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Description
Creating a “safe space” where LGBTI people do not hide their sexual orientation and gender identity is particularly important in order to empower these vulnerable groups. The opening of the first community centre called Rainbow Hub in April 2018 contributed to a great extent to achieving this goal and to setting the beginning of self-organization of different LGBTI communities through launching several mutual help groups. However, a clear strategy and a number of targeted actions are needed in order to stimulate the members of the LGBTI community to organize active advocacy initiatives. The project aims at training advocacy and providing an opportunity for the organization of advocacy campaigns of 150 members of the LGBTI community. The participants of 7 mutual help groups will be able to attend advocacy and strategic communication training sessions carried out by experts with international experience. After the participants are trained, they will have the opportunity to apply their advocacy skills in real advocacy actions planned by each group based on the identified needs of the group and the opportunities to achieve this effect. The expected project results: a completed needs assessment of LGBTI youth, practitioners and families, trans and intersex people, lesbian and queer women, HIV carriers, parents of LGBTI youth in Bulgaria; 150 LGBTI members with raised advocacy skills (improved understanding of the processes of planning and implementation of advocacy actions, developed skills for strategic communication, campaigning, leadership); successfully implemented 7 advocacy initiatives, successful communication activities (an audience of more than 12 000 community members, the LGBTI movement having a steady place; raised awareness of the representatives of public institutions and the general public about the needs and issues of the LGBTI people).
Summary of project results
The main objective of the project was to increase the capacity and mobilize the LGBTI community for advocacy actions. The approach involved a series of activities by seven of the self-support community groups at the Rainbow Hub Community Centre, including implementing regular facilitated meetings, training group participants on six topics related to communications and advocacy, identifying current needs and developing work plans, and as a result the participants in each of the seven groups implemented their own advocacy initiatives. The project included the following community groups: LGBTI youth group BraveLab, QueerFemme group of lesbians, bisexual, trans and queer women, trans and intersex group T.I.A, Work It OUT Club for LGBTI professionals, Family and Friends of LGBTI group, group of LGBTI people living with HIV, group of LGBTI families, and the two thematic groups "Rights in Action" and "Preventing Burnout for LGBTI Activists".
The unforeseen extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis required reorganization and adaptation of the originally planned activities in a way that the new context and needs of people from the LGBTI community could be met. At the very beginning of the crisis in 2020, the team managed to switch completely to online work and attract new participants from other Bulgarian cities and abroad. The deteriorating political situation since the spring of 2021, when the LGBTI community and in particular the three partner organizations were subjected to systematic harassment by organized groups of provocateurs, culminating in the physical attack and devastation of the Rainbow Hub in October 2021, also forced change in the approach of organizing part of the activities and negatively affected the general emotional and mental state of both project partners and the LGBTI community as a whole.
Thanks to the efforts within the project, more than 200 representatives of the LGBTI community were trained in advocacy, who, with the support of experienced activists and experts, implemented their own advocacy initiatives on seven different topics key to the LGBTI community. Empowered LGBTI representatives have an increased understanding of the need to implement advocacy actions, as well as accumulated practical experience for their preparation and implementation, which represents a potential for the development of advocacy as an important aspect of civil society, as well as a possible change of legislation concerning human rights and equality in Bulgaria. As a result of the multi-layered communication campaign, the products of which were widely distributed online, we have reason to assume that the advocacy initiatives reached a significant number of interested persons and representatives of various public groups, which guarantees a better understanding of the topic of the rights of LGBTI people in Bulgaria.