Capacity Building in Focus for Saint Lucia’s LGBTQI Organisation

The capacity of United and Strong Inc. to advocate on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and intersex persons in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean has been strengthened with membership involvement in two significant training programmes.

Members of United and Strong are participating in the Caribbean Institute in Gender & Development (CIGAD) at the University of the West Indies Cavehill, Barbados and the Rainbow Leaders programme in Stockholm, Sweden.

CIGAD is the region’s premier gender and development training programme, now in its 11th cycle. It is offered by the Institute for Gender and Development Studies: Nita Barrow Unit (IGDS:NBU), a dynamic unit within UWI. IGDS: NBU is engaged in a programme of teaching, research and outreach on women and gender issues in Caribbean society. The unit uses gender analysis to investigate material and ideological relations of gender affecting Caribbean women and men and seeks to expose and transform these to create a more just society.

The Rainbow Leaders programme is offered by RFSL—The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, a non-profit organization that works with and for the rights of LGBTI persons. The overall objective of Rainbow Leaders is increased LGBTI organisational visibility and mobilisation to secure LGBTI rights in regional and international arenas.

These programmes have trained hundreds of people in the Caribbean and around the globe, creating more knowledgeable and empowered individuals and building a family of activists around the world.

United and Strong lauds this development of staff and membership capacity as it redounds directly to the organisation’s benefit. The organisation further recognises the contribution of IDGS:NBU and RFSL in solidifying its advocacy.