From brothel to boardroom: Prospects for community leadership of HIV interventions in the context of global funding practices

► Social empowerment of marginalised groups is a key pillar of global HIV policy. ► The funding environment may promote or undermine community empowerment. ► We studied 2 HIV prevention projects for sex workers in India. ► Sex workers are empowered at the local level, but disempowered by a managerial funding system. ► A contradiction: funding agency policies promote community leadership, their practices inhibit it.