Bridging the Gaps

Bridging the Gaps was an HIV and Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights programme, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2020. It focused on three key populations - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; people who use drugs; and female, male and transgender sex workers – and the intersections between them.

The Bridging the Gaps programme was run by an alliance of nine organisations including NSWP, Aids Fonds, AFEW - Aids Foundation East-West, COC, GNP+ - Global Network of People Living with HIV INPUD – International Network of People who Use Drugs, ITPC – International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, Mainline and Global Action for Gay Men's Health and Rights (MPact).

Bridging the Gaps began its second five-year programme in 2016.

Through Bridging the Gaps, NSWP:

  • Continues to advocate globally for the essential role of community-led responses and the protection, respect and fulfilment of the human rights of sex workers. This includes participating in international policy and programming forums such as the UNAIDS Steering Committee on HIV and Sex Work, WHO’s Civil Society Reference Group, the Global Fund Communities, Rights and Gender Advisory Group and LINKAGES Advisory Board.
  • Continues to develop advocacy tools and resources in consultation with NSWP members to enhance the capacity of sex worker-led organisations to inform and influence local, national and international policy and programmes.
  • Continues to support the on-going development and implementation of the Sex Worker Academy Africa (SWAA) to strengthen national sex worker-led networks and organisations across Africa.
  • Continues to provide technical support to three regional sex worker-led networks: the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), and the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (SWAN) to strengthen their organisational development and capacity to support national sex worker-led networks and organisations in the Bridging the Gaps priority countries.