A strong sex workers’ rights movement needs not only better funding, but also power and autonomy in making decisions about how to use this funding to fuel change.

Only when sex workers have a real seat at the table in funding decisions can real change be achieved. Our participatory and activist-led model, which was designed by sex workers and which has sex workers in the majority in our strategic decision making and grants selection bodies, is central to making this vision a reality.

Sex workers’ leadership in strategy and grants decisions promotes transparency and accountability to the sex workers’ rights movement, and makes sure our funding is well directed. We facilitate sex workers’ leadership by providing language support to sex workers who are not English speakers, conducting one-on-one orientation sessions, offering (peer) mentorship and learning opportunities, and respecting community activists’ lived experiences and expertise.

We encourage funders to learn from our innovative, activist-led and participatory model and to embrace the principle of “nothing about us without us”. This means engaging sex workers in funding decisions and enabling sex workers’ meaningful leadership.