Humanity First Cameroon (HFC) is a Cameroonian organization that works against HIV/AIDS and for the promotion and protection of sexual minorities’ rights. Founded in 2010 in Yaoundé (Cameroon) by a group of gay men, the organization quickly integrated gender issues to the agenda with the arrival and involvement of lesbians, bisexuals and trans* people.

The “Gender and Female Leadership” division was thus created to enable the integration of all sexual identities: women who have sex with women (WSW), lesbians, bisexual, trans*, intersex and queer people (LBTIQ). At HFC, we recognize every single one of these identities and take their specific issues into consideration in our training programs.

The Cameroonian context, with article 347-1, criminalizes non-heteronormative sexual orientations and identities. At the social level, the consequence of this is a climate of persecutions that affects the lives of Cameroonian LGBTIQWSW. To overcome this, we have developed various resistance strategies, the first one being to organize ourselves on the basis of our identities. We therefore decided to join QAYN, the first queer feminist network in Francophone West Africa, in order to benefit from their expertise and achieve more visibility. QAYN is the first financial partner of the Gender and Female Leadership division of Humanity First Cameroon.

OUR MAIN PRIORITIES

The need for trans* and female leadership. In a context mainly dominated by gays, the Gender and Female Leadership division has established itself as a pioneer in Cameroon in terms of a liberation movement lead by queer and trans* women who refuse to get stuck in the victimizing environment created by other LBTQWSW groups in the country. To promote a positive image of queer and trans* identities, we rely on documenting political actions by LBTQWSW activists, conducting social research on the wellbeing and sexual health of members of our community, reporting fundamental rights violations and advocating towards women’s rights organizations.

We have also developed a training program in response to homophobic harassment as well as the denial and self-deprecation resulting from internalized homophobia. This program, taking into account notions of sexual orientations, identities and gender expressions, is geared towards our members and allies in order to enable a better understanding of our identities and increase self-esteem. We want to change the negative image associated with African LBTQWSW by orientating our policies towards a feminist leadership that translates into a tangible expertise of the field.

Create diversity within the Cameroonian LGBTIQ movement. HFC is different from other organizations in the sense that our Gender and Female Leadership division places a particular emphasis on fighting against the discrimination that female and trans* identities usually face within LGBTIQ organizations. Through consistent dialogue with our gay counterparts, we were able to foster respect for diversity and create true gender diversity within HFC. Thus, we are the first and only mixed organization in Yaoundé to have tried and succeeded in the gamble of gender diversity.

With the approach we take towards gender, LBTQ women are taken into consideration, not as separate entities, but as equal members, and our competences are utilized in key positions within the organization: Psychologist-consultant, Monitoring & Evaluation Manager, Sport Instructor, peer-educators and observers of human rights violations, among other roles. We strive for gender parity in key positions within the organization in order to benefit from more visibility within the global LGBTIQ movement.

Reduce ignorance within civil society. We have a very important role: to make our society understand who we are and make them respect diversity in order to change mentalities. In this regard, we organize training workshops to make civil society actors understand concepts of gender, identity and sexual diversity. These workshops usually gather health staff, the media, legal experts and law enforcement officials.

Enable the inclusion of LBTIQWSW in women-oriented programs. The ignorance and intolerance that LGBTIQWSW face in our country systematically reflect in the degree to which they are included in social programs targeting women. To address this issue, HFC, through its Gender and Female Leadership division, has initiated dialogues with different women organizations from civil society in order to: 1) foster understanding of queer and trans* identities; 2) increase their inclusion within civil society organizations and 3) encourage the acknowledgement of gender-based violence as relevant to the fight against the violence affecting all women.

IMPORTANT POINTS

Our Vision

A just society where LBTIQWSW are acknowledged and included in policies developed for Cameroonian women.

Our Mission

To bring Cameroonian LBTIQWSW people together in order to create a proud and dynamic community, free of discrimination.

Our Current Objective

To mobilize LBTIQWSW of Yaoundé towards a female and trans* leadership in order to enforce our rights, promote gender equality as well as the health and financial independence of the most indigent.

Our Activities

We carry out various activities:

• On-site counseling available every afternoon to encourage members to visit the center, provide psychosocial assistance and support the inclusion of LBTIQWSW in the organization
• Campaigns against gender-based violence including advocacy raids in women’s rights organizations, round-tables conversations on gender-based violence and involvement of civil society’s women’s rights organizations
• STI/HIV screening campaigns with free consultations sometimes coupled with free gynecologist exams and medial support
• Social research on the life experience and sexual health needs of WSW
• Workshops on gender identities with civil society actors
• Recreational days on and out of site to promote conviviality and discuss the life experience, human rights, sexual and reproductive health of LBTIQWSW
• Outings and sport activities to educate and raise the awareness of the civil society in order to build a culture of tolerance
• Virtual awareness-raising campaigns to make our Gender and Female Leadership division more visible on social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, and other chat rooms

OUR MAIN CHALLENGES

The patriarchal influence present within the LBTIQWSW community. Feminine identities always have a harder time expressing themselves than masculine identities. Indeed, with patriarchal influences persisting within our community, many tend to reproduce the heterosexist model whereby the man is at the head of every hierarchy. Thus, people with feminine identities tend to surrender to passivity and submission, especially in the context of relationships, which considerably limits their leadership capacities. A lot of work still has to be done to overcome this problem.

The financial insecurity of our members and allies. Our organization sustains itself thanks to external funding and all our staff is paid through such funding. This directly influences our agendas and can sometimes be intrusive. The Gender division therefore encourages members and allies to strive for financial independence. Likewise, we are actively looking into implementing income-generating activities and seek to establish capacity-building programs on income-generating activities through partnerships with relevant national and international organizations.

OUR CURRENT PARTNERS

We benefit from the financial and technical support of QAYN and ASTRAEA.

We are also supported by the national women organizations that participate in our activities and have been expressing an increasing interest in our work. Efforts are also made to create new partnerships with other organizations in Cameroon and beyond.

CONTACT US

PO Box: 25 637 Yaoundé HC – Cameroon

Phone: (+237) 655428372 / 676450461

Email: humanityfirstcam@yahoo.fr

Yaoundé/Cameroun