Introduction

Spandana Zilla Mahila Okkootta (SZMO), founded in 2004, is a community organisation (CO) in Haveri district of Karnataka State in India. The CO is a member of various district, state and national level networks. It is a part of the coordination committees of agencies working on HIV prevention in the district, of Sahabhagini, a state level federation of women in sex work collectives, Uttara Karnataka Mahila Okkootta, a federation of community based organisations of female sex workers in north Karnataka, the Karnataka Sex Workers Union, a trade union of women, men and transgender persons in sex work in Karnataka, the All India Network of Sex Workers, a network of organisations of sex workers and those that support the community, and Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, a cadre based organisation of dalit individuals.

Spandana supports 1759 members and is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act 1960.

Mission

Spandana aims to influence the perspective of the larger society to reduce stigma and discrimination against sex workers.

Services Provided

Working to ensure that women in sex work facing extreme alienation, financial problems, health and family issues are supported, Spandana offers various services to its members.

• Continuing community mobilisation of female sex workers to strengthen the collective and for uniterrupted service access
• Providing HIV/AIDS prevention and care services
• Facilitating community access of government social protection schemes
• Promoting safety, security and justice measures through effective crisis response systems, access to legal services and linkages for trauma relief
• Building financial security by facilitating bank linkages, and access to insurance and pension schemes
• Investing in institutional development

Spandana will continue to focus on financially, culturally and politically supporting women in distress and in sex work to help them address the inequalities they face and to secure their citizenship rights.