Astraea Around the World

Nairobi, Kenya

UHAI Executive Director Wanja Muguongo and Astraea Executive Director J. Bob Alotta.

Astraea attended the third Changing Faces, Changing Spaces conference held in Nairobi. Every two years, the three-day event brings together activists, allies and funders of sexual minority health and rights issues in East Africa. The conference is convened by UHAI, a regional grantmaking organization that provides flexible and accessible resources to support civil society activism around sexual health and rights in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Astraea Executive Director J. Bob Alotta and International Program Officer Dulce Reyes were able to engage in important conversations with colleagues and grantee partners, as well as many other activists and allies of sexual rights and health in the region.

While in Nairobi, Astraea visited two grantee partners. Minority Women in Action conducts outreach in rural areas and provides security trainings for their members. Artists for Recognition and Acceptance (AFRA-KENYA) showcases LBTQ lives through film and theater and through its monthly Q-Expression Art Forum on issues of sexuality and freedom. Astraea conducted a two-hour roundtable discussion on activism in Kenya; look for highlights in an upcoming publication.

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Kathmandu, Nepal

Count Me In conference banner Photo courtesy of CREA

Astraea provided scholarships and sponsored the Count Me In conference, held in Katmandu over three days in April for nearly 300 people from the disability justice, sex worker, trans and lesbian movements across South Asia. Conference speakers ranged from local lesbian and trans activists to noted author Arundati Roy. The conference was organized by grantee partner CREA, a feminist, human rights organization based in New Delhi that advances women's human rights and the sexual rights of all people.

Astraea program officer Namita Chad presented on the “Funder and Activist” panel with funders Mama Cash and the South Asian Human Rights Fund, as well as activist organizations Sayatrika, Tarshi and Women with Disabilities Development Foundation. Panelists examined challenges to funding in the region and how funds could increase their philanthropic advocacy for the issues of these often excluded communities.

Astraea grantee partners from across South Asia also presented on several panels. They discussed critical research documenting violence, strategies to intervene in family violence or negotiate with police, and shadow reports to the United Nations as a means to bring international scrutiny to local human rights issues. While in Nepal, Astraea had the opportunity to visit the offices of grantee partner Mitini. Founded by a lesbian couple that fled to Kathmandu to escape family violence, the organization serves as a safe haven and works for the safety and visibility of LBT women across the country.

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Philadelphia, PA

Equality Forum panel on LGBTI movements in Latin America

At a well-attended session at the Equality Forum, a yearly conference held in Philadelphia, Astraea International Program Officer Dulce Reyes shared her expertise on LGBTI movements in Latin America. The region was the focus of the forum this year. With 37 current grantee partners in Latin America, a two-year collaboration with the Latin American Consortium of Women’s Funds LBT Project, and a long history of funding in the region, Astraea was able to contribute an important and nuanced perspective.

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New York, NY

International Program Officer Dulce Reyes and Mauro Cabral, Co-Director of Global Action for Trans Equality, facilitate a break-out session. Photo by Namita Chad

Astraea International Program Officer Dulce Reyes spoke on a panel titled “Ain't I A Human?: The Exclusion of Transgender People in International Development and Human Rights” at this year’s Just Giving: Global Social Change Philanthropy, the 11th annual conference of Grantmakers Without Borders (Gw/oB). Gw/oB, of which Astraea is a member, is a network of public and private foundations as well as individual donors who practice global social change philanthropy. The panel was co-organized by Astraea, Mama Cash, Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers, American Jewish World Service, and Global Action for Trans Equality.