Support to eight policy/advocacy projects in Central Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union will conclude at the end of 2005. Follow-up efforts are planned to analyze the impact of these grants and identify key advocacy/policy issues. SHARP has commissioned a consultant to develop a report on outcomes from the July sex work policy meeting in Vilnius, including lessons learned and best practices. The consultant will also give a human face to sex work issues by researching and reporting on cutting-edge services and advocacy efforts related to sex work in several countries within SHARP’s target regions.

The eight projects are as follows:

• Pleven 21st Century Foundation (Bulgaria)
  Project: Creation of conditions for potential changes and liberalization of the current politics regarding the population of sex workers in the region of Pleven (Bulgaria). The goal is to document the risks facing sex workers, including poverty, health care, discrimination, and violence. This documentation and related recommendations will be presented to a municipal council.
• National Center for AIDS Prevention (Armenia)
  Project: Creation of environment that reduces stigma, discrimination, and violence against sex workers in the Republic of Armenia. This purpose is to launch an awareness campaign of sex workers’ needs through targeted trainings of health care workers, police, and mass media. There is a plan to create an NGO alliance group on behalf of vulnerable populations and groups of affected communities. The project will also educate sex workers on their legal rights through peers mentoring.
• Tais Plus (Kyrgyzstan)
  Project: Ninevia. This project will analyze legislation and policies on sex work and present this analysis to community representatives. An additional goal is to raise the level of awareness among police about sex workers and to establish a peer-training program among sex workers regarding their rights.
• Vulnerable Groups Coalition (Lithuania)
  Project: I Can Live. The goal is to analyze a number of factors in sex workers’ lives: their quality of life, legislation that applies to them, social security, and other aspects. Once complete, a report will be published and recommendations forwarded to local government. An additional objective is to create a mass media public awareness campaign based on the finding of the analysis.
• Poltava Charity Public Health Foundation (Ukraine)
  Project: Advocacy activities for commercial sex workers in the areas of social, medical, and legal support programs. A second part of the project is to launch a social and medical assistance program for sex workers, implemented by rights-protecting agencies.
• All Ukrainian Harm Reduction Association (Ukraine)
  Project: Right to have a profession. Led by a coalition of NGOs from 14 regions/cities of Ukraine, this project seeks to analyze the situation affecting the health and rights of sex workers, to document the risks that threaten sex workers, and to organize public discussion in order to raise awareness and foster a more tolerant attitude within society towards local sex workers.
• Center for Independent Social Research (CISR) Saint Petersburg (Russia)
  Project: Combining efforts to provide occupational safety to sex workers in Saint Petersburg. This project seeks to investigate the risks faced by sex workers and to determine opportunities to improve their occupational safety. Another goal is to organize a forum in Saint Petersburg, where safety and health questions will be discussed among professional researchers and sociologists, public activists, the media, and others.
• The Russian Harm Reduction Network (Russia)
  Project: Joint advocacy project for harm reduction and sex work in Russia. The project involves a coalition of NGOs working to raise the level of awareness among sex workers about their civil rights, and to promote positive public opinion on developing harm reduction services for sex workers. The goal of this project is to advocate for a pragmatic approach to the issue of sex work through an educational campaign for the public.

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