The Red Umbrella Fund is a grant-making initiative designed to strengthen and ensure the sustainability of the sex worker rights movement by catalyzing new funding specifically for sex worker-led organizations and national, regional and global networks.

The International Steering Committee of the Red Umbrella Fund (see signatories below) is now seeking nominations for sex workers and their allies from the human rights, labor rights, LGBT rights, and women’s rights movement to serve on the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC). The PAC plays the important role of reviewing grant proposals submitted by sex worker organizations to the Red Umbrella Fund and making recommendations about which ones should be funded.     The PAC will be comprised of at least 80% sex workers. The remaining membership may include individuals from allied human rights movements (women’s, labour, LGBT, etc.) who could contribute to furthering the goals of the Red Umbrella Fund.

With this email we bring to your attention the attached self-nomination for the Programme Advisory Committee of the Red Umbrella Fund. We kindly request that you distribute it to candidates who fit the criteria described in the attached nomination form.

The deadline for submission of the proposal is 30 May 2012.

Should you have any questions about the nomination process, please direct them to Annie Hillar, Director of Programmes at Mama Cash, at e-mail a.hillar@mamacash.nl. Mama Cash is the host organization of the Red Umbrella Fund.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

The International Steering Committee (ISC) of the Red Umbrella Fund

John Mathenge, Sex Workers Outreach Project, Kenya, East Africa (male sex worker)

Chantawipa  Apisuk (“noi”), EmPower Foundation, Thailand, South Asia

Rani Ravudi, Women’s Action For Change, Fiji, Pacific (trans sex worker)

Ana Luz Mamani, Mujeres del Sur, Peru, South America

Miriam Edwards, Guyana Sex Work Coalition, Guyana, Caribbean

Elena Lvivna Tsukerman, Charitable organization Ukrainian League “LEGALIFE”, Ukraine, Eastern Europe

Ruth Morgan Thomas, Network of Sex Work Projects, Global

Kate Kroeger, American Jewish World Service, USA

Anne Gathumbi, OSF, East Africa

Pontso Mafethe, Comic Relief, UK

Barbara Limanowska, Mama Cash, Poland