Creative Arts LBTIQ- SW Project

Simma Africa has an ongoing economic empowerment project for LBTIQ persons in Creative Arts mainly fashion, design , craft making and hair dressing. The workshop has trained 247 LBTIQ refugee women in fashion since 2016. The trainees have the passion and skills to promote the Queer Fashion culture through fashion and design. Although they have the talent Queer designers are finding it hard to enter the fashion industry due to stigma and discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity in Uganda.We believe that this is a starting point to empower and support our own grass root designers to get out of the underground as well as build solidarity in the LBTIQ and Sex Worker movement.

• To use Creative Arts as a tool to advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights of Intersex and Transgender persons in Uganda.
• To raise awareness on Sustainable Developmental Goals especially 5 Gender Equality.
• To advocate against stigmatization, exclusion and dis-empowerment of sexual minority groups in Uganda.
• To promote the work of Human Rights Defenders, Feminists and Activists .

Helping LBTIQ YOUTH and SW WOMEN 

Homosexuality is currently criminalized and socially stigmatized in Uganda. This places LBTIQ youth in a marginalized position which makes it hard for them to be accepted in society and the workplace. This can cause low self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, violence, unemployment, unlawful terminations. We hope to curb the unemployment issue by using non-formal education and vocational training of the LBTIQ youth in the Central and Eastern Uganda.

In addition to the employment obstacles faced by LBTIQ refugee youth due to difference in education curriculum and language barrier, LBTIQ youth also contend with policies surrounding their legal eligibility to work (NGO Act 2016 and the Penal Code Cap 120 on Naturalization). LBTIQ youths are officially excluded from participating in Uganda's formal economy. Additionally, the unemployment rate of youth is high and discrimination is a significant problem that LGBTIQ+ refugee youth face due to ageism. Most organizations require specific education qualifications, marital status, job experience, age and connections which makes it almost impossible for LBTIQ youth to secure jobs.

"The Future is a Million Shades of Female."

For all of these reasons, the members of Simma Africa Creative Arts Foundation (SACAF) help empower LBTIQ refugee youth with employable skills like: Sewing, Shoe making, Fashion & Design, Modelling and English Literacy. 

We hope to see a 60% increase in employment of LBTIQ youth in Central and Eastern Uganda. We also hope to see a 50% decrease in reports on cyber bullying among LBTIQ youth after the project. The formation of the book club and literacy class will improve the language and communication among the LBTIQ youth and help close the unemployment gap of LBTIQ youth in the central region of Wakiso..