Women with HIV and their allies started the Catwalk4Power project, because we wanted to create actions to address the silence around women and HIV. We created a platform to communicate about our lives; one that celebrates our achievements to our communities and the world.
The creative workshops we have developed involve writing, performance, spoken word, crafting, sewing, strutting, and prop-building. We wear the costumes and accessories we have designed and made at a catwalk main event that we also create. It is a skills sharing, stigma-busting, educational, and transformative process for all who become involved. So far, we have taken our grass-roots project to London, Brighton, Manchester, and Amsterdam. We have also come up with an online toolkit so that the Catwalk4Power model can be shared and adapted in communities anywhere: c4ptoolkit.positivelyuk.org
With funding support, we hope to continue this valuable empowerment project.