These are just some of the questions we intend to address during a Learning Workshop that
Kaleidoscope Trust (KT) plans to host for the cross-learning benefit of LGBT+ organisations
operating in the Commonwealth.
The workshop is scheduled to take place in February 2023 in a country in Southeast Asia.
We aim to create a safe space where participants – led by a group of selected experts – will
be able to share their own experiences and stories of success advancing LGBT+ equality
locally. We expect this workshop will bring about collective learning and inspire participants
to refine or develop new initiatives to generate transformative change in their own
communities.
To facilitate this learning and make sure that the workshop is grounded in the lived realities
of LGBT+ people, Kaleidoscope Trust is thrilled to launch this Call for Experts. We are
seeking LGBT+ specialists interested in leading thematic sessions within the themes listed
below:
- Cross-cutting and intersectional alliance building
- Changing hearts and minds as a way to influence shifts in social attitudes
- Legislative reform and SOGIESC-inclusive laws and policies
- Prevention of and response to forms of gender-based violence, particularly those faced by trans, gender nonconforming people, and LBQ women.
BACKGROUND
Founded in 2011, Kaleidoscope Trust works to uphold the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other gender non-conforming (LGBT+) people in countries around the world where they are discriminated against or marginalised due to their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression. We work with British and international institutions and partners to support the work of LGBT+ activists and organisations to bring about positive legislative, policy and social change for LGBT+ people everywhere. We do this principally through evidence-based advocacy and high-impact global programmes co-designed with partners. A significant result of our work was our contribution to influencing former Prime Minister Theresa May to express her deep regret for the legacy of discrimination and violence that colonial-era legislation continues to inflict on people across the Commonwealth at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).Ā
Kaleidoscope Trust helped found the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global LGBT+ Rights, in 2015. We are also a founding member and host the Secretariat of The Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN), the first civil society network to sustainably advocate on behalf of LGBT+ people in the Commonwealth. Since its foundation in 2013, TCEN has actively participated in Commonwealth spaces to raise the profile and mainstream the discussion of LGBT+ people and their rights and concerns, and to engage with national-level decision-makers and policymakers on these topics. The network currently comprises over 66 member organisations representing 46 Commonwealth countries drawn from all regions, and was accredited to the Commonwealth in 2017.
In line with our vision towards a free, safe and equal world for LGBT+ people everywhere, Kaleidoscope Trust designs and implements programmes that create lasting change for our communities globally. Two fundamental components of our programmes, and of our organisational mission, are (i) building the capacities and skills of organisations and activists at the forefront of the fight for LGBT+ equality and (ii) contributing towards effective advocacy for LGBT+ rights through national and regional intersectional movement building.
In many countries, there are only a handful of ā or, in most cases, only one ā organisations representing the interests of LGBT+ communities. Kaleidoscope Trust delivers funding, resources, support, platforms and connections to ensure the long-term sustainability and effective advocacy of organisations defending the human rights of LGBT+ people. This also includes providing opportunities for learning, sharing, strategising and movement-building for LGBT+ advocates and their allies striving to improve their advocacy strategies nationally, regionally or internationally.
This Learning Workshop will take place as part of an Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-funded programme aimed at supporting LGBT+ civil society organisations in Commonwealth countries.
WORKSHOP PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES
The workshop aims to provide a space for participants to share and learn from each otherās experiences, expertise and best practices of combating criminalisation, violence, and other forms of discrimination against LGBT+ people in Commonwealth countries, with a strong focus on participants located in the Global South and East. The workshop will serve as an āincubatorā and āproving groundā for participants to explore, reflect and inform their own strategies and approaches to drive positive legal, political and social change for local LGBT+ communities.
The workshop will focus on achieving the following key objectives:
1. Share and analyse tested strategies and best practices used by civil society organisations to effectively counter discriminatory and/or restricting practices and narratives, laws and policies against LGBT+ people in a selection of countries.
2. Stimulate collective brainstorming and cross-pollination of ideas by participants working on similar strategies in order to refine and improve their respective approaches, and turn new learnings into practice.
3. Reflect on how we define impact and success, and how various historical, political and socio-cultural processes, including power dynamics within groups and societies, create opportunities and obstacles for long-term positive change.
4. Consider how pivotal concepts such as feminism, anticolonialism and intersectionality can underpin strategies to facilitate closer alignment and synergy between LGBT+ rights movements and other social justice movements to collectively advocate for better recognition and protection of the rights of marginalised people.
5. Dissect and learn from examples of successful intersectional work and intersectional movement building and their impact in advancing the rights of the most marginalised
WORKSHOP METHODOLOGY
Kaleidoscope Trust will host the workshop in collaboration with a local organisation.
The workshop will be delivered through a series of sessions structured under four main themes. We are focusing at this time on themes that (i) have been prioritised by partner organisations, and (ii) underpin work Kaleidoscope Trust is currently supporting through our various programmatic components ā including sub-granting, capacity strengthening, and movement building.
The programme breaks each of the themes into a sequence of sessions built to familiarise participants with the subject matter (Introduction sessions), allow them to deepen their understanding of the subject (Dive In sessions), and reflect ā both individually and collectively ā on the practical application of the knowledge in their own contexts (Reflection sessions). Each of the thematic cycles will be closed with a plenary session to elicit feedback and promote collaboration among participants.
During the thematic sessions, selected experts will guide participants through an exploration of each themeās core components as well as various strategies and approaches that can be applied to effectively address them. Examples of such strategies and approaches could include: strategic engagement, advocating with and sensitisation of various stakeholders (e.g., government officials, faith leaders, media professionals, law enforcement, service providers, other CSOs,); evidence building, including monitoring, documentation, and reporting on incidents of violence; public campaigns and media outreach; community empowerment; and intersectional movement building and actions.
THE FOUR THEMES BEING ADDRESSED AT THE WORKSHOP ARE:
I. Cross-cutting and intersectional alliance building, in areas such as LGBT+ inclusive climate change and disaster risk management, and/or social and economic inclusion and empowerment, etc.
LGBT+ communities, particularly in the Global South and East, often find themselves left behind or invisibilised. This often results from and manifests as discriminatory and stigma-driven barriers to accessing decision-making spaces, services and resources, and leads to LGBT+ people being disproportionately affected by the devastating impacts of climate change, natural disasters, economic disruptions, and social tensions. The international community ā let alone LGBT+ advocates themselves ā struggle to grapple with addressing the burden of these hurdles LGBT+ communities face.
As such, as part of this theme we will explore best practices of building cross-cutting and intersectional alliances in fighting climate change, natural disasters, social and economic exclusion, etc., that ensure LGBT+ voices, needs and views are heard and factored into relevant national and international measures.
An example of a good strategy addressing this specific theme can be working as an intersectional national civil society coalition with disaster management agencies, such as the Red Cross, who work closely with government agencies to develop inclusive policies to ensure LGBT+ and other marginalised populations are not excluded.
II. Changing hearts and minds as a way to influence shifts in social attitudes towards LGBT+ human rights and people.
What generates effective change in social norms and culture? Is it collective adherence to a law that lays the ground for new social norms or is it the public will, articulated through established democratic institutions? Many may agree that these processes are complementary and how one pre-determines or influences the other would vary in different contexts. However, what is important is that LGBT+ advocates equally focus on addressing existing stigma and discriminatory attitudes of the public towards LGBT+ people along with the existing discriminatory laws and a lack of recognition and protective policy and legal measures towards LGBT+ people.
One way of contributing to social attitudinal shift, for example, would be SOGIESC sensitisation trainings and engagement with various stakeholders such as media professionals or social media influencers to improve the accuracy and encourage the writing of more positive stories about LGBT+ experiences, or local private and public corporate sectors whose outspoken stands on LGBT+ rights can critically impact the views and attitudes of the general public.
III. Legislative reform, including decriminalisation, and advancing more SOGIESC inclusive laws and policies.
There are different strategies that LGBT+ advocates apply to repeal or amend discriminatory provisions and laws, including strategic litigation and direct lobbying of Parliamentarians, just like there are various ways to influence decision-makers to introduce more SOGIESC-inclusive laws and policies. If within one context, a specific strategy may work perfectly well, in others the same approach could cause a nationwide backlash and even further deterioration of the situation. So how we prioritise one strategy to effect the desired change over the other should be a contextual, expert, and community-driven process informed by insights and observations from experiences of fellow advocates in other countries and regions.
For example, systematic engagement with key stakeholders such as Parliamentarians, Human Rights Commissioners, or key staff of Ministries (e.g. Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Advisors, Chief Medical Officers) often results in the development and introduction of more inclusive national laws and policies.
IV. Prevention of and response to forms of gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence, particularly faced by trans, gender nonconforming people, and LBQ women.
Gender-based violence among LGBT+ populations remains sparsely recognised or defined in either law or practice in the majority of Global South and East countries. However, this does not mean that LGBT+ advocates are unequipped in addressing these issues. In fact, monitoring, documentation, and reporting cases of violence and against LGBT+ people, specifically trans, gender nonconfirming people and LBQ women, remain an essential part of the work that many LGBT+ human rights organisations undertake. This work not only contributes to demonstrating an actual scale and severity of the problem but ensures people who experience such forms of violence and discrimination receive the required support and validation, even in situations when access to justice is denied to them systematically.
Using digital tools to monitor and document human rights violations and utilising volunteers as point persons in the community to document and track progress of the cases as well as produce reports for national, regional or international institutions to provide evidence of human rights violations may enhance organisationās strategic advocacy efforts considerably.
PARTICIPANTSā CASE STUDIES SESSION
During this session, participants will be given an opportunity to present the work they do around the four key workshop themes or any other themes relevant to the participating organisations and receive input on how they can improve or devise new ideas and approaches based on the shared experiences and expertise of other participants and session leads.
Participants will prepare and submit their case studies for this session prior to the workshop. All submitted case studies will be presented as abstracts displayed throughout the period of the workshop. On the final day of the workshop, three of these abstracts will be chosen by all participants to be presented to the group followed by collective discussions and reflections with fellow participants and thematic experts.
TENTATIVE AGENDA
SCOPE OF WORK FOR EXPERT/SESSION LEADS
The experts/session leads are welcome to submit their expressions of interest for any of the four workshopsā thematic sessions outlined above. Kaleidoscope Trust may be open to considering proposals for any other relevant themes should the applying experts/session leads make a strong case for them.
Kaleidoscope Trust expects to be able to contract experts/session leads for each theme to develop session concept notes or methodology, including relevant examples/case studies that will be presented/discussed during thematic sessions, and to deliver the respective thematic sessions during the workshop.
Proposals received and shortlisted but not awarded under this Call for Expression of Interest may be kept on file for future capacity development consultancy opportunities.
DELIVERABLES:
Under the supervision of relevant Kaleidoscope Trustās Programmes Team members, the selected experts/session leads will be expected to deliver the following deliverables:
Design and submit the finalised concept note or methodology, relevant example(s)/ case study(ies) and work plan of thematic sessions delivery as well as any other relevant materials to support the execution of their sessions; Contribute to the finalisation of the workshop concept note on parts relevant to their thematic sessions or overall if relevant;
Deliver the thematic sessions covering the thematic diving in, participants planning, reflections, presentations and feedback;
Actively participate in all other sessions of the workshop on equal footing with other participants and experts/session leads;
Submit the session outcome report capturing key discussion points, challenges and successes, evaluation of improved knowledge of the topic by participants and āusefulnessā of the session based on participantsā feedback, and any other relevant observations and participants’ feedback.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
The applying experts/session leads should demonstrate experience in:
Designing and delivery capacity developing/empowerment activities for civil society organisations and/or community members on topics relevant to the session they applied to lead and/or more generally on human rights, social justice, nondiscrimination, among others;
Diligently delivering high-quality products from start to finish;
Managing deliverables to strict timelines and communicating timely any arising challenges and opportunities;
Working on human rights (especially LGBT+ rights and the rights of people with intersecting identities), social justice, and/or international development in the Global South and Global East.
The successful experts/session leads will be expected to attend online meetings with Kaleidoscope Trust during business hours in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) before and after the workshop implementation, when required.
Kaleidoscope Trust expects this assignment to be completed in full no later than 25 March 2023.
BUDGET
The total budget per expert/session lead is Ā£2,000.00 (Ā£400 per day), covering 5 working days of pre- and post-work along with the delivery and facilitation of the thematic sessions and provision of feedback to participantsā presentations and case studies. All other expenses associated with the workshop attendance, including return flight, airport transfers, travel insurance, accommodation, and daily allowances, will be covered by Kaleidoscope Trust in addition to the offered budget for the workshop session work.
HOW TO APPLY
Kaleidoscope Trust is committed to equality and diversity and we particularly encourage applications from women, all sections of the LGBT+ community, and all minorities representing TCEN member organisations.
To apply, please submit your CV, written endorsement of a Commonwealth-based LGBT+ civil society organisation, and written proposal explaining:
your interest in consulting with Kaleidoscope Trust as part of this opportunity; how your relevant skills and experience meet the qualifications, experience, and the scope for this consultancy;
how you expect to conduct your work, including a proposed concept note and methodology for your session, timeline for the work and budget.
Please email the above documents to katsiaryna.borsuk@kaleidoscopetrust.com, titling your communication: āShare&Connect Workshop Expert/Session Leadā.
Closing date: 14 November 2022