Working to Strengthen Inclusion
Salvadoran LGBTQI+ population faces violence and discrimination
El Salvador is a country rife with violence, exclusion, and discrimination against the LGBTQI+ population, as demonstrated by the recurrence of hate crimes and human rights violations committed with impunity. In this hostile context and amidst cultural stigma, LGBTQI+ rights defenders have strived to transform their reality and achieved significant milestones in the last decade, including the creation of El Salvador’s first LGBTI Federation. However, the Salvadoran LGBTQI+ movement remains fragile and susceptible to political polarization and narrowing civic space, both of which have deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic and electoral processes, exacerbating existing internal fractures that hinder collaboration.
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Photo credits: HT El Salvador.
Amplify Salvadoran LGBTQI+ groups to better defend human rights
Counterpart, together with local implementing partner Partners El Salvador, will directly respond to the need to strengthen the Salvadoran LGBTQI+ movement’s ability to more effectively and collectively express, communicate, and defend the common human rights interests of the Salvadoran LGBTQI+ population. We will do so by engaging and strengthening the capacities of lesbians, queer women, trans men, and LGBTQI+ emerging leaders, groups currently underrepresented in the movement, and through enhancing the organizational capacity of the Salvadoran LGBTI Federation and other LGBTQI+ groups. In doing so, the LGBTQI+ movement will be better positioned to defend the human rights of the diverse LGBTQI+ population in El Salvador. Our two main objectives are:
- Strengthen the capacity of the LGBTQI+ movement’s established and underrepresented actors to increase shared advocacy strategies, better communicate, and promote inclusive collaboration to defend the common human rights interests of the diverse Salvadoran LGBTQI+ population
- Strengthen the Salvadoran LGBTI Federation’s organizational capacity and management to effectively defend and promote the human rights of the Salvadoran LGBTQI+ population
Salvadoran LGBTIQ+ movement strengthened
- 2,400 human rights defenders trained and supported
- 215 civil society organizations engaged in advocacy interventions
- 81 prioritized activities from the Inclusive Advocacy Agenda being implemented
- 83 percent of the Federation’s member organizations actively participate in internal strengthening activities
Bringing together experts and activists
Building inclusive, sustainable communities
