COSWA is governed by visionary, charismatic and dedicated able sex workers, and consultants with vast experience in leadership, governance, advocacy in their line of profession. The organization’s highest organ is the Board which is composed of five (5) members and a secretariat of professional talented sex workers heading different Pillars and Projects under the leadership of the Executive Director (ED) who is also the COSWA Secretary to the Board of Governance (BOG).

Coast Sex Workers Alliance (COSWA) is purely Sex workers’ Led Community Based organization by the sex workers for the sex workers. The Organization is Non-Profit Making; Non-political and was formed in 2015 and registered by the Gender and Social Services.  COSWA’s core mandate is to advocate for better health, wellbeing and social welfare of sex workers through Legal and human rights intervention in Coastal Region.

COSWA Head Quarters Office is in Mombasa County that acts as an intentional geographical programming focus which revolve around fighting stigma, discrimination, violence, human and health rights violations against Sex workers. Coast region has registered the highest number of sex workers in Kenya due to the robust tourism activities. This has informed COSWA strategic objective and also provides an opportunity to sex workers having challenges to come together and join the group formally or informally.

COSWA as an alliance of various sex workers groups was a brain child of sex workers who have been in the sex work industry for over decade in Kenya and undergone the denial of human rights, better health care, education, arbitrary arrests by the police, sexual assault, witnessed fellow sex workers murdered with no one caring and poor policies protecting the minority group. COSWA’s current membership stands at 30 sex workers led organizations among which 23 are formal and 7 are informal. The organization has been in the front-line in Lobbying, Advocating and campaigning effectively in addressing sex workers at community level

COSWA has one strategic goal, to improve co-ordination, networking and institutional capacity strengthening and knowledge management to enhance synergy in programming sex worker lead organization.

Specific Objectives

• Advanced Human Rights based approaches to enhance dialogue, promote sex worker’s civic engagement, human rights and dignity to reduce stigma and discrimination among sex workers along the Coastal Region
• Improve the health status of sex workers living with HIV/AIDS and STIs by promoting access to quality health services through advocacy and capacity building
• Facilitate SRHR research, documentation, and dissemination of information and educational findings geared toward empowering sex workers along the Coastal.
• Promoting economic empowerment and provide psycho social support