In the Mamprobi neighborhood in central Accra, just 15 minutes away from Ghana’s Human Rights Court, you find the Women of Dignity Alliance (WODA), an organization that provides a vital sanctuary for sex workers. Susana Dartey founded WODA in 2012, following years of running the Theatre for Change Ghana project. WODA has become a transformative force in areas such as Old Fadama, Railways, and Jamestown, responding to sexual and reproductive health needs, providing legal counsel, advocating for rights and offering economic support.
I recently visited the organisation in Mamprobi to learn more about what WODA was doing. In a two-storey building, WODA has a hair salon and a provision store, which is a key lifeline to many sex workers. These businesses are run by sex workers in the community who have become members of WODA and use this as an alternative stream of income. WODA also provides information and counselling services where sex workers can learn about their rights, sexual and reproductive health, or simply have a listening ear to their problems.
Sex work in Ghana remains criminalized, pushing it underground and exposing workers to harassment, violence, trafficking, and even murder.
Without legal protection, they face abuse—even by law enforcement—and societal disdain rooted in deep stigma, often based on colonial-era moral codes. Economic hardship also fuels trafficking and child exploitation, creating a perilous environment where voices are silenced and bodies devalued.
Susana Dartey’s own journey—growing up in Jamestown, whose mother herself was trafficked, and finding healing through school theatre— informed her approach to outreach. “Back in 2012, I was introduced to the slum community and I started working with sex workers. That was when I heard the stories of some of the women,” she says. “I noticed that these are women that went through the same abuse I went through as a child, but also did not have the voice to speak [about the abuse].”
Through interactive community theatre, storytelling, games, and radio drama, WODA brings sex workers’ experiences into public consciousness. Each performance serves as a catalyst for empathy, understanding, and collective action.
“They had grown to know just sex work as the only work they can do, because most of them were trafficked. Most of them were still being sexually exploited because they were still working for their Magajias* to be able to pay for trafficking them all the way to Accra,” Dartey narrates. “It was from this listening that the seed of an intervention was planted.”
In 2016, Dartey was invited to participate in the prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship for her work in Accra’s informal settlements and deprived communities. During the fellowship in the United States, Dartey worked at Safe Haven, a safe house that serves women going through abuse, where they could get restraining orders, and a place for them to feel safe as they transitioned from abusive home situations.
“When I got back to Ghana, I wanted to do the same thing,” she says. “To start off, I wanted it to be a place where they can come to access information about their human rights, their sexual reproductive health rights, access services like HIV testing, condoms and lubricants.”
That is how WODA was formed. At the heart of WODA’s interventions is the flagship project, “My Body Matters,” supported by Kasa! Initiative of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF). The Kasa! Initiative, launched in 2021, supports feminist organizations across Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal to combat sexual violence through prevention, survivor support, and accountability efforts. With AWDF’s support, “My Body Matters” includes counselling, vocational training, police sensitization, theatre, and radio outreach, all aimed at affirming sex workers’ dignity and empowering them with rights-based tools for protection and self-advocacy.
The impact is profound. Mamle [not her real name*], was once arrested, robbed, and abandoned by police. “In sex work, normally police come and they arrest us. They will not send us anywhere but rather they will demand sex from you. At the end [after the abuse], they’ll say, ‘I’ve left you. You can go’. And even some of them will not use a condom,” she says of her harrowing experiences.
During a WODA outreach project, Mamle met with peer educators in the Agbobloshie neighborhood, and she stood out with her strong ability to speak up and express herself. She went through a rehabilitation process which profoundly changed her. “WODA will take you through a behavioural change process – you know how everyone has their own behaviour. It helped me a lot because at that time, when you do something small to me, I will fight with you,” she said. “But WODA taught me and showed me how to behave when you’re hurt, not to resort to violence but talk about the issue. WODA showed me all this and more.”
Today, Mamle is a community leader in her area, called upon to settle conflicts and other issues. Now a project officer at WODA, she leads police training and provides trusted support for sex workers reporting abuse. Through her work for the last ten years, several nearby police stations now have designated officers to whom sex workers can safely report violence.
Akua* a 15-year-old girl whose mother was sexually exploiting her, was taken in by WODA. The organisation worked with the police to ensure the case was investigated and then took Akua to a vocational training programme. At the time of my visit, Akua was preparing for her graduation, having gained skills and hope for a future outside exploitation. Economic independence is key to addressing both drivers of sex work and supporting many who are being exploited.
WODA is currently training nearly 400 sex workers in small business skills like baking, beauty services, soap-making, and floral design. In April 2025, on its tenth anniversary in Jamestown, WODA convened Queen Mothers, National Assembly Members, and community leaders to call for decriminalization of sex work. Dartey emphasized that current laws fuel stigma and obstruct outreach efforts.
Through integrated strategies of legal advocacy, economic empowerment, art-based outreach, and survivor-led leadership, WODA’s “My Body Matters” initiative offers a powerful approach for ending sexual violence and restoring agency among Ghana’s most vulnerable women.
After ten years of advocacy, Dartey notes that there is a marked reduction in sex workers reporting cases of abuse. More sex workers in the community have joined the organisation, taking up positions as community facilitators, project officers, and as trainers on issues of child trafficking, abuse of sex workers, rehabilitation and more. Many sex workers have become aware of their inherent rights and dignity, in learning how to protect themselves and in speaking up for themselves.
As Dartey says quite aptly, “When a woman finds her voice, she feels safe, she can protect herself, and her dignity is respected.”
Women of Dignity Alliance continues to call for the decriminalization of sex work and social protections of sex workers. Sex work is work. Sex workers’ dignity must be protected.
*Names changed for privacy and safety.
*Magajias is local term in the community for older sex workers who have been in sex work for more than ten years..
Akosua Hanson is a feminist activist based in Accra, Ghana.