Employment inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans: leadership training and intervention in workplaces

Describe the specific need or challenge that your team will address with this project. (3-5 sentences)

  •         Provide access to training on labor inclusion and sexual diversity to LGBT leaders from 4 countries.
  •         Promote full employment inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in employment.
  •         Improve the working environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans promoting visibility and openness.
  •         Promote actions on induction processes in employment in order to promote the inclusion of transgender women and men in legal employment

Why it is innovative?

Briefly describe the specific solution or approach to address the need or challenge and explain why it is innovative. (3-5 sentences) (include quantitative information where possible)

Today Latin America is experiencing a process of progress on LGBT civil rights. Proof of this is the approval of laws like the Equal Marriage, Gender Identity and / or Civil Union in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. But legal equality has not impacted into real equality. This is clearly seen in the persistence of discrimination in access and maintenance or just maintenance of employment for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. And even worse: the difficulty for transgender people to access the world of registered employment. According to the different countries about 90% of trans population fails to be hired in registered employment.

This initiative aims to work with LGBT communities and employers in order to jointly address a change to create open work spaces for those who have not yet agreed and improve the working environment for LGBT of those who have already inserted.

It also intends to develop an index to measure the level of openness towards sexual orientation and gender identity in different organizations and companies.

The implementation of a regional initiative on this issue actually receives little attention in the region. In a joint effort of communities and employers, and the use of new technologies for e-learning in this subject make this project innovative.

In several countries there have been initiatives that link local organizations with private companies supported by the US Embassy, however by resource constraints of civil society organizations,  the process was not possible to be continued.

On the other hand, the experience lived by and with interns from Human Rights Campaign from the opportunity we had in the International Visitors program themed «Rights of the LGBT community» was absolutely essential to recognize the need for advocacy in this field that will undoubtedly allow concrete and rapid progress to improve the conditions of quality of life for LGBT people.

 

How will the project impact your community?

Alumni team: Describe the roles and responsibilities that individual members of the alumni team will play in implementing this project.

The workplace is a vital space in the life of any human being socialization process and therefore sustainable work and having guarantee rights and discrimination-free environments is a key to highlight and promote equality, health and the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.

That is why this project aims to improve the quality of time spent in LGBT their jobs and it will positively impact on the beneficiaries.

 

Who will be involved?

Beneficiaries: Describe who your target groups (or communities) are. How many people will directly benefit from your project?

Local partners: Please list your project partners and explain their specific responsibilities. Please note if you have an existing relationship with the partner organization(s) and how they are committed to working on this project. If not, how do you anticipate establishing a partnership with the organization(s)?

 

–        Federación Argentina de lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y trans (Argentina). Preparation of teaching materials and institutional contacts

–        Unidos Todos Asociación Civil (Argentina). Elaboración de materiales. E-learning trainning.

–        Fundación País para Todos (Chile).  Elaboración de materiales. Preparation of teaching materials and institutional contacts

–        Red de Empresas comprometidas con la diversidad -Universidad Di Tella (Argentina). Contact with companies and employers.

–        Frente por  lo Derechos Igualitarios – FDI (Costa Rica).  Preparation of teaching materials, e-learning and institutional contacts

–        Caribe Afirmativo.  Preparation of teaching materials, e-learning and institutional contacts

–        Onusida Cono Sur. Advice and linking with international institutions.

 

Describe the roles and responsibilities that individual members of the alumni team will play in implementing this project.

Jaime Parada Hoyl (Chile) – General Coordinator of the project: verification of compliance with objectives, agenda coordination for implementing the operations, business contacts and content development workshop. Selection of participants.

Esteban Paulón (Argentina) – Contact with companies and content development workshop. E-learning training for LGBT leaders. Selection of participants.

Paulina Torres Mora (Costa Rica) – Contact with companies and content development workshop.E-learning training for LGBT leaders. Selection of participants.

Gustavo López (Argentina) – Lawyer – Survey of labor legislation protecting LGBT people in the countries involved, for subsequent inclusion in workshop materials.

 

How and when will you implement your project?

Implementation Plan and Timeline: How will you actually make this happen?

List proposed dates (month, quarter, etc.) for each major activity. Please Include quantitative information about participants and activities. Include the specific responsibilities of the alumni team.

Activity 1. E-learning Training on Employment and sexual diversity

A1.1 Content Definition (in June 2015, Jaime Parada Hoyl)

A1.2. Survey ¿? Rise of law or progress through initiatives in the workplace to protect LGBT people in the participating countries (June 2015, Gustavo López)

A1.3. Development of curricular material (June / July, Esteban Torres Paulina Paulón)

A1.4. Call for LGBT leaders interested (July / August 2015, Jaime Parada Hoyl, Paulina Torres, Esteban Paulón, Gustavo López)

A1.5. Dictation of training (September 2015, Paulina Torres, Esteban Paulón, Gustavo López)

 

Activity 2. Sensibilization and training in companies and organizations

A2.1. Calls for companies and organizations interested in participating (September 2015 team)

A2.2. Meeting by country of participating companies and organizations (October 2015 concerning organizations in each country)

A2.3. E-learning workshops and awareness (November 2015 to February 2016 Country Foundation for everyone, Argentina LGBT Federation, All States, Caribbean Affirmative)

 

Activity 3. Development of Equality Index in Employment

A3.1. Team meeting with representative of the employment area from Human Rights Campaign (August 2015, Esteban Paulón)

A3.2. Development indicators in Latin American context (August / September 2015, Jaime Parada Hoyl, Esteban Paulón)

A3.3. Invitation to companies interested in participating in the index (October 2015 computer)

A3.4. Survey information (November / December 2015, January 2016, equipment)

A3.5 Systematization of information and publication of the report (February / March 2016, Jaime Parada Hoyl)

 

Activity 4. Evaluation

A4.1. Team meeting for project evaluation (March 2016, Jaime Parada Hoyl)

A4.2. Publishing of the final project report and presentation of results (March 2016, Jaime Parada Hoyl)

 

How will you promote your project?

Communication Plan: How will you promote your project? Please include social media, print news, or other forms of media you intend to use to share information about your project to 1) beneficiaries and 2) the public.

The promotion of the project will be performed in various ways. Each team defines the best strategy for each of their countries.

The call for LGBT leaders made through the participant organizations, promoting the integration of all identities in groups: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.

The call will be held in companies through business networks and foundations dedicated to the studie of this subject (Fundacón Country for all network companies committed to diversity Di Tella) and US embassies in various countries. To do this we will held meetings with embassies in each participating country, to ensure the participation of a large number of participants.

In relation to the external dissemination of the project it will be done through press releases, news publishing specialized sites and in newsletters of the participating companies and organizations.

Also in the case of Equality Index and reports of results will be published in digital format and paper, with funds from the participating organizations and partners, and will be distributed to international agencies, the media, public officials and LGBT organizations the region.

 

*How will you evaluate success or impact of the project?

Evaluation: How will you evaluate success/impact of the project? Explain any tools or methods you might utilize to measure results. (i.e. surveys, interviews, focus groups, meetings, analytics, metrics, etc.)

The success and impact of the project will be measured through indicators developed during the first month of implementation as follows: specific number of companies / organizations involved; conducting a baseline on changing attitudes and perceptions on a representative sample in companies linked by a digital survey to be passed before and after project implementation, number of effectively trained LGBT leaders; press releases and published reports on the project, among others. With data collected from indicators, a report every three months will be published on the project website and distributed in various fields.

Virtually weekly meetings will be held with the team to evaluate in real time the difficulties and successes to adjust and correct possible errors.

 

*Sustainability: How do you plan to continue this project and ensure its sustainability beyond this initial funding year?

This project is fully sustainable, based on two pillars.

On one hand the participating organizations in the project have a large number of volunteers, members and partners who can carry out the proposed actions, allowing having a valuable human resource base. The objective of this project is to provide them with the necessary funds to initiate various actions that will begin a continuous job in future time.

Moreover, previous experiences in this field that have involved organizations show that there is a significant potential in this field to develop a partnership between NGOs and businesses, with the support of the private sector itself to hold it in time.

Additionally, during the implementation of this project will seek to develop partnerships with international organizations and government agencies in order to have economic support once completed.