About Us

Voice Of Our Voices

Voice of Our Voices is a registered non-governmental organisation whose mission is to build an effective long-term community response to issues faced by sex workers

About Us

Voice of Our Voices (VOOV) is an organisation led by sex workers for sex workers in Eswatini, located in the Southern part of Africa. Our priority areas are to advocate for social change and the protection of sex workers, linking sex workers with service providers, and distribution of health commodities to sex workers. We also advocate for law reform that accommodates everyone.

Voice of Our Voices is a registered non-governmental organisation whose mission is to build an effective long-term community response to issues faced by sex workers in Eswatini. Our vision is to see ‘a healthy compassionate vibrant Eswatini’ that is a safe for all citizens, including sex workers. Sex workers are one of the populations that are disproportionately affected by HIV as compared to the general population in Eswatini, with UNAIDS recording a HIV prevalence of 60%. Sex workers continue to face challenges accessing health services within the public clinics due to issues of stigma and discrimination. Sex work in Eswatini remains a crime and police continue to harass sex workers. Voice of Our Voices, working with the Ministry of Health Swaziland National AIDS Programme, FHI360, CANGO, PACT, SAFAIDS, COSPE and key population-led organisations (e.g. Rock of Hope, Trans Swati, House of Our Pride partners), works tirelessly to ensure that sex workers have access to health services and their voices are heard. Voice of Our Voices also works with ASWA on giving capacity building to the members of the organisation through the Sex Worker Academy Africa. PACT played a vital role in capacity building of the organisation at a local level.

legal context for sex work in Eswatini

Sex work is criminalised in the kingdom of Eswatini, and sex workers are often arrested for loitering which the is a crime act of 1889. However, the law is quiet about clients. Sex workers are not given a fair hearing whenever they are arrested for loitering; they are taken to a National Court where they are made to pay fines and it is not clear how these procedures can be changed.

The main challenge is that the law does not recognise sex work, and instead sees sex workers as criminals for being in this type of work. Culture contributes also to stigma and discrimination to sex workers as most of the time society have their own expectations as you grow. The inequality of people is also a factor that contributes to the high rates of gender-based violence. We see this throughout society, from all types of people in the country.

history of voice of our voices. How and why was it formed?

The “super group” which gave birth to VOOV was a task team for sex workers that worked with the Ministry of Health in addressing the health needs of sex workers. At the super group, each hotspot (four geographic focus areas) was represented by two sex workers from all the four regions of the country. The super group met monthly to discuss issues of sex workers from the different hotspots. This platform was also used for capacity building for the sex workers on topics that were chosen by them. The super group meetings started in 2014 and were hosted by the Ministry of Health Swaziland National Aids Programme, HC3 and later FHI360. The birth of VOOV was formulated and crafted in these meetings. FHI360 and Pact played a pivotal role, by providing venue, meals, transport and technical support for the meetings. Currently VOOV is hosted by PACT. VOOV is a member of ASWA and NSWP, and the organisation conducts national activities, funded through ASWA and NSWP.

Voice of Our Voices was formed in 2017 by 56 sex workers who come from the four regions of Eswatini, who had faced challenges including access to health services, human rights violation from members of the public, clients and uniform forces also the violence that comes from the sex workers among themselves. These sex workers committed to come together to influence change in their work spaces through supporting each other whenever challenges come up.

To ensure the promotion and protection of rights of sex workers, VOOV conducts advocacy in several fora including national CEDAW reporting, HIV prevention, Technical Working Group (TWG) and other national and international platforms.

Our organisation sits on the Key Populations Technical Working Group where all issues related to key populations and access to health services are discussed. The organisation is currently working with the Ministry and other key population organisations in sensitising health care workers, the police, religious leaders and other community leaders on issues of key populations. The organisation is currently implementing the insika yakusasa project sub-granted by Pact, which focuses on support for orphaned and vulnerable children. VOOV also works closely with the children of sex workers in the project. The aim of the project is to assist VOOV to learn how to implement, and assists children of sex workers with birth registration, educational support, parenting sessions and economic strengthening for sex workers. The organisation does not provide clinical services but promotes access to services through outreach work.