OSISA provided critical support to the LGBTQIA+ community and moved the needle for the recognition of LGBTQIA+ rights in Southern Africa
OSISA helped new LGBTQIA+ organisations to form across Southern Africa
OSISA was an early donor in the LGBTQIA+ rights advocacy space. The organisation took up the mantle when no one else was willing. For the past decade, OSISA’s programming has been instrumental in creating and supporting a strong, vibrant LBTQIA+ rights movement across Southern Africa.
The catalyst for an LGBTQIA+ rights programme
Originally, OSISA lacked programming addressing LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2007, George Soros took notice of the lack of LGBTQIA+ programming. Immediately, Soros provided OSISA with the funding to address the programming gap by creating the Equality & Non-Discrimination Programme in 2009, a coordinating position in the HIV/Aids programme in 2009, and the LGBT Programme in 2011. In 2018, the now expanded LGBTIQ+ Programme was folded into the Equality & Non-Discrimination Programme but remained a distinct portfolio.
As a result, Soros provided OSISA with the necessary funding to address this gap by creating a programme that specifically looked at the growth of the LGBTIQ+ and trans movements across Southern Africa and provided funding to queer organisations and strategic allies.
To develop the programming, OSISA collaborated with the Human Rights Initiative to identify the needs of LGBTQIA+ communities across Southern Africa. After an intensive nine-day tour of 10 cities, OSISA developed five focus areas for their LGBTQIA+ programming.
A five-prong plan for advocacy
- Movement Building
At the time, there wasn’t any infrastructure to unite people and coordinate projects. “There were lots of beautiful, impactful things happening but they were divorced from one another,” explains Ian Southey-Swartz, OSISA’s Equality & Non-Discrimination Programme Manager.
“There were lots of beautiful, impactful things happening but they were divorced from one another.”
2. Amplifying voices
While working in Malawi, OSISA discovered that the LGBTQIA+ movement was male-dominated. “That was unheard of at that stage because, as a queer community, we tend to be more aware of gender discrimination,” explains Southey-Swartz.
OSISA started making their funding conditional on including the following voices within organisations:
- Lesbian,
- Trans, and
- Intersex people.
This was highly effective. More marginalised people started being appointed to organisations, and more organisations started to include marginalised groups in their outreach plans.
3. Decriminalisation
Homosexuality remains illegal in several countries in Africa. OSISA’s efforts led to legal reform across Southern Africa in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and Angola. Botswana decriminalising homosexuality was a huge win for OSISA.
“The process was incredibly painful as we had been funding the decriminalisation process for nearly 10 years,” explains Southey-Swartz.”
4. Religion and discrimination
Religious leaders preaching messages of violence aimed at LGBTQIA+ is a pervasive problem. OSISA embarked on a mission to challenge these violent messages. They approached religious leaders and worked with them to spread more inclusive messages.
An immediate positive impact was felt. Southey-Swartz tells a story of how a pastor came to the aid of trans women fleeing violence in their community, and the only person who could disperse the crowd was the local pastor. “This was such a clear example of how working with religious leaders could impact their communities as points of intervention for homophobic violence,” explains Southey-Swartz.
5. Gender-affirming healthcare
Trans people experience immense difficulties in accessing healthcare in Southern Africa.
“They would order stuff online, and when it arrived, it was little more than a sugar tablet,” explains Ian. “As a result, we decided we needed to do something on trans health and rights specifically.”
OSISA built a resilient trans movement that works across borders to ensure trans people have access to gender-affirming healthcare. OSISA invested heavily in the adoption of the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11). ICD-11 has redefined gender identity-related health, replacing outdated diagnostic categories like ICD-10’s “transsexualism” and “gender identity disorder of children” with “gender incongruence of adolescence and adulthood” and “gender incongruence of childhood” respectively.
Lessons learned
Looking back, Southey-Swartz wishes they had spent more time fund-raising within the Open Society as they were constantly hampered by a limited budget – a defining trait of many human rights programmes.
While the programme focused on amplifying marginalised voices, Ian feels it did not go far enough. “Trans, lesbian and intersex voices, and the voices of lesbian and bisexual women are still not represented enough within the community,” explains Southey-Swartz. He further maintains that having more time to work in the region would have allowed them to replicate efforts in a broader range of countries.
“Trans, lesbian and intersex voices, and the voices of lesbian and bisexual women are still not represented enough within the community.”
Southey-Swartz wishes they could have been more direct with their requests when working with government officials. Working with the government often forced them to use flowery language when communicating complex issues. Direct explanations could have expedited advocacy efforts.
A legacy of advocating for equality
The results achieved by the Equality & Non-Discrimination Programme will have a long-lasting impact on LGBTQIA+ rights in Southern Africa. Space has been created for new organisations to take up the mantle and advocate for equality and inclusivity.
