Free to Be Me-Rwanda Free to be Me is an ambitious, daring and innovative program that will help build a vibrant LGBTIQ+ movement that is confident and capable of lobbying and advocating for their human and economic rights. The alliance comprises three consortium members – Hivos, ILGA World, and Positive Vibes – and three technical partners – Sogicampaigns, the Global Interfaith Network (GIN), and Workplace Pride. Together they will coach, accompany, fund and train LGBTIQ+ persons and organizations to influence norms and attitudes, generate (public) support, and promote laws, policies and regulations that recognize, respect and protect LGBTIQ+ people’s rights.Brave and persistent LGBTIQ+ activists around the world have built communities, taken to the streets, filed lawsuits and advocated for their rights, in the past decades. Thanks to their lobby and advocacy, “sexual orientation” is enshrined in protective laws in more than 80 countries. In many countries media and cultural productions are more diverse, while allies such as human rights and women’s organizations, progressive religious leaders, large and small businesses, social influencers and creatives increasingly – and publicly - support LGBTIQ+ rights.However, there remains a lot to fight for. Consensual same-sex intimacy is criminalized in 69 countries, and access to appropriate IDs is impossible for many trans and intersex people. Legal provisions are used to harass and detain LGBTQ+ people, while legislation that explicitly protects them remains absent. Intersex people are subjected to medical and societal abuse. And, due to a lack of meaningful, coordinated efforts, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) are still excluded from many socioeconomic development agendas, In 2023, in Mozambique, Hivos’ Free to Be Me program launched the Free to Thrive fellowship that will train LGBTIQ+ activists in advocacy for economic justice. Twenty-three fellows from 12 countries will undertake an immersive year of both in-person and virtual training sessions. Learning and skills transfer will go hand-in-hand with practical efforts to influence policies and practices in Free to be Me’s priority countries.In 2023, in New York, Representatives of Hivos’ Free to be Me program joined feminists and other lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex rights defenders in New York to voice our concerns and support efforts to see a progressive outcome document. We collaborated through a transnational solidarity network, and movement building, to advocate for important issues related to gender equality and justice. Feminists and representatives of the LBTI community influenced discussions in different spaces throughout the CSW67 process.A brand new podcast series called “Among You” provides a safe platform for LGBTIQ+ individuals from Uganda to share their experiences, challenges, and achievements, and to advocate for their human rights. The series will focus on issues related to the LGBTIQ+ community in Uganda, covering topics such as discrimination, stigmatization, violence, health and legal issues. “Among You” is produced by Kuchu Times Media Group with support from Uganda Key Populations Consortium (UKPC), our partner under Hivos’ Free to be Me program. Power dynamics: Consortium management and relationship building require the creation of space for open conversations, especially around power and our own privileges. As the year came to a close, we created spaces where we challenged our own thinking on power, systems thinking and why addressing power dynamics is a strength in ensuring those who are often left furthest behind feel heard. The inclusion of rights holders in our governance structures and taking time to on-board them to understand what this kind of leadership entails was a critical lesson in meaningful engagement of the community. We learned to listen more to the concerns emerging due to our program design and set-up. Working with host organizations, for instance, has meant that these organizations wield more power and they often have more visibility and access to resources than most groups. While we discussed the need to reduce the powers of host organizations, working with one host organization as an approach may have also contributed to conflict within the program or with country partners. The feedback we received from community-based organisations is that this arrangement was increasing the existing power dynamics in LGBTIQ+ movements. In some cases, some host organizations misinterpreted their role as that of decision-makers for the Communities of Action (COAs).Importance of building trusting relationships: It is important to understand the country context especially where the movements are fragmented or there is no trust due to general surveillance and weaponizing of human rights by state and non-state actors.   Implementing the program in some of our countries was particularly challenging in 2022. This meant that when partners and community members did not have clarity on the program implementation and general processes, they assumed the worst of the program. In some cases, this led to acting on those wrong assumptions without a recourse to dialogue. There were breaches to confidentiality and non-COA members became privy to internal F2BM communication and activities. This ultimately led to a hostile environment for implementation, especially through grant-making panels,  thereby impacting on the well-being of and raising safety concerns for Free to be Me, staff.  As a result of this, we adopted a direct approach to grant-making in affected countries as a way of mitigating the threats that had arisen from conflict related to constituting participatory grant-making panels. Creation of spaces for difficult conversations: In the March 2022 Alliance meeting we started off by reflecting on what values-based programming entails. At the November steering committee members agreed that there was the need to have training on racial bias for Free to be Me alliance partners and continued creation of spaces at different levels to reflect and, continuously appraise ourselves on how we are performing on matters related to diversity, equity and inclusion. This training is planned to happen in 2023. In 2023, we will continue to strengthen the program’s governance structures and ensure spaces for reflection and learning that strengthen the overall program management. One of the critical plans for 2023 is to continue a regular meeting between all alliance partners and the Global Program Manager. That continues to be an important space for critical thinking and planning based on the evolving context in the different countries where the Free to be Me program is implemented. It is an important space to deliberate on program shifts as necessitated by emerging safety and security issues.