Social, Health and Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender and Intersex Women of Africa (S.H.E) was formally established by Leigh Ann van der Merwe, following the announcement of the organisation’s formation during the regional Exchange Programme. Part of the founding reasons derived from the regional Exchange Programme in May 2011, hosted in Uganda, where trans feminine and trans women activists and trans masculine and trans men activists had intense discussions about the power imbalance within the trans movement in Africa, which was overwhelmingly led by trans men and trans masculine people. 

S.H.E’s most prominent mandate is to work nationally and throughout the continent with a trans-feminist lens, creating opportunities for trans women and trans-feminine activists. S.H.E fully adopted feminist principles and operates from that intention and with that approach.