rights issues.
- Building broad public support for sex workers’ rights that can be mobilised to bring about legal and policy change.
We build partnerships and allyship by:
- Recognising the intersectional nature of the oppression and discrimination that impacts the lives of sex workers.
- Understanding that discrimination against sex workers is rooted in the broader systems of misogyny and gender-based violence, racism and colonialism, homophobia and transphobia, economic inequality and class.
- Fostering partnerships, allyship and solidarity across movements in recognition of our collective struggles.
- Identifying holistic, inclusive policies for change that do not harm other communities.
We engage decision-makers and actively participate in policy and legal development processes by:
- Monitoring policy and legal developments across European institutions, international mechanisms and in specific countries.
- Lobbying decision and policymakers across these spaces and building relationships.
- Supporting our membership to engage with decision and policymakers at national, regional and international levels.
- Bringing sex workers together with decision-makers through events and creative platforms.