About the SWAN Volunteer ProgrammeAt the Sex Worker’s Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN), our volunteer programme is designed to nurture new and emerging leaders, strengthen our regional movement for sex workers’ rights, and create space for activists from sex worker and other marginalized communities to step forward and shape the future. By volunteering with SWAN, people connect across countries, share knowledge and strategies, and build solidarity that is vital for our collective fight against stigma, criminalization, and exclusion.
Meet the New SWAN Volunteers:
Alex Shah
I chose SWAN because it is a regional network that defends the human rights and dignity of sex workers. I value how SWAN connects local struggles with regional and international advocacy, and how it provides a platform where sex workers’ own voices are at the center.
My motivation comes from wanting to contribute to a movement that fights stigma, violence, and criminalization. I believe that sex workers’ rights are human rights, and I want to support advocacy that strengthens communities and challenges discrimination.
I expect to deepen my knowledge of the realities sex workers face in different countries of the region. I want to learn how a regional network like SWAN builds solidarity and coordinates campaigns across very different legal and cultural contexts.
I can give my skills in media and communications — writing, journalism, storytelling, and visual work that can help amplify sex workers’ voices. I also bring my experience as a young LGBTQ+ activist who understands stigma and discrimination. I can give energy, dedication, and openness to collaborate.
Miranda Gkanetsou
I am a lawyer with several years of experience supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and survivors of gender-based violence. Through this work, I have seen how the law can sometimes protect but also exclude and why advocacy is vital in confronting systems that criminalize and stigmatize. Alongside my legal practice, I study Gender Studies and explore creative methods of collective empowerment through workshops and cultural practices.
As an activist, I am committed to solidarity across movements, amplifying marginalized voices, and creating spaces where justice and dignity are non-negotiable. For me, SWAN represents a vision of collective power: communities organizing together to fight criminalization, stigma, and patriarchal control.
In my legal work I have witnessed how discrimination and criminalization expose people to violence and exclusion. I want to stand alongside sex workers and contribute my skills to a movement that challenges unjust laws and builds safer, more dignified realities.
I hope to broaden my understanding of how sex workers resist oppression in different contexts and to deepen my perspective on the intersections of gender, migration, sexuality, and poverty. I can contribute my expertise in human rights and asylum law, as well as my skills in writing and research. From SWAN, I want to learn how grassroots leadership and lived experience shape strategies and how collective action can bring real change to laws, policies, and public narratives.
Engin Erisken
My journey has been shaped by a strong commitment to social justice, inclusion, and the fight against stigma. Over the years, I have worked and volunteered with organizations that focus on the rights and well-being of marginalized communities, particularly sex workers, LGBTQI+ individuals, migrants, and people living with HIV. These experiences have guided both my activism and my academic path, bringing me to Berlin, where I continue to build on this work.
I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Sociology – European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, where my research focuses on migration, gender, gender-diverse communities, and the role of emotions in social movements. At the same time, I am a volunteer with SWAN, where I would like to contribute to projects that challenge stigma, strengthen solidarity, and create inclusive spaces in which sex workers’ rights are respected and protected.
Before moving to Berlin, I worked with the Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association in Turkey, engaging with sex workers and LGBTQI+ communities on sexual health, rights advocacy, and stigma reduction. I also worked with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Turkey, where I focused on combating sexual stigma and addressing gender-based sexual violence, particularly in work with migrants and asylum seekers. Previously, I volunteered at the Positive Living Association, where I contributed to creating awareness and providing support for people living with HIV, working to reduce stigma and promote inclusion.
Across these roles, I have sought to combine advocacy, communication, and social research to support marginalized groups in achieving equality, dignity, and human rights. I believe that through my work with SWAN, I will broaden my horizons, deepen my understanding of the diverse realities faced by sex workers, and strengthen my ability to stand in solidarity with marginalized communities.
Pedro Ivo Oliveira
I am a Brazilian, Latino, queer advocate affected by HIV, and an interdisciplinary advocate and researcher committed to advancing intersectional justice across gender, sexuality, health, and development. I am pursuing an MA in International and Development Studies at the Geneva Graduate Institute, specializing in Gender, Race, and Diversity, with an academic mobility to the MSc in Global Health at the University of Geneva.
My professional background includes work with international organizations and NGOs such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA World), Outright International, and Open for Business. Moreover, I am currently working at the Governance & Multilateral Affairs section of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva. My current research focuses on the intersections of public and global health, gender, and sexuality, particularly on HIV prevention, harm reduction, and drug policy reform.
With my extensive experience in research and advocacy, I aim to support SWAN in engaging with the United Nations Mechanisms and producing evidence-based materials to advance the rights of sex workers regionally and globally. Moreover, I want to learn from the sex workers’ movement’s fight for intersectional gender justice, taking it as an inspiration for a broader liberation movement – and the best way to do so is through connecting with an organization such as SWAN.
Maxime Thebaud
I have been a sex workers’ rights activist for nearly three years. I am also a public affairs consultant and researcher-member of ESWORN.
Through its regional focus and commitment to sex workers’ empowerment, SWAN deeply echoes my personal and human values. My past experiences – as an advisor within ministerial and parliamentary offices, as an Intern Policy Officer at ESWA, and as a former member of the national board of a French political party – have shaped my expertise in advocacy and public policy. These roles have taught me not only how to navigate complex institutional landscapes, but also how to transform ideas into meaningful social change.
Today, I hope to bring to SWAN my skills and experience, my passion and energy, to help advance the rights of sex workers and strengthen the recognition that sex work is work.