Prema Panduga: Festival of Love

The core strategy involves PAR that is designed to empower women by finding ways to value sex workers' subjective experience related to gender, sexuality, and intimacy (e.g., pleasure, power, pain, shame). Organisers have observed that, while many programmes have focused on ensuring that sex workers are well-versed in harm reduction principles and understand the importance of practising correct and consistent condom use, practice is variable and particularly low within intimate sexual relationships. To that end, sex workers are at the centre of Prema Panduga (or "Festival of Love"), driving the process and determining next steps. The project’s collaborators comprise female sex workers - ranging from those beginning the practice through those who have been in this profession for many years - who work in street, highway, brothel, home, and traditional (caste-based) settings.

Specifically, Prema Panduga revolves around a series of reflections drawing on participatory learning and action techniques. These discussions were designed to establish a common platform among project staff and sex workers for thinking and acting together. Part of this process of building trust and solidarity involved recognising and addressing social and cultural barriers that might impede communication. According to ICRW, the resulting unguarded conversations between the women and staff that took place enabled the open exchange of ideas for how to refine and deepen harm reduction interventions. For example, elaborate discussions about sexual positions and preferences led to the extension of safer sex messages to address various sexual practices. A conscious effort was made to create an environment in which sex is not viewed solely as a transmitter of disease, but is valued.

One of the insights to emerge from these reflections was the importance of the strategy of peer education, particularly to engage and educate the adolescent daughters of sex workers. Sex workers were trained to act as outreach workers who could provide information and skills to these young women on how to protect themselves from HIV, and how to cope with difficult life situations. The adult sex workers subsequently trained the adolescent daughters of sex workers in their respective areas so that they, in turn, could educate their peers.

Women, HIV/AIDS.

Organisers contend that "HIV prevention strategies disempower sex workers when they cast women as vectors of disease, focus predominantly on commercial transactions, fail to acknowledge the importance of intimate relations, and minimize women's right to pleasure." The name of the project - Prema Panduga - reflects this emphasis, and also indicates the woman-centred nature of the initiative. Reportedly, the participating sex workers felt that "this is not just a project, but a festival – a festival of love" characterised by respect for "dignity, love and life". Reflecting on the project, one sex worker said, "Now we know what is in your hearts and you know what is in our hearts...It is very important for us, as women, to share with each other and know each other."

Building on these connections, the participants felt empowered to gather momentum to suggest and implement real-world applications of the concepts they had discussed in the sessions. For instance, based on the fact that, in southern India, many sex workers entertain clients through song and dance before providing sexual services, the women suggested that Prema Panduga provide skills-building on theatre techniques and mime. This led the women to form a cultural troupe called Nari Kala Vedika that works to generate awareness on the risk of HIV among their peers and with the broader community. These performances reflect what ICRW claims is a notable outcome of the discussions held through Prema Panduga: The women situate the issue of HIV risk from their own perspective, choosing to address issues of violence and exploitation, dowry practices which are at the origin of many women's entry into sex work, and lack of access to health and education services, given prevailing stigma and discrimination.

Elaborating on these and other outcomes, organisers hold that "[t]he program's research on subjective sexual experiences and sexual hierarchies proved innovative in building rapport between SAKSHAM staff and sex workers, and for laying groundwork for a more transformative, woman-centered programming approach. This new knowledge was empowering as women and staff cultivated mutual empathy and openness and provided staff rationale to adapt ongoing interventions and design new interventions led by women. In light of the findings, on-going harm reduction interventions have been subsequently modified, and new activities designed jointly with the women. Prema Panduga experiences led to responsiveness to the vulnerabilities of sex workers that they face in their occupational and personal lives."