ACTIF Funded Projects: EDING – Programme d’appui aux droits humains en Afrique francophone

LGBTQI+ people in Africa are invisibilized, excluded and oppressed from participating in political processes and spaces. Political leaders (ruling and opposition parties), religious leaders and community leaders all use hate speech, violence and oppressive techniques to suppress the LGBTIQ+ movement. Democratic mechanisms do not openly and adequately support and protect LGBTQI+ people.

Based on Pan Africa ILGA’s research on the most effective LGBTQ2+ rights interventions, the EDING (Love in Ewondo, the local language of Cameroon) is a three-year project, designed by and for communities, is building the programming and network for a new organization; Fierté Afrique Francophone, for deployment in several countries in Francophone Africa, so that LGBTIQ+ people increase their capacity for influence and leadership in political and public life and in democratic mechanisms and spaces, in collaboration with political, religious, and community allies who work for the full development of LGBTQI+ people in Africa.

EDING brings together 3 partners, Fondation Émergence, Fierté Montréal and Fierté Afrique francophone, to strengthen the LGBTQI+ movement on the ground, composed of community organizations and leaders, in order to advance the human rights of all LGBTIQ+ Africans. This strengthening consists of implementing communication and advocacy strategies that will activate democratic mechanisms to address human rights violations and mobilize a wide range of political, governmental, community and religious leaders in the target countries committed to defending the human rights of LGBTIQ+ people.