In Vietnam, Chu Thanh Ha is the Founder and Executive Director of IT’S T TIME, a transgender-led organization working as a technical advisory agency for the Ministry of Health during the drafting of the Gender Affirmation Law and promoting for the legal gender recognition process since 2015. He has always been a transgender advocate and senior researcher who is passionate and has 10 years of professional experience in advocating for the voices, visibility, and effective participation of the transgender and gender-diverse community in Vietnam through policy advocacy, community mobilization, movement building, and public education. Some notable achievements include the legalization of legal gender recognition for transgender people through Article 37 of the Civil Code 2015 and the subsequent drafting of the Law on Gender Affirmation with the Ministry of Health. Ha also represents IT’S T TIME in various organizations and working group, such as C4TRANS (Coalition for Transgender Rights in Vietnam) and other international forums.
At the regional level (Asia-Pacific), he has conducted various regional studies and research to fill in the gap of knowledge regarding gender study and transgender rights. Ha has been engaging with APTN since 2016 and joined as Hate Crimes and Violence Monitoring Officer under the advocacy department in 2022. Ha is currently serving as Trans Representative of the ILGA Asia Executive Board Member for 2022-2024.
Joyce is passionate about human rights. She was a Peer Educator with Impact Research and development studies and KASH. Due to her neverending quest for knowledge and serving the community, she climbed ladders to be where she is today. Joyce worked with Keeping Alive Societies Hope (KASH) as a Field Officer. She was instrumental in the formation of KISWA which she was a Co-Founder. She also co-founded WEKESWA where she is the Program Coordinator and sits on the KEMRI-CGHR Community Advisory Board and is the current chairperson. She was also part of the 7th Regional Changing Faces, Changing Spaces Conference (CFCS VII) as a taskforce member. She is a member of AWID and ICW global. Joyce is also representing WEKESWA in the AVAC regional advocacy group. She has been appointed to the JOOTRH-Institutional Scientific Ethical Review Committee.
Joyce is passionate about HIV research treatment and prevention and a sex workers rights defender. She has a diploma in social work and project management and is a mother to three lovely kids, two boys and a girl. She loves dancing, cooking and listening to good music. Rights are rights, they never choose who to be with.
Sylvester is a Trans man. He serves as the Trans Rights Programme Officer at IRANTI, and before that he was the Deputy Director of Tranz Network Uganda. Sylvester has a great background in LGBTIQ+ advocacy. He is a researcher and has contributed to LGBTIQ+ focused research initiatives in Uganda and South Africa. He is a social justice activist with a master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratization. Sylvester is currently the secretary of the International Advisory Committee of the power of pride program, a consortium program between ILGA ASIA, COC Netherlands, and PAI that funds initiatives on LGBTIQ+ rights advancement across 22 countries of Asia and Africa. He has a deep background in LGBTIQ+ issues and has vest interest in amplifying the protection and promotion of LGBTIQ+ rights in the African region.
Kholoud Bidak is an African descent, BIPoC Queer feminist intersectional and political educator with focus on sensitivity, diversity, and intersectionality. Bidak has over 20 years of experience working with collectives and in the private sector in the African continent, Global South, and Europe. Bidak’s work areas include training and workshops, consultancy, mediation and supervision, leading organizational development processes, event organizing, wellbeing, and healing. Bidak is enthusiastic about sustaining the mental health of oneself and the collective along our daily life.
Sam is a Trans man raised on Feminist principles who is the Executive Director of Trans Research Education Advocacy and Training (TREAT), a Trans led organisation in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He is currently serving as Chairperson of the Southern African Trans Forum and forms part of the current Interim Governing Body of the African Trans Network. He is a vibrant poet and musician who often employs artivism in his advocacy approaches.
Sam has been involved in consultancy, including hosting constructions for sex worker organising and most recently in modelling flexible decolonized funding. He believes strongly, in a work model that intersects economic justice and deems it essential to expand the agency of trans and gender diverse communities in order to attain a full and active citizenry. Sam is a strong believer in reviving the heart and soul of the movement and that love and empathy will continue to be unequaled forces in centering and growing movements around the globe.
