Founded in Nigeria in November 2022 by Yemi Ogunwa, Positive Champions Health and Empowerment Initiative (PCHEI) works with trans, intersex and gender diverse persons in the fields of capacity building, mental health services, human rights intervention and advocacy, healthcare access and community research. PCHEI is dedicated to advancing health equity and environmental sustainability across Nigeria. Their programmes are designed to empower individuals, transform communities, and inspire positive action toward a healthier, cleaner, and more resilient future. The organisation was registered on 30 May 2024.

Vision

To have a society where indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons, thrive in a positive and inclusive environment, with their health, rights, and well-being respected and protected.

Mission

To champion collaboration with relevant stakeholders to ensure the wellbeing of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons through advocacy, capacity building, empowerment, mental, sexual and reproductive health service delivery and to create a positive environment for them to thrive.

Objectives

• To advocate for the social and mental health rights and protection of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons.
• To contribute to the HIV/AIDS response and community mobilization efforts, focusing on outreach programmes and support services.
• To contribute to advocacy in executing laws and policies that protects rights of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons. 
• To collaborate with like-minded organizations to address sexual and mental health needs, empower young community members through skills acquisition programs, conduct and publish research to inform advocacy initiatives for indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons 

Strategic Goals

• To empower indigent, vulnerable and marginalized persons, through education, skill development, mentorship, and leadership training. 
• To influence legislative changes and policy reforms that promote the rights and well-being of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons.
• To promote the well-being and positive mental health of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons. 
• Actively promoting the inclusion and participation of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons in community and societal spaces, program design, and decision-making processes.
• To conduct research and gather data on the unique challenges and needs of indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons, and use this information to inform advocacy efforts and policy changes.
• To foster collaborative relationships with stakeholders, partners, and communities to strengthen the impact and reach of the organisation.

Focus/Thematic Areas

• Comprehensive healthcare: PCHEI collaborates with healthcare providers to ensure that indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons have access to quality and gender-affirming healthcare services. The organisation also conducts health awareness campaigns and provide resources to help our communities make informed decisions about their health.
• Mental health and psychosocial support: The organisation offers counselling and support groups and provides sensitisation around the recognition and destigmatisation of mental health issues within the communities they serve.
• Advocacy and human rights: PCHEI engages in targeted advocacy campaigns, lobbying efforts, and policy analysis to challenge discriminatory practices, social and climate injustice, and promote inclusive policies. The organisation aims to influence legislative changes that enhance the rights and well-being of our communities. PCHEI conducts public awareness campaigns and training programs to combat stigmatisation and prejudice, as well as strives to foster a society that respects and embraces diversity.
• Community research: The organisation conducts esearch to gather data on the unique challenges and needs of gender and sexual minorities and women. This research informs PCHEI’s advocacy efforts and helps them shape policies that benefit the communities they serve. They also publish research findings and share the knowledge they’ve gathered.
• Human rights and gender-based violence intervention: PCHEI focuses on sensitisation and provides paralegal services.
• Sexual and reproductive health: PCHEI provides safe and inclusive services and sexual health workshops.
• Capacity building and empowerment: PCHEI offers a range of educational programmes, workshops and vocational training. They also connect individuals with mentors and networks to facilitate personal and professional growth.

Contact

Website
Email: positivechampionsinitiative@gmail.com
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Videos and Reports by PCHEI

Watch this video by PCHEI on what it’s like to be a trans woman in Nigeria:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bbbo2jRQ9Vf2Jfnl3NoFVuHsRS4w3RXr/viewRead PCHEI’s Project Impact Report

Read the Intersex Awareness in Ogun State, South Western Nigeria: Perspectives From Health Workers and the General Population, compiled by PCHEI.

Founded in Nigeria in March 2022, Supporting Trans, Intersex, and Gender Non-Conforming People Initiative (STAG) was initially a peer-support, community organising and safe space network for trans, intersex, gender diverse and gender non-conforming people from around 2018/2019. STAG Initiative works with womxn, trans, intersex, gender-diverse, gender non-
conforming people, and other underserved LGBTQI+ community members in Nigeria. The network was begun by Kelsey Brookes, Claudia, and Gloria Henshaw (Juniper), and 16 other trans, intersex, gender diverse and LGBQ+ community members. The organisation’s work particularly centres people who experience multiple layers of exclusion, including trans women, trans men, intersex persons, gender-diverse persons, LGBTQI+ youth, survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), people living with HIV, sex workers, displaced persons, and community members facing homelessness, family rejection, violence, health exclusion, and legal insecurity.

STAG Initiative works at the intersection of advocacy, empowerment, safety, health justice, and human rights for womxn, trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people in Nigeria. Their main work includes crisis response, safe housing support, gender-based violence response, legal and psychosocial referrals, SRHR and HIV-related advocacy, community documentation, leadership development, movement building, and policy advocacy. They also create safe spaces where community members can access care, information, support, and collective power. STAG was born out of a deep collective frustration with the violence and discrimination faced by the communities mentioned above, and their work is rooted in ensuring that no one is left behind or erased. STAG advocates for justice, provides safe spaces and services, supports GBV survivors, strengthens community-led crisis response, empowers marginalised communities, and challenges the systems that produce violence, exclusion, and discrimination. STAG was registered in 2025.

Vision

A society where everyone, including trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people, can thrive and have full access to comprehensive healthcare, education, and empowerment, when they want it and how they want it. A future where no one has to hide who they are, explain their existence, or negotiate their dignity before accessing care, safety, education, or opportunity.

Co-founder, Kelsey Brookes says,

“As a visionary leader, I strive to create inclusive spaces and drive systemic change to ensure that every individual, regardless of gender identity, can thrive and be treated with dignity and respect.”

Source: https://www.vitalvoices.org/fellow/kingsley-kalu/

Mission

To create an inclusive society where anyone, regardless of gender identity, can live freely and safely.

Goals/Objectives

• Promote the safety, dignity, and human rights of trans, intersex, gender-diverse, gender non- conforming people, and other underserved LGBTQI+ communities in Nigeria.
• Provide crisis response, safe housing, psychosocial support, legal referrals, and survivor-centred care for community members facing violence, homelessness, family rejection, or insecurity.
• Advance access to inclusive healthcare, SRHR services, HIV prevention, treatment literacy, and gender-affirming information and support.
• Strengthen community leadership, especially among trans, intersex, and gender-diverse young people.
• Document community experiences, rights violations, movement histories, and evidence for advocacy and policy change.
• Build solidarity across generations so that older and younger trans, intersex, and gender-diverse activists can share knowledge, context, experience, strategies, and skills.
• Advocate for laws, policies, systems, and services that respect bodily autonomy, inclusion, safety, and justice.

Focus areas

• Crisis Response and Safe Housing — STAG supports trans, intersex, gender-diverse, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQI+ community members experiencing violence, homelessness, family rejection, threats, forced displacement, or urgent safety needs. This includes safe housing, emergency relocation support, case management, and referral coordination.
• Gender-Based Violence and Legal Protection — STAG provides survivor-centred support for community members affected by gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, blackmail, family violence, public harassment, and rights violations. The organisation also supports referrals to legal, psychosocial, and protection services.
• SRHR, HIV, and Health Justice — STAG advocates for access to inclusive healthcare, HIV services, SRHR information, treatment literacy, mental health support, and gender-affirming care information. Their work responds to the
  exclusion of trans, intersex, and gender-diverse people from mainstream health systems.
• Trans and Intersex Movement Building — STAG creates safe spaces for leadership development, peer learning, advocacy training, and community mobilisation. The organisation is particularly interested in strengthening intergenerational learning within the trans and intersex movement, because of the widening gap between older and younger activists. This gap is leading to the loss of knowledge, political context, lived experience, advocacy skills, and movement memory.
• Documentation, Research, and Data-Driven Advocacy — STAG documents lived realities, human rights violations, health access barriers, and community histories. The organisation uses evidence to support advocacy, policy engagement, donor engagement, and movement learning.
• Climate Justice and Social Protection — STAG integrates gender and climate justice by recognising how crisis, flooding, displacement, poverty, and environmental insecurity affect trans, intersex, gender-diverse, and other
  marginalised communities.
• Economic Empowerment and Education — STAG supports access to skills, education, empowerment opportunities, and leadership pathways for underserved community members.

Contact

Email: info@staginitiative.org / tgnpn.ng@gmail.com
+2348137760417
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Founded in Nigeria on 13 January 2022 by Mx Rihanna Savage, Nuchi Nweneka, Mathew and Peyton Ageless, Harmony Caregivers Foundation (HCF) is a trans-led feminist organisation in South-West Nigeria working to advance the rights, health, safety, and socioeconomic wellbeing of marginalised communities, particularly transgender, intersex, gender-diverse persons, women, and young people. HCF focuses on policy reforms, advocacy, human rights and sexual and reproductive heath service delivery for trans, intersex and gender diverse people in Nigeria. HCF is a safe haven and a voice for the voiceless, turning vulnerability into strength and isolation into community. The organisation was registered in 2023.

Vision

To have a society where indigent, vulnerable and marginalised persons thrive in a positive and in an inclusive environment with their health, rights and well-being respected and protected.

Mission

To create an enabling environment where all marginalised persons regardless of behaviours can be free of discrimination, stigma, molestation, harassment, rape and gender dysphoria through strong and visible activism, advocacy, sensitisation, awareness campaigns, empowerment, mental, sexual and reproductive heath service delivery, seminars and capacity building workshops, for all to grow and thrive.

Goals/Objectives

• Protect trans individuals from gender-based violence and discrimination.
• Provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) tailored to their unique experiences.
• Empower trans persons through skills training, economic opportunities, and leadership development.
• Amplify trans voices and advocate for legal recognition and human rights.

Focus areas

• Gender-based violence (GBV/SGBV) prevention and response
• Case management, referrals, psychosocial support, survivor-centered services, and advocacy to address violence affecting trans, intersex, and gender-diverse persons.
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
• Access to inclusive SRHR information and services, HIV prevention, reproductive health education, and rights-based advocacy through initiatives such as IGE-SRH.
• Mental health and ssychosocial support (MHPSS)
• Trauma-informed counselling, peer support groups, safe spaces, and mental wellbeing interventions for marginalised populations.
• Advocacy, human rights, and policy reform
• Community mobilisation, stakeholder engagement, strategic advocacy, and policy reform efforts to promote equality, dignity, and protection of LGBTQIA+ persons.
• Economic empowerment and livelihoods
• Skills acquisition, entrepreneurship support, social enterprise development, and economic inclusion programmes for vulnerable populations.

Trans and intersex-focused projects

Through these programmes, HCF works to reduce violence, improve health outcomes, strengthen community resilience, and promote the full inclusion and dignity of transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse persons in Nigeria:

• A member of the QuestPro Women Foundation Initiative: a Pan African organisation focused on the protection and preservation of human rights of all persons. Harmony Caregivers Foundation has worked with QuestPro women Foundation since 2025 to provide GBV/SGBV, MHPSS, Storytelling and Legal Services for marginalised women in all diversities (Trans, Intersex and Gender-diverse persons included). These communities lacked this services and it has greatly affected the inclusion, development, growth and participation of the community and the general society at large.
• Supports transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse persons affected by GBV/SGBV through case management, legal referrals, MHPSS, emergency support, and community-led advocacy. IGE-SRH Project
• Strengthen access to inclusive SRHR information and services for trans, intersex, and gender-diverse persons while advancing advocacy and policy reforms that address barriers to healthcare and human rights.
• Community safe space and leadership programmes
• Provide mentorship, leadership development, rights awareness, and peer-led support for transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse community members.
• Safety and security for trans, intersex and gender-diverse persons in Nigeria
• Mapping of hotspot or dangerous areas where trans, intersex and gender-diverse persons are commonly kitoed (harrassed, kidnapped, harmed) and how to mitigate this danger and apprehend the culprits.

Contact

Email: Harmonycaregiversfoundation@gmail.com
+2347051690993 / +2348159361075
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Founded in Kampala, Uganda as a grassroots coalition by John Grace and others on the 1st of August 2020, Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium (UMSC) specifically prioritises and centres trans and gender diverse (TGD) youth who have been disproportionately targeted and driven underground by recent legislation (e.g. Anti-Homosexuality Act). While UMSC’s work is deeply rooted in TGD survival, their mandate encompasses the broader LGBTQ+ community, including LGBT+ sex workers, LGBT+ HRDs and LGBT+ PLHIV (people living with HIV). The organisation also focuses on LGBT+ individuals with intersecting vulnerabilities, such as displaced TGD youth and those living with disabilities. UMSC operates as a coalition of over 25 decentralised grassroots safe spaces and community-based protection organisations. Because TGD individuals are often the most visibly targeted within the broader LGBTQ+ umbrella, UMSC’s main work involves providing highly secure emergency housing, physical protection, and trauma-informed psychosocial care. The organisation utilises Peer Health Navigators to bypass hostile public clinics—where TGD persons frequently face intentional misgendering and abuse—to safely link them to life-saving HIV/AIDS services. The organisation is officially registered and holds formal national-level public health legitimacy, as it is officially accredited by the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC).

Vision

A Uganda where marginalised communities, centring trans and gender-diverse youth, achieve true independence and self-determination. A future where TGD individuals are completely empowered to live with absolute bodily autonomy, build self-sustaining livelihoods, and access healthcare entirely on their own terms—free from systemic violence, arbitrary eviction, and reliance on hostile institutions.

Mission

To cultivate the absolute independence, resilience, and self-determination of marginalised communities—centring LGB, trans and gender-diverse (TGD) youth, sex workers, and individuals living with HIV—by building a self-sustaining, decentralised network of safe spaces across Uganda. UMSC is committed to breaking cycles of reliance on hostile institutions by empowering vulnerable populations with independent, stigma-free HIV/AIDS service linkages, trauma-informed psychosocial support, and the tools required to defend their own human rights and bodily autonomy.

Goals/Objectives

• To facilitate the transition of displaced and unhoused LGB, trans and gender-diverse (TGD) youth from precarious survival to enduring independence by maintaining protected, decentralised shelter networks that provide the essential foundation for reclaiming their autonomous livelihoods.
• To develop community-led, stigma-free health linkage infrastructures that empower LGB, TGD individuals overcoming homelessness to oversee their HIV/AIDS care and holistic health with absolute self-determination, effectively ending dependency on hostile or exclusionary public health systems.
• To expand localised, peer-driven psychosocial frameworks—such as our Resilience Circles—designed to dismantle the trauma of displacement and internalised shame, providing our community members with the mental fortitude necessary to achieve total structural and personal independence.

Focus areas

• UMSC’s core thematic areas are Emergency Housing and Transitional Shelter, HIV/AIDS Health Autonomy, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), and Structural Independence.
• For trans and gender-diverse (TGD) community members specifically, their projects are meticulously designed to disrupt the pipeline from AHA-related eviction to chronic homelessness. The organisation operates specialised safe spaces that provide immediate physical sanctuary for displaced TGD youth. From this secure foundation, they run trauma-informed “Resilience Circles” tailored to help TGD individuals process the acute trauma of homelessness and systemic violence, rebuilding their mental resilience.
• Furthermore, to ensure TGD members can safely transition to full independence, UMSC’s Peer Health Navigators facilitates secure, peer-led health linkages. The organisation bypasses hostile public clinics—where TGD persons frequently face intentional misgendering, blackmail, and service denial—by physically escorting them to trusted, non-hostile care centres or distributing underground HIV self-testing kits. 
• Their ultimate project focus is equipping formerly unhoused TGD youth with the physical safety, mental resilience, and health autonomy they need to permanently exit crisis survival and rebuild self-sustaining, independent lives.

Contact

Website
Email: minorityshelters@gmail.com  / umsc@minorityshelter.org 
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Watch our interview with co-founder, John Grace, 14 August 2026

UMSC documentaries

UMSC in the media

• PlanetRomeo Foundation: https://www.planetromeofoundation.org/umsc; 
• Global Press Journal’s feature “Shelters in Uganda Unite to Safely House LGBTQ People” https://globalpressjournal.com/africa/uganda/network-hope-shelters-uganda-unite-safely-house-lgbtq-people; 
• 76Crimes’ article “Five homeless shelters welcome LGBTQ Ugandans” https://76crimes.com/2020/10/23/five-homeless-shelters-welcome-lgbtq-ugandans; 
• GoFundMe campaign story “Donate To Uganda’s LGBT Shelters” https://www.gofundme.com/f/minorityshelters; 
• New York Times piece https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/world/africa/usaid-africa-uganda-lgbtq.html; 
• LGBTQ groups question US health agreements with African countries — Washington Blade, February 2026
• LGBTQ Ugandans targeted ahead of country’s elections — Washington Blade, January 2026
• Mpox outbreak in Africa declared global health emergency — Washington Blade, August 2024
• Ugandan Constitutional Court to consider challenge to Anti-Homosexuality Act — Washington Blade, December 2023
• Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium — Official Website
• How Police and Criminals Use Uganda’s Antigay Law to Find Blackmail Targets — Wall Street Journal

Founded in 2019 in South Sudan, Rise Initiative for Women’s Right Advocacy (RiWA) works primarily with the LGBTIQ community, with a specific focus on trans women, intersex people and children, as well as youth and survivors of gender-based violence. RiWA promotes and protects the rights of  LGBTIQ persons through advocacy, human rights education, psychosocial support, and leadership development. We also use sports, particularly women’s football, as a platform to empower young women and advocate for equality and inclusion. RiWA was registered in 2021.

Vision

To envisage a peaceful country offering the LGBTIQ community an opportunity to participate in the socio-economic development decisions and activities in South Sudan where they are accorded full and equal dignity without prejudice.

Mission

To empower and amplify the voices of women, girls, and marginalised communities through human rights education, advocacy, and leadership development, fostering equality and social justice in South Sudan.

Goals/Objectives

• Promote gender equality and womxn’s empowerment.
• Protect and advance the rights of LGBTIQ persons and other marginalised groups.
• Prevent and respond to gender-based violence through awareness and psychosocial support.
• Strengthen youth leadership and participation in social change.
• Use sports and creative platforms for community mobilisation and advocacy.

Focus Areas

• Gender Equality and Womxn’s Empowerment
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
• Human Rights and Access to Justice
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
• Sports for Empowerment and Advocacy
• Human Rights Documentation and Protection

Trans and Intersex Programmes

Trans programme

RiWA provides dedicated support to the transgender community in South Sudan, who face high levels of stigma, violence, and exclusion. RiWA’s work includes emergency protection, safe shelter referrals, psychosocial support, and accompaniment for those facing threats or abuse.

The organisation also documents human rights violations against trans people and uses this evidence for advocacy at local and national levels. Through leadership training and community organising, RiWA empowers trans activists to participate in decision-making and strengthen their visibility and safety.

Key areas of our support include:

• Emergency assistance and protection.
• Psychosocial support and healing spaces.
• Documentation of human rights violations.
• Leadership development and capacity building.

Intersex programme

RiWA’s Intersex Community of South Sudan (ICS) Initiative is aimed at addressing issues affecting intersex children and persons in South Sudan. This Initiative is the first of its kind in South Sudan, and is focused on visibility, protection, and empowerment of intersex people. RiWA creates safe spaces for intersex individuals and families, facilitates peer-support groups, and conducts community awareness to challenge stigma and harmful practices, including non-consensual medical interventions.

The Initiative focuses on:

• Community building and peer support.
• Advocacy against harmful practices.
• Research and data collection.
• Medical community engagement.
• Empowerment and leadership.

Contact

Website
+211915217117
Email: riwasouthsudan@gmail.com / info@riwasouthsudan.org
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Founded on 24 April 2014 by Madine Mukandayisenga, RIFA (Rights for All) is a Rwandan organisation based in Kigali, focusing on youth, working to promote the rights and well-being of lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex (LBTI) persons, female sex workers and LBTI persons with disabilities. Their main work includes human rights advocacy, mental health and psychosocial support, community awareness on SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) issues, and connecting LBTI individuals with inclusive health services and empowering them economically. The organisation’s registration is pending.

Vision

A healthy and prosperous young generation free from all forms of injustice.

Mission

To improve the livelihoods, health, and equality of vulnerable and marginalised sections of youth in Rwanda through legal and policy advocacy as well as provision of direct essential services.

Objectives

• To advocate for and/or create opportunities for income-generating opportunities among youth, especially female youth.
• To sensitise youth on fighting against the HIV/AIDS scourge, drug abuse, delinquency and other forms of irresponsible behaviour.
• Advocate for access to comprehensive healthcare services especially for vulnerable and most at risk youth groups, namely LBTI people and female sex workers, and LBTI people with disabilities.
• To sensitise youth on positive values and ethics and transform them into responsible citizens with an inherent culture of hard working.
• To fight against all forms of discrimination and marginalisation based on, inter-alia, socio-economic status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Focus Areas

• Human rights advocacy for LBTI persons and female sex workers.
• Gender and sexual diversity awareness.
• Access to inclusive health services.
• Mental health and psychosocial support.
• Capacity building and community empowerment for LBTI people and female sex workers.

Contact

Email: rifaworwanda@gmail.com
+250788645920
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