Hivos' role in LGBT emancipation in southern Africa 1995-2005

S. Ranchod, S. Boezak

Hivos, the Humanist Institute for Development Co-operation, is a secular organisation whose core activities comprise of providing financial and political support to local NGOs in the global South. Since the mid-1990s Hivos has supported a number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) organisations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as part of its human rights programme. This support was to further the aim of LGBT emancipation, i.e. for LGBT people to have equal access to resources, to express themselves freely as LGBT, and to participate in decision-making processes that determine their lives. The purpose of this Programme Evaluation (PE) is to evaluate Hivos' support to LGBT organisations and projects in the southern Africa region. The southern African countries where Hivos has been active in this regard are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. About each of this countries is a seperate paragraph. Through the use of various data collection and analysis tools this PE highlights the strength and effectiveness and efforts of Hivos-supported LGBT organisations to date, while identifying lessons for future interventions toward LGBT emancipation. The evaluation also makes explicit the diversity of both LGBT people and organisations receiving Hivos' support, and the significance of this support for efforts towards the ultimate goal of LGBT emancipation.