The African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA), in partnership with the ATHENA Network, successfully hosted the inaugural Feminist Academy for Sex Workers from May 5th to 8th, 2025, at the Inter-Continental Holiday Inn in Zambia.
Over the course of three powerful days, the academy brought together sex workers, feminist activists, and advocates from across the region to share experiences, deepen knowledge, and build collective strategies for advancing gender justice within the HIV response.
Organized under the theme of feminist resistance and empowerment, the academy focused on key objectives such as understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through a feminist sex worker lens, combating violence, and challenging oppressive systems. The program aimed to equip participants with the tools to advocate for their rights and to build sustainable movements rooted in solidarity and justice.
Participants explored core themes including “Feminism and Power,” “SRHR from a Feminist Lens,” and “Naming Violence and Honoring Lives.” These sessions created space for meaningful reflection, healing, and strategic planning. Participants were encouraged to bring objects of personal significance—banners, posters, press clippings—that symbolized their journeys in activism, further grounding the academy in personal storytelling and collective purpose.
Throughout the event, attendees engaged in capacity-building activities, group work, and opposition monitoring to strengthen advocacy efforts in the face of rising anti-rights movements. The academy emphasized the urgent need to center sex workers’ voices in feminist and HIV-related advocacy spaces.
“Our team was proud to attend the Feminist Academy in Zambia—building power, solidarity & strategy for gender justice in the HIV response,” said one participant. “It was an inspiring reminder that our voices matter and our collective action is unstoppable.”
The event closed with a collaborative action planning session, reinforcing a unified commitment to driving change from the ground up.
The Feminist Academy stands as a testament to the resilience, brilliance, and power of sex workers across Africa—who continue to rise, organize, and lead the way toward a world free from violence, stigma, and inequality.
Need to partner we are a sexworker organization based in Malawi