Embrace Dignity

General information

Embrace Dignity challenges gender-based power inequalities that lead to the oppression of women and girls through prostitution, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse by using a three-pronged approach focused on:
advocating and achieving law and policy reforms that criminalises the purchaser and decriminalises the victim, shifting the public’s attitude towards prostituted women and girls and improving public awareness about prostitution in general through media, public education and marketing campaigns, and strengthening support systems and increasing the provision of services to women who want to leave prostitution.

Historical factors like racism, migrant labour, the denial of socio-economic opportunities, unemployment and the unequal power relations that still exist between men and women in this country also inform how we address prostitution and sex trafficking in South Africa in particular.

Our goal is to support the development of Dignity Centres across South Africa by 2020, catering for at least a thousand Sisters (a collective name adopted by women who want to leave prostitution. The Dignity Centres are transitional spaces providing temporary shelter, vocational and life skills, as well as counselling and empowerment for self-reliance. Our goal is to replicate the Dignity Centre model in 15 countries across Africa by 2025 and to help 2 000 survivors to improve the quality of their life while at the same time contributing towards changing attitudes and practices concerning prostitution on this continent.