In 2021, Astraea made our first open call for Strategic Communications grants to seed innovative, bold, and creative LGBTQIA organizations to deepen their approaches to advocacy and communications. Today, we’re delighted to be able to celebrate this incredible cohort of grantees and share their powerful visions and work with all of you!

Through these grants, Astraea gave a total of $500,000 in funding to 17 existing Astraea grantee partners across Armenia, Nigeria, Kenya, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago. 

Across the globe there is a rise in anti-LGBTQIA rights groups spreading disinformation campaigns. Grassroots feminist and LGBTQIA groups around the world are combating this harmful disinformation by utilizing creative storytelling and powerful messaging campaigns. By uplifting LGBTQIA peoples’ realities and lived experiences, activists are engaging in dialogue to share a vision for a more just and equitable world both within and beyond their immediate communities. Astraea’s longstanding commitment has always been to amplify activists’ voices and stories, and equip them with the tools to make their own media and control their own narratives. These strategic communications grants are a testament to that commitment. 

Each of the grantee partners in this cohort utilize strategic messaging, storytelling, and advocacy as core tools for inspiring action towards collective liberation. Their approaches are as diverse and vibrant as the many communities and contexts they represent, but here is a brief snapshot of some of their work:

• Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER) (Nigeria) is an organization that brings together lesbian, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary people to collectively take action to advance and promote their rights in Nigeria. The group is producing a community developed web series to reduce inequality and social exclusion in Nigeria and advance counter narratives through media production. This web series will be available on various social media platforms alongside a newsletter to promote further community engagement. 

• Intersex Persons Society of Kenya (Kenya) is an intersex-led organization that works to advance human rights and dignity for intersex persons across Kenya. Through a public education campaign, the group will focus on amplifying the lived realities and human rights priorities of intersex persons in Kenya, work towards preventing the spread of misinformation, and ultimately challenge the systemic stigma surrounding intersex livelihoods.  
• TransWave Jamaica (Jamaica) is a trans-led organization working to advance the health, welfare and wellbeing of the transgender and gender non-conforming community in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. The TransWave team has previously executed several powerful social media campaigns to increase awareness of the lived realities of their communities. Now, they are excited to be launching a new campaign that will highlight transgender Jamaicans and their contributions across different fields, and challenge harmful stereotypes about gender diversity in Jamaica.

Join us in congratulating these 17 phenomenal organizations for their ongoing commitment to bold and authentic storytelling!