LGBTIQQ Organizations in Africa!

It is wonderful to see liberal-activists' organizations starting to celebrate anniversaries in dividends of jubilees. These are organizations that were committed to causing change, they had interventions in place and showed visible impact. Those which targeted gay persons on the African continent have done wonders. It is such organizations that have improved on how planned interventions reach the grass-roots. There are less and lesser inequalities being overcome. These inequalities may be such as; knowing a friend/friends who are gay, who may be in trouble or in prison and the leaders are on a jet-plane to a conference in a hotel on an ocean shore. The leaders end up sending pictures of themselves taking booze and liqueur. After the conference there is no feed-back at all to the communities represented. It is these discrepancies in response to needs that need to be improved upon and done away with. We need zero tolerance for trips without true representation. The needs that require highlighting are: homelessness, lack of employable skills, injustices, vulnerability to HIV/STDs, lack of formal planned interventions, viable groups' visibility and establishing a culture of fixed obligation organization development (FOOD). It should be noted that such inequalities are not the same from one African country to another. Let us just take two countries in Southern Africa: In Malawi there could be backlash, lynching, arbitrary arrests (http://www.faceofmalawi.com/2012/07/homosexuality-still-illegal-in-malawi-govt/), in next door Zambia there could be shaming and naming (http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/09/world/africa/zambia-gay-arrest).  The existing inter-Africa Regional groups need to be sensitive to what is prevailing even as they carry out their planned activities. There are regional groups based in Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Kenya whose agenda is mostly visible at international conference booths but have their phones off the hooks once they get back to their African based offices. In almost all of these regional organizations the leaders seem so removed from what is the reality and seemingly not bothered about country based issues. After Uganda and Nigeria which have got exposure due to the Anti-Homosexuality Bills, there are numerous countries in Africa that are facing anti-homosexuality-related lynchings, abuses and hate campaigns. These inter-Africa regional organizations have not addressed this as part of their interventions. Or they are ignoring trends ! One trend that African activists should develop into a learning resource and empower beneficiaries in skills to dialogue around is; patriarchy, chauvinism (http://www.newzimbabwe.com/NEWS-11611-Conceive+or+face+jail,+Mugabe+tells+gays/NEWS.aspx) and their influence on equity and equality. There is need for training a critical mass of Africans to break the barriers that stand in the way of equality and equity. Within countries there is a dichotomy and disparity of funding faced by organizations. There the categories of organizations addressing immediately felt needs but are not funded. There are some that have their capitalization far exceeding impact-driven activities by a ratio of 70:30. In such situation these organizations are spending more money on such expenses like;  staff transportation/ mileage, bills, utilities, rent and fat salaries but less on beneficiary needs. A recurrent report of one such organization shows that one senior executive gets over USD 20,000 annually after tax, 'social' programme at USD 19,500 annually and 'health' programme in the same organization has paltry a vote of USD 1,200 for a full year!  In almost all these country-based organizations the leaders who initiated much needed interventions have changed. They have moved far away from the painful issues and got so comfortable. Many seem to be ever on the plane going somewhere to be vested with awards, accolades, or to give speeches, appear on talk-shows, engage in a parade or some leaders are always posting about the trappings in exotic cities (Paris, Kuala Lumpur, Oslo, London, Belfast, Reykjavik .. .). When approached about interventions that help save say, a gay person at the grass-roots it is not uncommon to be shown the door and the proforma fed in the nearest paper shredder if no one comments on the typos! Now that we are seeing organizations celebrating anniversaries, there is need for a re-visit/ debate on commitments, interventions and impact. Let there be a meeting of all organizations at a given venue in Africa to set things right. There is a long list of organizations in all countries in Africa ( from Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania..). There is need to make all organizations accountable by 2020. There is need to promote universal transparency and a common agenda. One area that needs looking into is LGBTI and aging. A leaf or two can be taken from elsewhere (http://sdgln.com/health/2013/07/06/new-hhs-guidance-protects-lgbt-elders).