FENARETE PROJECT Fenarete Project | www.fenarete.org E.mail: [email protected] | [email protected] | [email protected] General Coordination Daniela Mannu et Pia Covre Editor Pia Covre With collaboration Licia Brussa English translation Erik Schneider Art direction Punktone, Gorizia / Italie Front corver illustration Antonio Querin | Punktone Layout designer Lucia Mainetti © 2004 by Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Al Rights Reserved Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is liable for any use made of the following information FENARETE PROJECT INTRODUCTION Ten years of operating ‘on the street’ with persons who work as prostitutes has made the Committee for the Civil Rights of Prostitutes a groundbreaking experience which is always on the ‘cutting edge’ in exploring new ways for improving the lives of sex workers. From self-help groups to the European TAMPEP project, the pilot projects in the area of HIV prevention and health care have become models for a network of services and projects in other countries. More recently, these experiences led to a specific project for the protection and emancipation of migrant women who are trafficked and exploited. A decisive factor for the successful implementation of many of the projects undertaken during this period has been the direct contribution of active or for- mer sex workers. An initial, pragmatic use of volunteers has developed into a more structured inclusion of this figure in multi-disciplinary operational teams in the area of prostitution. However, because no certification exists for the figure of the Peer Educator (PE), this role in operational settings has not received the professional recognition that operators who work in extremely complex situations deserve. In addition, except for some training for activities where it was necessary to provide information on the issues being dealt with by volunteers, there were no adequate vocational trai- ning courses for PEs in the area of prostitution. This situation led to the idea of properly recognising the work of these precious ‘operators’ whose active interventions are an authentic added value, as has been demonstrated by many experiences, and not only in Europe. For example, the SHIP programme, which began in 1992 (supported by UNAIDS) and targeted the transmission of HIV/AIDS between prostitutes and their clients in Sonagachy, the main red light district in Calcutta, India, has assumed a legen- dary status in the field and, in terms of numbers, remains the most important organised use of PEs to date. With these aims in mind, we presented a proposal for a pilot project that would compensate for the lack of vocational training courses to the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme (General Education and Culture Directorate of the European Commission, 2000-2006). Our proposal for a two-year course in 2001-2003 aimed at enhancing the skills and professional role of persons with an experience of prostitution, and promo- ting their training and employment, was accepted. Our indispensable partner for what was necessarily a transnational project, was the TAMPEP/Transnational AIDS/STD Prevention among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe/Project network. This project utilises prostitutes as PEs in all phases of 1 FENARETE PROJECT its own operations and actively promotes a political, legal and social framework based on the human and civil rights of prostitutes, policies against human traf- ficking and the respect of the personal autonomy and integrity of women. Working together with different countries in order to prepare a standard training course for defining this specific role required respecting each country’s special characteristics with respect to prostitution. The fact that no there is uniform legislation for prostitution and immigration throughout Europe means that our target has very different living and working conditions depending on which country they live in, and therefore require different training strategies. The most striking example of this can be found in the anti-trafficking laws in Italy which, in terms of their positive aspects, have resulted in a general increase in projects and services dedicated to the social/employment integration of persons who wish to abandon a situation of exploitation. These services are also an important source for jobs for those women who, having abandoned prostitution, wish to make the skills they have acquired in their personal experience available to ser- vices and colleagues. In fact, the Italian trainees were foreign women with a per- sonal history of migration which had greatly affected their lives, while the German trainees were in part native-born and came from situations which were more favourable to them. However, the experience was extremely important for both groups of women. This manual underline the methodological structure of the training, for whom would like to go deep in detailed the documentation is available in the web site www.fenarete.org. As a final note, the project was named Fenarete after the mother of the Athenian philosopher Socrates, who, tra- dition has it, was a midwife and assisted women in giving birth. This name, which was chosen by the trainers, ultimately proved a valid metaphor for their maieutic role in creating processes of self-awareness and self-knowledge for their trainees, for their encouragement and for the care and caring with which they trained their groups. by Maria Pia Covre 2 FENARETE PROJECT Cap. 1 | Methodology: working hypothesis Our analysis of the situation in Italy enabled us to prepare the Fenarete pro- ject based on the following factors: the extent to which prostitution was diffused the ways in which prostitution was practised existing services and projects aimed at prostitution and their work-styles the various professional profiles involved in the services and projects aimed at prostitution With respect to this final point, we noted two significant elements : the majority of services and projects for prostitution did not have PEs on their staff the services and projects which did employ former prostitutes on their staff, generally used them as language-cultural mediators, or as ‘raw operators’ . The data showed that the professional figure of the PE was not only not used in prostitution-related interventions, but that its specific characteristics were not even known. Based on these observations, we asked ourselves if the professio- nal PE could have a useful role in services and projects aimed at prostitution. 1.1 The professional role of PEs in the area of prostitution Profile of the PE in the area of prostitution The first question to ask is: what is a Peer Educator? A PE is a person who belongs to the target group and thus, with respect to prostitution-related interventions, is someone who currently works as a pro- stitute or who has worked as a prostitute in the past. This special characteristic means that the PE is both close to and yet detached from the target group. Close to because she belongs or belonged to this group in the past; detached because as a peer she must be able to assume a role which is distinct from that of the target group. The PE is not ‘only’ a sex worker, but a sex worker or former sex worker who is trained in order to provide support to her colleagues or former colleagues. For this reason, the peer, in order to pro- perly fulfil her professional role, must differentiate herself from the target, that is, the peer must be aware of the fact that now that she has assumed another, dif- ferent professional role, she is no longer identical to her ‘users’. The PE must be a ‘leader’, that is, she must be a person who can become a significant point of reference both within the project and/or service in which she works, and with respect to her colleagues or former working colleagues. Being a leader is not something which is based entirely upon a person’s charac- ter or natural qualities, but must be reinforced by specific, consciously applied 3 FENARETE PROJECT interpersonal skills. This is especially true of the ability to relate to the target in a professional and not in an instinctual manner, as well as the ability to work within a team and with groups of users, understanding the dynamics involved and managing them within the limits prescribed by the PE’s role. The PE also has a didactic role which is based on her personal experience, only this experience has been reworked, reinforced and enhanced by addi- tional facts and information, and is therefore updated and ‘upgraded’. Being an ‘educator’ means that the PE’s goal is to set in motion an evolutionary process, for example, increasing the user’s level of information. As a sex wor- ker, the potential peer has acquired abilities and information through their per- sonal experience. However, in order to become a professional PE, that expe- rience and information must become a conscious body of knowledge that is applied after being enhanced through the acquisition of technical information. The PE has a great responsibility which requires a knowledge of specific issues as well as respect for oneself and one’s experiences. The first aspect to stress is that the peer must feel motivated to assume this role. For peers who still work as prostitutes, this means being able to deal with a dual role, while for those who have left prostitution, it means being able to adjust their self-image with respect to an identical context (i.e. ‘before I was on the street as a prostitute and I related with clients, now I’m on the street as a peer and I relate with prostitutes’). Peers must also be aware of their own history and experiences as prostitutes in order not to confuse themselves with their users, that is, they must maintain a proper distance between themselves and the target in order to relate in an open and unbiased way.