SANGAMA
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Mission Statement
Sangama is a non governmental organisation that works primarily with economically disadvantaged sexuality minorities (lesbians, bisexuals, homosexuals, gays, transgender people as well as identities that are typical to the South Asian region -kothis, hijras, and others who are discriminated against due to their sexual orientation/gender identity) sexworkers (male, female, transgender, street, home and brothel based) and People Living with HIV. Sangama emphasise the concerns of people facing multiple oppressions – sexual preference, gender identity, sexwork, HIV status, class, caste, gender etc. Sangama views this process as part of a larger struggle for equality and justice. We work through strengthening community-based organisations, taking up key advocacy work to change policy and laws. We aim to help the communities and groups we work with live their lives with self acceptance, self respect and dignity and to bring about a change in society through public meetings, working with the media and youth.
About This Cause
Sangama has been working in Karnataka for two decades. In its early days Sangama worked as a documentation, drop-in, resource and crisis intervention centre. It then took up HIV/AIDS service provision focussed on developing CBOs of gender minority, sexual minority and sex worker communities. Sangama has also paid emphasis on generating and sustaining public discourse, especially in local languages, in relation to human rights, and especially in the context of gender and sexuality. To this end we have produced written material and films, organised public talks and community events and when necessary, protests in relation to human rights violations over the years. Sangama has also formed a crucial link between gender and sexual minorities and sex worker movements and other struggles for social justice. We have reached out to more than 100000 sexual and gender minorities and sex workers in Karnataka through our partner organisations in 23 districts of Karnataka. In recent years, we have focussed more on the districts and talukas that have been neglected by the urban centred-ness of the large part of human rights work relating to gender and sexual minorities and sex workers. This is particularly important given the diversity of contexts, identities and spaces that these communities occupy in urban, peri-urban and rural areas. Our current focus is on enabling the transition to full citizenship amongst the most marginalised in the community, and recognising the specific challenges in this regard, we have prioritised the following components: 1. Community Organising - focused on generating and bolstering mechanisms of deliberative democratic practices to: enable a collective voice that might negotiate citizenship claims with the state and effectively engage policy making and implementation processes; to access social entitlements enable collective power to negotiate with society and families; and build solidarity that results in mutual support In the context of sex worker communities we have specific strategies focussed on strengthening sex worker leadership, as we believe that for the movement, rather than being spearheaded by activists must be driven by the active leadership of sex workers in partnership with sex workers rights activists. A mass based movement and articulate leadership, we believe, is the bedrock of any effort to seek a change in the existing scenario. 2. Strategies for Economic and Financial stability - Sangama works to go beyond the limited and ineffective ‘vocational training’ approach of Karnataka Government and develop strategies for interventions into the economy to address the systemic exclusion of the transgender community while also developing strategies and practices for financial stability within communities. This is a developing area of work and we are working not simply with 'training', but focussing equally on the economic and financial conditions under which such livelihood programmes might be viable. Formation of Self Help groups by transgender persons and sex workers to access credit. 3. Health needs of the community - the exclusion and discrimination faced in public healthcare institutions necessitates a dual approach of engaging with mainstream institutions while creating institutions that cater to the specific needs of the community. In this context we have established, and are in the process of establishing a series of clinics that address the health needs of gender and sexual minorities, especially men who have sex with men , transgender persons, sex workers in a non-discriminatory safe space. 4. Providing Educational Support to Children of Sex Workers - One of the myths that holds great sway over the public imagination is that sex workers force their young daughters into sex work! They do not. Sex workers provide sexual services so that their daughters (and sons) may be educated, employed and lead their lives free from the poverty, exploitation, stigma and abuse that mark the lives of sex workers. However, the stigma that surrounds sex work adversely affects the children of sex workers by creating a significant barrier to educational success and employment opportunities, as confirmed in a study commissioned by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in the year 2019. Our pilot project seeks to break this cycle of social and economic marginalization through interventions based on consultations- Sangama and Karnataka Sex Workers Union (KSWU) had with the sex workers who are anxious to ensure their daughters enjoy educational and employment opportunities equal to those of other children. 5. Raising awareness in communities on legal developments - In relation to the impending changes in relation to sex work in the form of the trafficking bill that is expected to be introduced in Parliament in the near future. The objective is to bring about an understanding of these legal developments amongst the most marginalised, to bring their experiences and voices into the negotiations with the state, which are, thus far and for the large part, dominated by elite English speaking members of these communities. To this end, we are translating law and bills and producing material in local languages spoken in Kannada. 6. Inter-movement alliances, dialogues and collaboration - Sangama’s work from its inception has been based on the recognition of the need for movements to work together, to work with the recognition that different forms and instances of marginalisation and oppression work together. To this end a significant part of our work is on generating, sustaining and participating in inter-movement dialogue and collaboration. Most significantly, this is in relation to bringing gender and sexual minority movements into collaboration with sex workers movements. In the specific context of sex work there are particular intersections with various working women movements, networks working with migration and safe mobility, undocumented and documented worker unions, health and human rights, dalit movements, and women’s rights among others. 7. Intervening in Public Discourse relating to Human Rights and Justice, especially in the context of gender and sexual minorities, transgender people, sex work and HIV - We continue to produce written, visual and audio-visual material, and organise public events and gathering, awareness campaigns and collective action, with a special focus on making this material accessible in local languages.