Aastha Parivaar

Aastha Parivaar was born of FHI 360’s Aastha project, an HIV/AIDS intervention funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s India AIDS Initiative (Avahan) to address the health needs of sex workers across Mumbai and Thane. From the project’s inception in 2001, Aastha Parivaar has since become the umbrella organisation (registered in 2009) representing the various sex worker communities in these areas– street-based, brothel-based, home-based, male sex workers and hijra/transgender sex workers. Aastha Parivaar is the federation providing financial and administrative support to 13 registered community-based organisations (CBOs) which operate at the field level to enable these different sex worker populations to voice their needs, address these needs, and increase the capacities of individuals in the sex worker community. The issues addressed include family planning, health, human rights, rapid crisis intervention, legal literacy, literacy, alternative livelihoods, and education for children. The uniqueness, success, and sustainability of our model lie in the empowerment of the community to lead its own interventions. The sex workers themselves take an active role in leading their community’s development through their own elected governing board and managing committees which are supported by Aastha Parivaar’s secretariat of professionals.