LGBTQIA+ Equality Tanzania, United Republic of Project #21574

Help defend and protect LGBTQ+ rights in Tanzania

Project Report | May 17, 2017
Project update

By James Ouma | Executive Director

A few months ago we reported about the crackdown on LGBT people in Tanzania unfortunately the situation continue to worsen every day as law enforces come with new methods of demoralizing and condemning LGBT individuals. It is evident that a number or gay individuals have been arrested detained and forced to undergo anal exam to prove homosexuality.

LGBT Voice conducted a min survey last month to identify victims of anal examination and the problems affecting them, we identified 33 people who were directly affected by the ongoing homophobic harassment activities and worst part of it is most of them atraumatized because of what they went through.

This being a new issue to deal with LGBT Voice is training 3 volunteers who are expected to help those in trauma to begin feeling better. It has been very difficult for us finding a safe place for some of the victims to stay due to the fear of getting arrested but we are working hard to ensure everyone is safe. It may take longer for these victims to recover because of the widespread misinformation and misperception about homosexuality that encourages oppression and violence towards those of us who are LGBT. The fear of rejection and isolation from family, community, may these people to continue hiding This is devastating not only for the individuals who were forced to undergo anal exama but the entire LGBT community

One of the victims narrated

“The doctor told me to lie on the examination bed and raise my buttocks and forced me to go through anal exams, the exam lasted for about three minutes, and it felt like I had been raped. The doctor performed the exam, and a police officer supervised. They just looked at me, when the doctor placed his hands on each of my buttocks and spread them. I couldn’t protest because, with the officer there, “I just followed whatever they told me to do, I did.”

Based on the polical environment in the country, judiciary weapon we can use to fight this injustice, but we cannot do it alone, we need support from friends, supporters, donors and well-wishers to ensure that such activities are no more.

This is why we need your support more than ever, help us hire a good lawyer who will cary our flag and voice to demand justice, also help us to continue offering the direct services to the victims.

We still need to conduct a national survey with face-to-face interviews which could reach as many as 800 respondents. The survey would aim to assess the extent to which discrimination in the public and private spheres impact the lives of LGBT respondents. It would lead to an assessment of the impact of discrimination from law enforcement and in public services.

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Feb 16, 2017
UPDATE

By James Ouma | Executive Director

Although the government of Tanzania has been undertaking campaigns to demoralize and condemn LGBT individuals and organizations and even threatening to close down organization that support LGBT individuals, LGBT Voice is still strong and working tirelessly to keep doors open and services available to the LGBT community. We have not stopped advocating for reversal of the recent actions that have been taken against the LGBT community, full and equal legal rights, and increasing acceptance of LGBT people. However, the government has again announced names of three gay men who are supposed to be charged for being gay, according to the Dar es Salaam Regional police commander.

In the last two months we were able to form seven new groups, in Morogoro region and registered 33 new members. The organization is expanding and many people are now aware of our existence.

Due to limited funds we have not been able to implement any new project but continue with our campaign creating awareness about the current situation in the country and also mobilizing support from both local and international organizations working for the interests and general well-being of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people

We do receive calls and emails from LGBT people country wide that need our help but at the moment we are only able to support a few who reside in Dar es Salaam.

Kindly continue supporting our work, it is becoming worse more than ever and at the moment is when we urgently need your support than ever, we need a secure space for our office, employ 4 competent staff and a few office equipments.

A comment from Grace:

We need to raise our voice for the LGBT people because this country is becoming more dangerous for the LGBT people live, if we do not act today, it will be late tomorrow. Today my life is in danger because of my sex orientation tomorrow someone else will be in danger because of who he/she is.

We are not attaching any photo because of security reasons.

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Nov 18, 2016
Annual Report

By James Wandera Ouma | Executive Director

Dear Supporters and Friends of LGBT Voice,

As the year draws to an end we are thrilled by the widespread support we received throughout the year, I would like to sincerely thank you for your support to LGBT Voice Tanzania; our organization has counted on your generosity to support our work toward LGBT rights for in 2016. We are extremely grateful for your support of our programs, and we hope that you will continue to show your compassion for LGBT people in Tanzania it is a sobering fact that Tanzania’s LGBT rights are violated every single day

Our single-minded efforts over the last 3 years have been to restore to Tanzania’s LGBT their rights. This year especially, our focus has been on underlining and putting into action long-term goals that focus on LGBT rights while also ensuring sustainability of our efforts. And we’ve also attempted to figure out the impact of goal setting and of the progress we’ve made.

Much work has been done, but in the current Tanzanian context, where LGBT rights are not recognized and violations are significant, it is clear that our actions need to be more focused and must bring about lasting change for LGBT individuals.

As an organization that spearheads the movement for LGBT rights, we realize the need to be more strategic in our choice of issues, approaches and utilization of resources to maximize our impact on LGBT. Accordingly this year, our focus has been to move to the next stage of making an actionable difference to the LGBT Community. So that we can well and truly transform lives positively and mold the future of the LGBT Community across Tanzania.

With the LGBT as the nucleus of our work, our most critical goal is to ensure that our work penetrates deeper to address the grassroots and critical issues affecting the LGBT Community, and respond with approaches that work in the respective geographical areas while being prepared for any emergencies

Some few achievements in 2016

This year both the organization and the LGBT community in Tanzania faced challenges threatened the existence of LGBT people and associations but regardless of the environment in the country we managed to:

Reach and impact a number of LGBT individuals whose rights are were violated
Leverage our current strengths of extensive experience at the grassroots and advocacy level
Were to address the most critical issues affecting LGBT individuals – particularly those of physical danger and other acute life-threatening issues
Developed a data collection tool that will be used to collect data at household level, interviews, community profiles and observation
For the first time we managed to prepare a litigation against the government and now our lawyer is in the final stages of filling the case in high court
Opened a new office in Kagera Region

Future Plans and need for funding

Our plan for the year 2017 is to continue creating awareness about the negative implications of Homophobia and especially state sponsored and build a strong movement for equality in Tanzania.

Needs:

Hire 3 qualified and competent staff, (Programs officer, accounting officer and capacity building officer)
Open office in two more regions (Arusha and Dodoma)
Purchase 2 desk top computers for the head office

Thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope we can continue to make a difference together.

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