The project in brief:

The mobilisation of grassroots communities is a core commitment of current development policies, but it is often difficult to achieve. This research examines two uniquely successful community mobilization projects led by sex workers in India, with the aim of understanding the social conditions that support effective grassroots development. In Kolkata, the sex workers' organisation Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee runs the world-renowned 'Sonagachi Project', and, along the Maharashtra/Karnataka border, a collective of sex workers, and their associated NGO, VAMP/SANGRAM, pursue sex workers' empowerment and HIV prevention. Both movements began in the early 1990s, and present a unique opportunity to learn about community mobilisation, when it works.

While evaluation research has typically looked ‘within’ projects to understand reasons for their success or failure, this research focuses on the social relationships between the projects and the powerful groups which form their wider context. It investigates how the projects have built relationships with groups such as funding agencies, public services, local politicians, the police, and agents of the sex trade, and how these relationships have enabled the projects to overcome the common obstacles to community mobilization.

The research takes the form of a comparative case study, using a range of methods including observation of project activities, analysis of project documents and interviews with a wide variety of stakeholders. Findings will be used to produce diverse outputs including useful tools for sex workers’ organizations, learning materials for community development workers, implications for development policies and academic journal articles.