AIDSQuest: The HIV/AIDS Survey Library
Survey Summaries

Horizons Program—Community Development Approaches to Sex Work Interventions

Overview
Horizons studied interventions and their costs that strive to strengthen or introduce community development strategies by and for sex workers, using a non-experimental pre- and post-research design at three distinct sites in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The research was in collaboration with the NGO Programa Integrado de Marginalidade (PIM). To the degree possible given the available timeframe for the study, the sustainability of the interventions was assessed with respect to the proportion of financial and economic costs that are met by community members and organizations, and the willingness and ability of the community to take over and maintain intervention activities over the longer term. Data for these indicators were collected through both quantitative methods (structured questionnaire available) and qualitative methods including focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Questions addressed:

• Self-efficacy and practical skills at the individual level.

• Community participation and ownership of the project and intervention through such measures as the proportion of sex workers involved in determining and implementing activities.

• Perceived sustainability of activities. 

• Collective willingness to assume responsibility at the broader community level.

• Changes in societal attitudes toward sex workers and sex work.

Methodology/validity
Concepts defined in an international review commissioned by Horizons of the rationale and role of community development approaches and core indicators developed from an in-depth analysis by Horizons of the Sonagachi Project in India, were the starting point for this survey. The process for adapting and refining this set of indicators began with a consultative workshop held 15–18 February 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, and was followed by a period of further development and field-testing.

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This page updated 21 August 2006

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