The Baring Foundation renews its partnerships to support LGBTI activism in Africa

Our three-year investment will amount to £1,050,000 in funding to support the growth of lesbian and trans activism by civil society in East and Southern Africa.

Discrimination, harassment and violence is a commonplace experience for LGBTI Africans. In 38 countries, legislation criminalises consensual same sex conducts in private and in several countries, penalties have become harsher in recent years.

Civil society organisations supporting these groups can provide vital support to individuals and a base for wider change, but are under-funded, and often unrecognised and harassed by authorities.

UHAI EASHRI, based in Kenya, is an indigenous activist fund which provides flexible, accessible resources to support civil society activism around issues of sexuality, health and human rights in the East African region. The Other Foundation, based in South Africa, is an African trust with a particular focus on sexual orientation and gender identity. They will use this funding from the Baring Foundation to make onwards grants that build the capacity of local lesbian and transgender led organisations and support projects focused on improving the lives of people in these communities.

These new grants build on initial grants to both organisations in 2015. These first grants both supported organisational development and provided funds for onward grant-making by UHAI and the Other Foundation to activist groups across the region. The onward grants have supported, for example, action around intimate partner violence, health promotion and access to HIV prevention and care, economic empowerment, and sensitisation with key groups such as doctors.