SWEAT

SWEAT works to ensure that sex workers rights are defended, that sex workers have access to health and other services and that sex workers are respected and valued members of society. The organisation takes a rights based approach to its work and has 3 central programmes: Advocacy and Networking; Outreach and Development and Research and Knowledge Management. Our goals are to: advocate for the decriminalisation of adult sex work in South Africa; to address health and human rights abuses with sex workers; and to support the development of self representation of sex workers on a national and continental level in issues affecting them.  

SWEAT is a registered non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa and working nationally. We were established in 1996 to deliver services to adult sex workers in the context of the HIV epidemic. Since this time we have continued to offer services and have also expanded our work to include human rights defence work, advocacy for the rights of sex work as well as mobilising sex workers. We support the decriminalisation of sex work and the recognition of sex work as work in order to extend labour rights to sex workers.    

SWEAT is firmly committed to partnership work and the belief that this adds value and increases resource capacity and comprehensive support. We nurture partnerships in all South African provinces, and continue to build alliances in the interests of the rights of sex workers. SWEAT believes that the voices of sex workers must be heard and our work involves training and capacity building in order to amplify the voices of sex workers in debates that affect them. We continue to find ways to support sex workers to access their human rights in a criminalised system, while at the same time advocating for decriminalisation of sex work. We do this through our three programmes: Development and Outreach; Advocacy and Networking; Research and knowledge management