MUKTA: Targeted Interventions for Groups at Risk

“I used to drink a lot, but I’ve stopped since I became part of Mukta. I saw my friends dying because of alcohol and infections. I am alive because of Mukta,” said Surekha Baravkar, one of the project’s peer educators.

In Phase I, Mukta was successful in reducing the sexually transmitted infection rate among target groups by over 30 percent.

Peer educators are at the heart of Mukta. The project builds their skills—to listen attentively to other sex workers, identifying the personal or social factors that leave their clients vulnerable to infection.

A group of peer educators are trained to use microplanning—to collect and use data to adjust their services to meet their clients’ most pressing health needs.

Mukta has fostered 17 community-based organizations for female sex workers and men who have sex with men. These organizations have secured legal registrations in India and have grown to take up social issues beyond HIV.

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this project is part of the Avahan India AIDS Initiative and targets more than 25,000 female sex workers and men who have sex with men in the Indian state of Maharashtra to reduce their risks and vulnerabilities towards sexually transmitted infections and HIV. In Phase II, the project worked in 790 census-defined intervention sites spread over three districts with a team of 178 peer educators and 103 non-government organization staff, delivering contextually tailored outreach and health services through 75 clinics and 37 community drop-in centers.

As part of a planned transition process, the project successfully handed over all of its interventions to the Government of Maharashtra in April 2012. Pathfinder is one of the only two Avahan partners to transition 100% of its interventions to the government on schedule. Post-handover, Pathfinder provided expanded technical assistance to the Government of Maharashtra in 27 of 35 districts to train 702 peer educators, 219 outreach workers, 184 doctors, 93 counselors and nurses, 60 project managers, and 52 government clinic staff between August and December 2012. As a result of Mukta’s success, the National AIDS Control Organization in India requested Pathfinder to provide technical assistance in the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh.

This program will cover 48 districts of Madhya Pradesh and culminate in the establishment of five learning sites in the state. The project has built strong linkages with the National Mission for Empowerment of Women, Government of India, and the United Nations Entity for Equality and Empowerment of Women,