Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021

Rehabilitation of Sex Workers in Mwingi Town, County, : Does economic empowerment work for Commercial Sex Workers?

Juliana Syengo,Beatrice Ndiga,&Jeketule Jacob Soko* Tangaza University College, , Kenya [email protected]*

The current study aims to analyse the contribution of an income-generating strategy in the transformation of sex workers in Mwingi town, , Kenya. Specifically, the present study seeks to (a) investigate the demographic details of sex workers in Mwingi town, (b) establish the income-generating activities of sex workers and (c) the factors that drive women into sex work, (d) suggest alternative income-generating activities, and (e) propose sustainable income-generation projects. To achieve these objectives, we used a mixed-methods design. 57 respondents participated in structured interviews. These interviews were analysed using both descriptive and thematic analysis—a process that entails coding and establishing the themes emerging from the data and interpreting it. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics. We found that majority of sex workers belonged to a Christian denomination, had attained minimal education, and were involved in sex work between 1-5 years. The majority rely on sex work as their primary source of income. Involvement in sex work was due to a variety of reasons including economic hardship, family breakdown, lack of education, and peer pressure. For these participants, creating job opportunities such as starting businesses were key for rehabilitation. Furthermore, respondents proposed that they are supported by start-up capital and skill enhancement for effective management of their businesses. There is a need for empowerment programmes focusing on their skills. Tailored economic empowerment programmes should be introduced to sex workers paying attention to business skills training and financial support as they carry out small-scale businesses.

KEYWORDS: Sex workers, Kitui County, Income-generating, Transformation, Nordic Model

Introduction Background &Literature Review Situating the World of Sex Work he purpose of this study is to explore the sex work phenomenon in Mwingi town, Kenya, and Sex work is widely spread across the world as ob- Tsuggest intervention strategies to improve the served from Vandepitte (2006) who states that in Asia, dignity of those involved in this age-old trade. Accord- between 0.2% and 2.6% of the population engage in ing to the World Health Organization definition, sex sex work, while in the ex-Russian federations it ranges workers are women, men, and transgendered people between 0.1% and 1.5%. Data is scant on the situation who receive money or goods in exchange for sexual ser- in North America. Further, in Eastern Europe between vice (Overs, 2002, p. 2). In the present study, sex work 0.4% and 1.49%, in Western Europe between 0.19% and is generally defined as the sale of sexual services in 1.4%, and in Latin America between 0.2% and 7.4% en- exchange for money, goods, or other favours, whether gage in sex work. In Sub-Saharan Africa, sex workers’ regularly or occasionally. Despite sex work being il- prevalence in the commercial capitals ranges between legal in most African countries, hard economic times 0.7% and 4.3%. Lubin (2012) summarizes the popula- contribute to progression in this trade. Humanitarian tion of sex workers worldwide as nearly 42 million and emergencies, dysfunctional families, demand for sex, that three quarters are between the ages of 13 and 25, and homelessness are contributory influences to many with 80% being female. However, these figures may girls opting for sex work in developing countries (Shah, not accurately represent the magnitude of sex work 2014). Commercial sex is fast gaining ground despite because the job is secretive where some may not report being illegal; different laws criminalize sex work in involvement due to the stigma associated with such Kenya. Mwingi town is equally affected by this fast- work (Lubin, 2012). In South Africa, it is estimated that growing trade, where sex work has increased in the there are 153,000 active sex workers, and of these about past decade. 8,000 are men and about another 6,000 are transgen-

https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 1 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021 der (Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Taskforce, dren to school, helped women retire, and increased 2016). Many studies indicate that most sex workers are capacity to practice safe sex (Overs, 2014). On the other female (Baral et al., 2015). hand, however, despite the strategies deployed by var- Sex workers are often victimized and marginalized ious organizations and governments, there seems to and go through many challenges which violate their be little impact as revealed by studies carried out by rights. A report in Canada by Ling (2008) stresses that the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP, 2015) police harassment and belittling of the sex work profes- in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, sion is one of the difficulties of sex workers. Similarly, Uganda, and Nigeria where these programmes have in Kenya, reports by FIDA (2008) reveal that police seemed to fail regarding rehabilitating the women sex falsely arrest sex workers to extort money from them. workers that were targeted by such programmes. Sim- Furthermore, police beat, sexually assault, and humili- ilarly, in Mwingi town, the NGO Hope Worldwide ate sex workers in custody (Elmore-Meegan, et al. 2004; Kenya had only managed to rehabilitate 15 sex work- FIDA, 2008). Similarly, Lubin (2012) states that sex ers out of the estimated 2,315 after more than two years workers are regularly beaten, arrested, and robbed by of engagement (KNA, 2017). This raises the question: police who know that the victims have no chance of Why, despite rehabilitation interventions, is there a gen- making a complaint due to the illegal nature of their erally very slow and unfruitful progress in the lives of work. In Kenya, sex work is classified under Kenya’s sex workers? Penal Code as illegal Kenya Laws, 2014), and it entails Nonetheless, further research has expanded on the a stiff penalty. It is regarded as an “immoral activity” effectiveness of economic empowerment where results rather than a form of labour, and many believe that sex seem generally positive. For example, a study by As- workers deserve to be punished (Tukai, 2018). Addi- pires (2014) carried out in India involving The Pi project tionally, sex workers risk contracting sexually transmit- provided HIV education and micro-enterprise projects ted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS (Paz-Bailey, Noble, involving training in tailoring canvas bags for export Salo, Tregear, 2016). sale. The study revealed that there were decreased sexual risk behaviours among street-based sex workers. Economic Empowerment Strategy Furthermore, the results on the impact of the project To address the problem of sex work, many types were quite positive for the intervention group where of rehabilitation programmes have been put in place economic well-being increased by 42% in monthly in- using different strategies. In this study, rehabilitation is come and a 41% reduction in income earned from sex understood as the process of helping sex workers exit work (Aspires, 2014). This study sought to illustrate sex work and re-integrate into the community (NSWP, the effectiveness of income-generating activities in em- 2015). Economic empowerment is one of the most-used powering sex workers vis-à-vis other interventions and strategies in rehabilitation of sex workers around the the point seems to be proven. globe (Goldenberg et al. 2013; NSWP, 2015). The strat- The Network of Sex Workers Project (NSWP, 2015) egy is based on the assumption that economic hardship points out that making economic empowerment pro- drives people into sex work; therefore, the provision of grammes sustainable works not only through the pro- alternative income would dis-entice participants from vision of small grants to help them set up businesses, the trade (Moret, 2014). This view is supported by the but also to provide sex workers with enough capital Nordic Model (Iacono, 2018). Overs (2015) states that until their small businesses start generating enough in- most economic rehabilitation programmes aim at hav- come and profit to be self-sufficient. Second, providing ing sex workers exit the sex work trade, having them adequate follow-up support is crucial to ensuring that participate in activities including vocational skills train- sex workers do not feel out of their depth undertak- ing, microcredit facilities, income-generating activities, ing their new income-generating activities. They are counselling, and savings and cooperatives. more likely to continue their new business ventures Most attempts to address the issues associated with if they feel confident that the right support is avail- sex work have used an economic empowerment strat- able to them when needed. This observation raises egy based on the assumption that such a strategy the question about practices that organizations have would ideally transform the lives of sex workers (Green- when engaging sex workers. In many developing coun- berg, 2012). On one hand, some studies have shown tries, especially in Africa, there is a perception that that these strategies reduced sex workers’ reliance on groups are given capital to start them off and they are loan shares, increased members’ ability to send chil- expected to succeed without continued financial sup- https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 2 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021 port. Furthermore, NSWP (2015) adds that sex workers ies have been done outside the context of this study in should not be forced to exit sex work as part of eco- Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Nigeria. Most of these nomic empowerment programmes; rather, they should studies have explored statistics on sex workers but not freely do so when they can. According to this per- the effectiveness of strategies used by organizations to spective, economic empowerment programmes should rehabilitate sex workers. Therefore, this study seeks to not disempower sex workers but rather enable them analyse the contribution of income-generating strate- to exercise their autonomy concerning the work they gies in the transformation of sex workers in Mwingi undertake. Overall, both the Overs and NSWP pro- town, Kitui County. Specifically, this study seeks to grammes recognize the importance of putting the sex find out (a) the demographic details of sex workers in workers at the centre of their rehabilitation. Mwingi town, (b) whether sex workers engage in other Another example can be seen in in economic activities other than sex work, (c) the factors Western Kenya, which initiated a community-based that drive women into sex work, (d) the suggested ways organization called Survivors (NSWP, 2014). Survivors which sex workers can use to quit sex work, and (e) employs various strategies to economically empower how to make income-generating projects more effective sex workers. It particularly promotes self-sufficiency for sex workers. as an alternative source of livelihood. Survivors seeks to raise the standard of living and improve the qual- Method ity of life for sex workers through income-generating Study Site activities. The organization runs a savings and credit cooperative (SACCO) whereby all sex workers con- The study was carried out in Mwingi Town, in Kitui tribute a certain amount to a monthly premium and County, which is located midway between Nairobi and receive their shares annually. They also operate an in the North-Eastern part of Kenya. Mwingi Emergency Support Scheme (ESS). The ESS is an inter- is semi-arid with frequent shortages of food and wa- vention that responds to the need for a health insurance ter. It has, in recent years, experienced an increased policy tailored to the needs and financial capabilities population due to migration from rural areas. It had a of the members. It covers health issues and provides projected population of 17,489 in 2017. This has been benevolence funds for bereaved members. The involve- observed in the increase of both adults and children ment of sex workers in designing and planning these looking for food and other basic needs. The number of initiatives has contributed immensely to its success. children on the streets has been increasing. This situa- Here, what we learn is that the input of sex workers is tion is compounded by a high level of poverty that is fundamental if economic programmes for sex workers prevalent in the area (Frances Taylor Family Learning are to succeed. Centre, 2015; Kitui County Integrated Development Through an examination of some programmes in Plan, 2014). place, we see that there are many studies regarding or- Research Design and Instruments of Data Col- ganizations that have employed various rehabilitation strategies for sex workers. However, these studies have lection revealed inconsistent findings: some show elements of Mixed-methods research design was used in this the transformation of sex workers while others do not. study where the quantitative approach adopted a sur- Moreover, these studies were not able to evaluate the vey research design while the qualitative approach used reasons for the successes and failures of the rehabilita- case study research design. A total of 57 respondents tion strategies put in place. Some reported inconsistent participated in the research. The sample was com- results; one study done in the Democratic Republic of posed of sex workers themselves, as well as individuals Congo (DRC), Malawi, Uganda, and Nigeria failed to from selected departments in government and non- rehabilitate the female sex workers who were targeted. governmental organizations. These were included in Furthermore, most studies mainly focus on the link the sample because they were directly working with between sex work and HIV/AIDS (Ngugi, 2012). sex workers in health programs and child support pro- Therefore, the main objective of this study is to grams. Phase one of the research relied on snowball investigate the contribution of the economic empow- sampling to recruit 50 participants who were sex work- erment strategy in the rehabilitation of sex workers ers in Mwingi town. Each respondent was interviewed in Mwingi town, Kitui County, and elsewhere. While independently and given the option to participate in there exist studies on sex workers strategies, such stud- phase two of the research. Phase two of the research https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 3 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021 comprised of focus group discussions and was carried children and adults engage in commercial sex work. out at Frances Taylor Family Learning Centre (Pro- The presence of young girls trading for sex, in our gramme of Empowerment). Since the centre is open to study, could be attributed to their mothers who are sex all kinds of empowerment programmes, respondents workers introducing them to sex work to provide for were not identified as sex workers but as those that their needs. The prevalence of children engaging in sex came to know about the programmes of the centre. work may increase unless some measures are urgently For both the interview and focus group discussion an put in place to check their entry into sex work. interview guide was used to collect data. All 50 sex workers had religious affiliations with The study evaluated four variables: demographic Christianity. This finding is interesting since Kenya has details of sex workers, factors that drive them into sex mixed denominations overall: of the population, Protes- work, whether sex workers engage in other economic tant Christians comprise 45%, Roman Catholics 33%, activities other than sex work, suggested ways which Muslims 10%, Indigenous Religions 10% and other re- sex workers can use to quit sex work, and how to make ligions 2% (CIA World Fact Book, 2018). Ideally, this the income-generating projects more effective for sex would proportionally translate to the reality in Mwingi. workers. Additionally, sex workers of Islamic faith should be quite high because of significant populations that have Ethical Considerations settled in Mwingi from North-Eastern Kenya such as Ethical clearance was obtained from the National and Garissa where people are predominantly Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation Muslim. Yet here, the findings only find Christian (NACOSTI) in Kenya. Written consent was sought from women engaging in sex work. This raises the question the participants and they were informed that what of whether religion influences the sex work trade. It they were to share was to be treated with confiden- may be that the researcher using the snowball method tiality. Due to the sensitive nature of the information was led only to Christian sex workers or it could be being dealt with, only female research assistants were that Muslims are afraid of the punishment that they recruited, trained, and equally made aware of the con- could get from their religious leaders if caught in sex fidentiality required in the exercise. The raw data was work. kept secured and accessed only by the researcher and Regarding education, 45 (90%) had only attained trained research assistants. Electronic data sets were a primary school level of education and five (10%) secured with personalized passwords to ensure con- had attained secondary school education. None of the fidentiality. In this study, no actual names have been respondents had attained college or university. Addi- used to ensure confidentiality. Professional conduct tionally, only a few among them had completed class was maintained in collecting, presenting, and storing eight in Kenya. Since most of the sex workers had only the data. attained primary education, this could be the reason they could not get decent employment. This finding is Findings supported by Chen (2007) and Moses et al. (2006) who indicate that the education level of sex workers is gen- Demographic Details of the Respondents erally low. This is important when it comes to looking The majority of respondents were female (89%, at empowerment programmes for women to quit sex n=51). Of the sample (N=57), 50 were sex workers work. Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Mwingi town, three were government officials, and (TVET) would be ideal for them as the entry require- four were NGO staff working with most-at-risk peo- ments are relatively low. With basic primary education, ple in Mwingi. The mean age of the sample was 34. one can be enrolled and get empowered with practical Looking closer at the age breakdown of participants, skills such as dressmaking, tailoring, catering, among 6% were below the age of 18 (n=3), 58% were between others. TVET uses formal, non-formal, and informal 18 and 35 (n=29), 34% were between 36 and 49 (n=17), learning. and one person (2%) was above the age of 50. This Regarding the duration of time that participants shows that the majority of sex workers are young girls had been in sex work, the study revealed that 58% (29) aged between 18 and 29 years. This finding concurs had been in sex work between 1-5 years, 30% (15) be- with Lubin (2012) whose study in Mexico also found tween 6-15 years, and 12% (6) between 16-30 years (see that most sex workers are young: three quarters were Table 1). During the focus group discussions, some between the ages of 13 and 25 suggesting that both participants stated that they recruit young girls into sex https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 4 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021

Table 1: Duration of time in sex work

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Table 2: Sex work and employment status

2.jpg work, assuring the girls that they will have ready have little patience for waiting to be paid at the end of money that they can use to educate their children, buy the month when they can make quicker money through food, pay rent, and get medicine without having to sex work. Others have already set their minds that they wait for someone pay at the end of the month. Some cannot be employed because they are not educated have been in sex work for more than fifteen years (see and have no certificates. As one of the respondents, Table 1). At the same time, we found from the majority Mwende stated: who have been in sex work from 1-5 years that the work is very hard, drains energy, and in the process many . . . Most of us have either little or no educa- get sick and cannot continue. Those who have been tion and we prefer sex work since it does there for 6-15 and 16-30 years have other jobs aside not require professional qualifications, it from sex work, though occasionally they engage in sex only needs that I avail myself. work approximately thrice or twice per week. Another respondent, Nzilani added:

Sex Work and Employment Status . . . I am not qualified for any job so I just Table 2 shows that 58% (29) of sex workers in the find myself enrolled in sex work because I sample have sex work as their main job, while 40% need money to live in town. (20) have another income source and 2% (1) had formal Those who have alternative income do not earn enough employment elsewhere. These results show that the since the majority are not well educated. They can only majority have no other job other than sex work, which be involved in small businesses such as selling vegeta- indicates that sex work was the primary economic ac- bles, charcoal, sweets, khat, peanuts, and water. tivity. This finding is supported by Baleta (2015) who According to a focus group discussion, most of the states that sex workers in the region are on the frontline respondents rent a room, though they were not able to of poverty. Similarly, Sagtani et al.’s (2014) study in pay promptly at the end of the month. Mwende shared Uganda found out that female sex workers with higher her story: socio-economic status earn money by working in estab- lished bars, relying fully on sex work income and are . . . I am a single mother of four children. I less able to negotiate safe sex. The difference here is am supposed to make sure that these chil- that sex workers in Mwingi do not seem to get as much dren eat, go to school, and have clothes to money as those that operate in well-established cities. put on and a place to sleep. What I get af- The research found that sex workers themselves ter selling peanuts cannot provide for these https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 5 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021

basic needs. It is actually for food and there- population is poor in this area and migrate to Mwingi fore, most of the time I am not able to pay in search of jobs. Consequently, women end up in sex rent. And the strategy that I use to survive work as an alternative to raise income for basic needs. is to migrate from one house to the other The fact that sex workers are driven to sex work as a without paying for the previous one. result of extreme poverty, meeting basic needs, marital problems, societal and family conflict, and pressure This implies that even if some of the sex workers have from peers, shows that there are myriad reasons that an alternative source of income such as a job, the in- push people into sex work. This finding is confirmed come cannot sustain them to meet basic needs. by Overs (2002) who asserts that increasing economic Factors that Drive Women Into Sex Work options for sex workers can help them achieve greater financial security and make it easier for them to de- Table 3 presents findings that help answer the ques- cide on important matters that shape their lives. They tion: What are the key factors that drive women to would be better placed by choosing whether to remain sex work? Other than economic reasons, five themes in sex work or do something else given financial se- emerged: family breakdown, lack of education, seek- curity. The fact that there are many push and pull ing pleasure, and peer pressure. However, the majority factors may bring difficulties in the rehabilitation of sex of women entered sex work due to economic reasons. workers. Results from the two focus group discussions showed similar results: those that entered sex work did so be- Family Breakdown cause of lacking someone to help them concerning life, poverty, lack of basic needs, and lack of school fees to Several respondents felt they were not supported educate their children. by their families and as a result, they resolved to turn Economic Factors to sex work. As one respondent stated: The majority of respondents reported that they were . . . We also find ourselves in marriage prob- pressed by economic needs such as meeting basic needs, lems, family conflicts and no support from including food, clothes, housing, and school fees for any family members so we prefer to be their dependants. During focus group discussions, one town and have the freedom to do what we of the respondents stated the following: can to survive. . . . “If I can share on behalf of the others, we don’t like this job, we know is a dirty job, Lack of Education very tiring and risky.. . but what can we do since we are very poor, we lack basic needs As two respondents stated: for our families like food, clothes, house, fees, no job, no income and little salary for . . . I cannot qualify for any job so I just find casual jobs. myself enrolled in sex work because I need Another respondent echoed the following: money to live in town.

. . . We cannot quit sex work because our . . . Most of us have either little or no educa- children need food, shelter, clothing, edu- tion and we prefer sex work since it has no cation, medication and we do not have any professional qualifications required what it source of income. requires is that I avail myself. Similiarly, another respondent stated: . . . I joined sex work because I need money Peer Pressure to live in town. Influence from peers also emerged as a factor From these responses, one notes the core factor in en- that contributes to sex work. One of the respon- gaging in sex work is economic. Several studies sup- dents—Wayua, a teenager—stated the following: port that Mwingi being semi-arid has frequent short- ages of food and water (Kitui County Integrated De- . . . I am moved by the influence of my peers. velopment Plan, 2014). As a result, quite a significant https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 6 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021

Seeking Pleasure there are a myriad of reasons for engagement, although they are intertwined. As noted from the findings, eco- Only one person mentioned that seeking pleasure nomic factors relate to lack of education. This suggests was the reason she became a sex worker. Generally, the that rehabilitating sex workers would require a holistic findings on factors contributing to sex work reveal that approach.

Table 3: Factors that drive women to sex work

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Table 4: Ways by which sex workers can quit sex work

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Suggested Ways Which Sex Workers Can Use ...... Running shops is of great advantage to Quit Sex Work because our in our areas we do not receive enough rain, so it is a must for people to What income-generating activities do sex workers come to town to buy food every day. engage in other than sex work? Well, Table 4 shows the various suggested ways by which sex workers can quit sex work. Providing job opportunities (15) and starting Providing Technical Skills businesses (14) have the highest responses. From the Mwende stated that: concise themes, the researcher found that 34 respon- dents preferred engaging in business activities as a way . . . Even if we go looking for jobs, people of getting them out of the trade, providing employment cannot employ us, they see us as sinners, had 15 responses and other support activities had 15 call us prostitutes and laugh at us. It is responses. better to employ ourselves. Providing Sex Workers With Job Opportunities . . . If I can speak on behalf of my friends, For Self-employment if we are given some training or empow- This theme was predominant and it resonated with ered to do any other job, we can employ the factors leading to sex work. Several respondents ourselves by starting our businesses. pointed out their views: This could depict skills to be used for self-employment . . . We can employ ourselves by starting our businesses, we would wish to do jobs Basic Needs Support Activities like hairdressing, tailoring, beauty therapy, Some of the respondents pointed out that they dressmaking and be happy to quit sex work. needed support in education for their children. Some . . . We do not like this job of sex work hon- suggested that they needed support to construct a estly but we have no choice. house in their rural homes so that they can resettle. Furthermore, sex workers suggested several income- Mwende added that: generating activities that sex workers would like to engage in so that they can quit sex work. Table 5 shows . . . Even if we go looking for jobs, people that 14 stated that they would like to sell vegetables, cannot employ us, they see us as sinners, 11 preferred running a shop, eight selling clothes, six call us prostitutes and ‘laugh at us1’. It’s operating a hair salon, four selling peanuts, three dress- better to employ ourselves. making and tailoring, three selling khat, two selling Nduku shared that:: charcoal, two selling chips, two selling sweets, one selling goats, one selling cereals, and finally one soap . . . We would like to sell vegetables, run making. shops, operate salons, sell peanuts, khat, This shows that the majority of sex workers would charcoal, chips, sweets, goats, cereals and like to engage in the business of selling goods to quit finally making soap and selling it. sex work. Basing on the concise emerging themes, 49 responses preferred selling of goods and nine would Mbithe supported this by saying that: do skill-based business such as operating a hair salon . . . We choose to sell these goods such as and dress-making. The reason for choosing the sell- vegetables because we will have many cus- ing of goods such as vegetables was that it had many tomers. People have to eat so every day we customers because people must eat every day. Oth- will be selling and have money to cater for ers preferred running small shops, reason being that our needs. at the end of the day they will have many customers because most people get food from shops. One of the Mumbe added that: respondents, Mawia shared her story:

1Literal translation meaning ‘people mock us or make fun of us.

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Table 5: Proposed income-generating projects

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. . . I prefer selling vegetables because every HIV/AIDS while the other was also given education on day I will have customers who are buying the micro-enterprise of making and selling canvas bags. and I will not miss some income at the end The finding revealed that the group that had business of the day to be able to feed my children. enterprise showed a 42% increase in income and a 41% reduction in income earned from sex work. The situa- Another respondent, Lydia, shared the following: tion in Mwingi may be unique depending on the type of training on business skills, type of business, size of . . . I would like to run a small shop having capital, availability of markets, and the preparations in them maize flour, sugar, milk among oth- put into the project. ers common goods provides a great income because in Mwingi people have to buy food How to Make Income-Generating Projects More from the shops and if you open every day you can sell almost the whole stock. Effective For Sex Workers

. . . If the government can offer us jobs with- Regarding how to make income-generating projects out discrimination we will be happy. Ad- more effective, 30 respondents preferred to be sup- ditionally, if we are given some capital to ported financially until their income projects stabilise, start businesses, we will be able to cater for 16 of them wanted enough capital for their businesses, our basic needs. two wanted to be involved in the whole process, and a final two respondents preferred to be trained in busi- One clear finding is that sex workers were in sex ness. work because of economic reasons. Hence it would be Interestingly, most sex workers preferred adequate obvious to address economic factors to rehabilitate sex financial support for their income-generating activities. workers. This is perhaps the reason why most of the re- The finding is supported by the Network for Sex Work- spondents pointed out some of the empowerment activ- ers Project (NSWP, 2015) which supports economic ities that included hairdressing, entrepreneurial skills, empowerment as an intervention for rehabilitation of beauty management, arts and craft training among sex workers. The study opines that that one of the ways their preferred options for rehabilitation. This finding to make economic empowerment programmes sustain- confirms what Goldenberg et al. (2013) found that eco- able is not only through the provision of small grants to nomic empowerment is one widely-used strategy for help sex workers set up businesses, but also to provide sex workers rehabilitation around the globe. Sugges- them with enough capital until their small businesses tions on income-generating activities tally with Aspires start generating enough profit to be self-sufficient, as (2014) who experimented in India on two groups of sex well as capacity-building training. This is an interest- workers where one group was only given education on ing observation since most businesses set up without https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 9 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021 sufficient financial support risk closure because the cap- Baleta, A. (2015). Lives on the Line: Sex Work in Sub ital is used for upkeep. Most of the income-generating Saharan Africa. The Lancet 385(9962), e1-e2. doi: activities were done without beneficiaries’ involvement. 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61049-7 Baral, S. D., Friedman, M. R., Geibel, S., Rebe, K., Bozhi- Conclusion:Recommendations & nov, B., Diouf, D., & Cáceres, C. F. (2015). Male Limitations sex workers: Practices, contexts, and vulnerabil- ities for HIV acquisition and transmission. The This study recommends the following: Since most Lancet, 385(9964), 260–273. doi: 10.1016/s0140- of the sex workers have attained a very low level of edu- 6736(14)60801-1 cation, there is a need to come up with skills identifica- Chen, L. (2007). Sexual risk factors for HIV infection in tion programmes to assess what each of the commercial early and advanced HIV epidemics in Sub-Saharan sex workers can do. There is a need for empowerment Africa. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from programmes focusing on their skills. Tailored economic http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov empowerment programs should be introduced to sex CIA World Fact Book, (2018). Kenya religion. Re- workers paying particular attention to business skills trieved August 2019, from http://www.kenya- training and financial support as they carry out small- information-guide.com/kenya-religion.html scale businesses. Elmore-Meegan, M. M., Conroy, R. M., & Agala, B. The authors’ position is that sex work is not a de- C. (2004). Sex workers in Kenya, numbers of cent form of earning a living. Hence, there is need to clients and associated risks: An exploratory survey. support those involved in sex work in finding alterna- Reproductive Health Matters 12(23), 50-7. tive means of earning a living. However, the authors’ position did not influence the collection, analysis, and FIDA. (2008). Documenting human rights viola- interpretation of data. This is because the following tions of sex workers in Kenya. Retrieved from measures were taken to minimize reflexivity. First, the http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org study used trained research assistants so that data were Frances Taylor Family Learning Centre. (2015). Strate- collected as is. Second, data were transcribed by re- gic Plan, Mwingi, Kenya. search assistants. Third, data triangulation was used Goldenberg, S. M., Engstrom, D., Rolon, M. L., Silver- whereby data were collected from multiple groups of man, J. G., & Strathdee, S. A. (2013). Perspectives sex workers, government officials, and NGO staff. Fi- on strategies to reduce sexual exploitation and HIV nally, during data analysis, each of the research assis- Risk: A qualitative study. PLoS One 8(8), e72982. tants independently came up with emerging themes. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072982 Afterwards, these were after crosschecked and common Greenberg, J. (2012). From tolerance to rights: HIV themes were agreed upon. and sex work programs in the Caribbean ef- fective models and opportunities for scale-up. References Focus Human Rights Council. Retrieved from https://www.focusright.org Aborisade, R., & Aderinto, A. (2008). Adjustment pat- Kenya Laws (2014). The sexual offences act. Retrieved terns and obstacles against social rehabilitation of from kenyalaw.org/kl/index.php?id1894 sex workers in Nigeria. African Sociological Review, Kenya News Agency (KNA). (2017, March 22nd). Sex 12(2), 128-143. workers turn around fortunes. Business Today. Asijiki Fact Sheet. (2015). Sex work and religion. Re- Retrieved from https://businesstoday.co.ke/sex- trieved April 2020 from http://asijiki.org.za/wp- workers-turn-around-fortunes-tiny-loans content/uploads/Sex-work-and-Religion_Asijiki- Kitui County Integrated Development Plan. (2014). Re- Fact-Sheet_Web.pdf Aspires, M. (2014). Economic trieved from http://www.kituicountyassembly.org/ strengthening for female sex workers: A review of the userfiles/Kitui%20County%20Integrated%20 De- literature. United States: USAID. velopment%20Pland%20July%202014(1).pdf Bailey, P., Noble, M., & Tregear, J. (2016). Preva- Iacono, R.V. (2018). The Nordic model of economic lence of HIV among US female sex workers: Sys- development and welfare: Recent development tematic review and meta-Analysis. Retrieved from and future prospects. A Review of European https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ Economic Policy 53(4), 185-190. Retrieved from PMC5114707 https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 10 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021

https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/ Sagtani, R. A., Bhattarai, S., Adhikari, B. R., Baral, D. D., 2018/number/4/article/the-nordic-model Yadav, D. K., & Pokharel, P. K. (2014). Understand- Lubin, G. (2012). Global prostitutions.Business Insider. ing socio-economic contexts of female sex workers. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com Nepal Medical College Journal 16(2-4), 119-24. Ling, J. (2008). The government has failed Canada Sex Workers’ Education and Advocacy Taskforce. sex workers and they are running out of pa- (2016). Sex workers education and advocacy taskforce. tience. Macleans. Retrieved April 2020 from Retrieved from http://www.sweat.org.za https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada Shah, M. (2014). Human trafficking, prostitution, legis- Moret, W. (2014). Economic strengthening for female lation and data. Retrieved from https: freepolicy- sex workers: A review of literature. Retrieved from briefs.org2020/01/22 https://www.fhi360.org/sites/default/files/media Tukai, A. (2018). Sex Workers Involved in HIV /AIDS /documents Research. In D. Schroeder et al. (Eds.), Ethics Moses, S., Blanchard, J. F., Kang, H., Emmanuel, F., Dumping (pp. 23-31). Springer Briefs in Research Reza, P. S., Becker, M. L., Wilson, D., & Claeson, and Innovation Governance. doi: 10.1007/978-3- M. (2006). Aids in South Asia: Understanding and 319-64731-9_4 responding to a heterogeneous epidemic. Washington, Vandepitte, L. D. (2006). Estimates of the number DC: World Bank. of female sex workers in different regions in the Ngugi, E. N. (2012). Female sex workers in Africa: world. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from Epidemiology overview, data gaps, ways for- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc ward. Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance, SAHARA J: 9(3), 148–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/17290376.2 Acknowledgements Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). For the success of this article, we thank God, the (2014). Economic empowerment pro- Almighty for enabling us to complete this work. Our grammes for sex workers. Retrieved from appreciation goes to the Congregation of the Poor Ser- http://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/ vants of the Mother of God for their steadfast support Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). in this research. Our appreciation to the editors of (2015). Economic empowerment: Does re- the Journal for Social Thought (JST) for rigours review habilitation have a role? Retrieved from of this article work and constructive comments that http://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/ shaped this research. Lastly, we sincerely appreciate Overs, C. (2002). Sex workers: Part of the solu- our family members and friends for their support to- tion; An analysis of HIV prevention program- wards the publication of this article. We dedicate this ming to prevent HIV transmission during com- work to Poor Servants of the Mother of God Congrega- mercial sex in developing countries. Network tion that works for the transformation of sex workers. of Sex Work Projects (NSWP). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/ 115solution.pdf Author Biographies Overs, C. (2014) Sex workers, empowerment and Sr. Juliana Syengo is a religous sister of poverty alleviation in Ethiopia. Institute of Devel- the Poor Servants of the Mother of God opment Studies (IDS) Evidence Report 80. Brighton, (https://www.poorservants.org/). She holds a Master UK. of Arts in Social Transformation specializing in Man- Overs, C. (2015). Developing more effective strategies agement and BA in sciences of Sustainable Human De- for sex work, law and poverty. Institute of Develop- velopment obtained from Tangaza University College. ment Studies, Brighton: Brighton, UK. Juliana works in a Kenya based organization that was Paz-Bailey, G., Noble, M., Salo, K., & Tregear, S. founded in United Kingdon known as Frances Taylor J. (2016). Prevalence of HIV Among U.S. Fe- Foundation (https://www.ftf.org.uk/working-for-us) male Sex Workers: Systematic Review and Meta- which focuses on empowerment of vulnerable children analysis. AIDS and behavior, 20(10), 2318–2331. and adults. She is passoinate about rehabilitaition of https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1332-y Commercial Sex Workers. Juliana is a consultant at Spec Training and Consultancy (www.spectcc.org). She https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/jst/index 11 Journal for Social Thought 5(1) • March 2021 has worked with several empowerment programs in aims at improving course design, facilitation and as- Kenya especially, Kitui Integrated Creative Arts and sessment for learning (https://pedal-africa.org). Jeke- Business Appraisal Project an organization that focuses tule is a consultant at Spec Training and Consultancy on women empowerment, Nyumbani Children’s Home (www.spectcc.org) which carries out assignments on which focuses on rehabilitaiton of people living with Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Accountability HIV/Aids. Julian is trained in Development Education for organizational effectiveness. He has participated and Leadership Teams in Action (DELTA) Resource in several research writing trainings by AuthorAid in- Mobilization. cluding Research Writing in Environmental Health and Dr. Beatrice Ndiga is a professional in leadership Research for Social Sciences. His areas of specializa- and management. She is a senior lecturer with over tions include designing multidisciplinary and interdis- 15 years’ wealth of experience in university. She is ciplinary research and his publications include ped- currently a visiting lecturer at Tangza University Col- agogical action research, Quality Service Delivery of lege. Her values are diligence and excellence. She Universities, Management for Social Transformation, specializes in transformational leadership and social Marketing for Social transformation and Agricultural transformation. Beatrice has worked in community Pesticide use in Malawi. Email: [email protected], projects. She has supervised student’s research on so- ORCHID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7427-918 cietal challenges that need advocacy and action plan formulation. She has supervised students carrying out researh in Kibera informal settlement focusing on cross cutting issues such as youth and rehabilitation of street children among others. She has authored a number of articles and peer reviewed articles in reputable journals. Dr. Jeketule Soko is a Malawian national residing in Kenya. He is the MBA program leader at Tangaza University College. He is also a resource person of Ped- agogical Leadership in Africa (PEDAL) training that

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