Centre for Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS

The Centre has organised a series of activities to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, including those who have been invisible or silenced - encouraging them to meet, speak freely, and critically reflect on sexuality and rights issues in Bangladesh. Primarily through in-person gatherings - seminars, workshops, conferences - the Centre seeks to disseminate information, experience, and knowledge on gender, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS - nationally, regionally, and globally. For instance, the Centre hosted a local workshop in January 2007 with affected communities, interested people, and organisations to gauge levels of interest in challenging the existing situation. In July 2007, the Centre hosted an international conference on gender, sexuality, and rights that drew over 150 health professionals, academics, activists, queer groups, students, journalists, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) professionals to discuss future research, training, and advocacy ideas. Reportedly, there was widespread positive media coverage of the conference in Bangladesh.

Recognising that policy champions can link research findings to policy networks, the Centre continued to work with and provide space for minority groups to meet and discuss advocacy strategies and to develop their own influencing agendas. The follow-up meetings and workshops in 2008 and 2009, as well as the Sexual Diversity and Coalition Building workshop organised by gay rights activists in 2009, were designed to forge a strong relationship of trust and confidence between sexual minority groups. A concrete outcome was the development of a database of key experts, academics, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The Centre hopes that, once connected through such a network, they can generate new ideas through open discourse on gender, sexuality/sexual rights, and HIV/AIDS in resource-poor settings. The Centre itself also actively collaborates and works with other centres, agencies, and organisations across countries and cultures to promote the Centre's vision and mission through building networks and partnerships.

The Centre interacts with policymakers and other stakeholders to promote change in policy, programming, and interventions aimed at further enriching the lives of the economically poor and the marginalised populations vulnerable to or suffering from gender discrimination, sexual/sexual rights violations, and/or HIV/AIDS. Reaching out to the media is a key strategy of advocating for change. Through an award system and training sessions, the Centre seeks to equip journalists with the information and motivation to write more about sexuality, marginalised communities, and transgender rights. The Centre has reportedly received many requests from activists, journalists, researchers, and minority groups for materials and resources.

Research on sexuality and rights by the Centre in 2008 sought to understand local constructions of sexuality and rights and to inform workshops and advocacy efforts. Evaluation questionnaires monitored change and progress at individual, work, and community levels.

Other research in process is being undertaken under the leadership of the BSPH. Focusing on HIV/AIDS policy and programme activities, the research team is working with The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in a multifaceted project that will include a national mapping of stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive people, a lecture/seminar series, and an internship programme that will prepare trainees to act as a source of information for their peers. Through the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID)-funded project "Realizing Rights: Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health for Poor and Vulnerable Populations", the Centre and BSPH are conducting exploratory research on sexuality and rights in Dhaka City, which will shape conferences, workshops, and training. BSPH is also participating in a nationwide project, funded by National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), by undertaking research to inform efforts to improve the reproductive health of the most vulnerable groups by finding out ways of providing appropriate services and interventions.

Gender, Sexuality, HIV/AIDS, Rights.