The organization Unidas en la Esperanza participated in the first Expo “National Response to HIV/AIDS”, a political space where cooperation agencies and the national government also participated.
Along with UNES, other 15 organizations that are part of the project «Avanzamos» of the Round 8 of the Global Fund participated with stands and materials distribution.
«These events give visibility to our organization and to the work we are doing to contribute to the national response to HIV. And also, internally, there was growth and learning from women who take more commitments in coordinating an event of this nature«, explained Lucila Esquivel, UNES president and member of the Board of the RedTraSex.
Female sex workers who participated in the exhibition in representation of UNES are peer health-promoters, who receive training and accompany the growth of other female sex workers in areas of training, counseling and support in cases of denounces in the subsidiaries that UNES is developing in Paraguay.
The meeting, open to the public, was attended by over 200 participants throughout the day. People could learn that the organization UNES is working in six regions on HIV prevention, “providing an opportunity for female sex workers to grow and strengthen their work, empowering themselves, improving upon assuming leadership roles and responsibilities in areas of coordination”, tell their members.
In addition to these actions of empowerment of female sex workers, the organization Unidas en la Esperanza made known the achievements in advocacy, such as permanent joint with the Ministry of Health, which provides constant supplies and resources for comprehensive health care of female sex workers, or the school implemented by the Ministry of Education for female sex workers and trans within UNES facilities.
As described by the UNES members, it was a time of strengthening and visibility for this organization that is working for ensuring that complaints and voices of female sex workers from Paraguay are heard, and their rights respected as the working women they are.
