“The Alba Program has assisted 409 women victims of sexual exploitation in just two months of operation”

The vice president of Valencia and councillor for Equality and Inclusive Policies, Mónica Oltra, has reported that the Alba program of care for women victims of sexual exploitation in the field of prostitution and / or trafficking “has served 409 women in the Valencian Community “, and has carried out a total of 387 performances.

For Oltra, these figures demonstrate “the need for this program” whose objective is comprehensive care so that these women “can get out of that context and build their independent life project.”

Likewise, she stressed that this program “gives stability to the staff of the people who work in it”, which allows offering a service “in the long term, which is what she needs in this type of performance, so that each woman has enough time to be able to carry out her own process “.

The vice president made these statements during her visit to Valencia where this new program is being carried out, which is part of the Valencian Strategy against Sexual Violence, and which seeks to provide an immediate and urgent response to the situation in which these women find themselves, through the Valencian Public System of Social Services.

During her visit, Oltra has spoken with the professionals who make up the program team in the province of Valencia, who, in addition to offering care in the offices, make outings by mobile units to the areas and places where there is knowledge or indications that sexual exploitation activities are being developed.

In this sense, she stressed that the success of the program is precisely in the existence of these units, “because we are not waiting for the women to come to look for us, but rather it is this unit that travels to where the prostituted women are to do the job, on and always accompany them in a balance between direct attention “and, at the same time,” rebuilding psychologically “to be able to get out of their situation”.

Work teams

The teams, one in each province, are made up of a total of 9 professionals: two social workers, two social educators, a psychologist, a lawyer, a social integrator, a surviving woman with training in mediation who advises and accompanies the team, and an administrative one.

The vice president explained that it has been decided to have the figure of survivor assistant “to facilitate the accompaniment of the rest of the team in the first phases of contact and bonding with women users, and especially in itinerant field work.”

The women who enter the Alba Program receive comprehensive social counselling and care in all those aspects that they require and that promote their personal and social advancement, their access and insertion into community resources for their exit from the situation of sexual exploitation.

The intervention also includes psychological care to promote those resilience factors that allow them to carry out a satisfactory life project for them. The acquisition of pre-employment skills and professional qualification is also worked on, in addition to offering them legal assistance.

On the other hand, the Alba Program also develops awareness and prevention actions on the use of prostitution, and works in coordination with the State Security Forces, Prosecutor’s Office or Courts, in those cases in which they detect situations that may constitute crime.

In these cases, it is planned to offer women victims specialised support and immediate reception in the residential network for women victims.

Attentions and actions carried out

The balance of the program since October 15 reports 409 women attended; 340 have been social care, 45 legal and 24 psychological care.

387 actions have also been carried out from the services of the three provinces: 77 to flats, 144 to clubs, 26 to urban areas and 140 to highway areas and industrial estates.

In addition, 165 accompaniments have been carried out for health and social management, 94 individualised intervention plans and 11 job placement itineraries.

The program also offers women immediate accommodation in case they do not have it and want to leave the exploitative situation in which they live. In these cases, their legal situation and their possibilities are explained to them, and they are accompanied in the process of leaving the situation in which they find themselves, using the existing services in the public network, both for themselves and for their children.

Regarding income in the residential network, in this month and a half there have been 4 admissions, 3 single women and one with a minor dependent.