 Chapter 3, Community-led Services In this video we will see what community-led services are and why they're important for sex workers. Community-led services are services for sex workers that are led by sex workers themselves. Sex workers know best about their own lives and needs and the benefits of community building and community engagement are endless. So let's have a look at the different types of community-led services. Sex worker-led outreach Community or sex worker-led outreach addresses the real needs of sex workers. Many sex worker groups from our region have run successful outreach programs that provided peer-to-peer education, anonymous HIV and sexually transmitted disease counseling and testing, provision of condoms, and educational materials about sexual and reproductive health. Different groups have different ways of providing community-based outreach. In Armenia and Kazakhstan, sex workers themselves train the outreach workers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many groups continue to communicate online, using different communication platforms, showing how the community can self-organize and act. In Russia, sex worker groups are mostly focusing on online outreach. In Ukraine, a sex worker-led organization is running online psychological and legal counseling and trained sex workers manage the blog and form for the sex workers. Community outreach workers are as qualified as non-community staff, and their work should be respected and properly compensated. Safe spaces or drop-in centers Safe spaces give community members a place to be themselves, to obtain information and prevention materials and interact with each other and the services provided. Safe spaces or drop-in centers in Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, and Armenia, for example, are led by the community and have various activities. They cook together, hold training sessions, distribute condoms and lubricants, and provide a place for sex workers where they can relax and be social with their colleagues. In Macedonia, sex workers are organizing makeup and cooking sessions to promote their services and provide peer-to-peer education. In many countries, organizations' offices are used as community spaces. Community committee and advisory groups It is important to create ways for communities to provide feedback and shape the quality and different aspects of services. In 2020 in Ukraine, a sex workers group conducted a survey about sex workers' experience of their access to services such as HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing provided by organizations and public health services. Based on the results, they produced a report and developed recommendations for NGOs and community leaders which were used to increase the effectiveness of the programs. Monitoring and evaluation, like in this example from Ukraine, makes the programs more effective and more in line with the real needs of sex workers. Sex workers are experts, so include sex workers as facilitators, outreach workers, employees, and contractors in paid positions.