WE ARE THE RAINBOW
ADVANCING THE RIGHTS AND WELLBEING OF LGBTIQ+ CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE ASIA PACIFIC
summary and key points
The rights and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ children and young people are routinely disregarded and undermined in key social environments such as schools, child-focused services, public spaces and even in families. Research focused on these young people across the world tells us that they experience family rejection and abuse; exclusion, bullying, and harassment in school; and various forms of violence and sexual exploitation across multiple settings, leading in turn to long-term barriers to good health and wellbeing.
Many Coloured Sky, the Queer Development Agency, partnered with LGBTIQ+ organisations and groups, child-focused and social service organisations and other key stakeholders in the Philippines to co-design and pilot a suite of programs aimed at creating safety, inclusion and opportunity in LGBTIQ+ peer programs, families, schools and local communities. Via regional LGBTIQ+ partners we then tested the efficacy of the program across the Asia Pacific more broadly.
This work highlighted the need to develop a comprehensive framework, inclusive of clear child protection principles and their intersection with diverse sexualities and gender identities, focused on improving the experiences of LGBTIQ+ children and young people in their homes, schools and communities.
This website shares summaries of the learnings, tools and resources developed for WATR projects. It will continue to grow and change as we learn more about creating the best possible world for LGBTIQ+ children and young people everywhere. If you’re interested in using WATR tools and strategies, or to collaborate with us to further advance the rights and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ children and young people everywhere, please email to mail@manycolouredsky.org
what is we are the rainbow?
We Are The Rainbow (WATR) is a development and capacity building program of Many Coloured Sky, advancing the wellbeing and rights of LGBTIQ+ children and young people. WATR empowers LGBTIQ+ communities and addresses the multiple risks and harms that LGBTIQ+ children experience due to discrimination, prejudice and poor understanding, through project and partnership development, community development activity and engagement and advocacy with multiple stakeholders. The WATR framework articulates a set of concepts, principles and relationships which together aim to create “the best possible world for LGBTIQ+ children and young people” by focusing on safety, opportunity and inclusion in the key social environments in which young people live, learn and play.
We Are The Rainbow key concepts
why is we are the rainbow needed?
Research across the globe points to poor outcomes for LGBTIQ+ children and young people, including family rejection and violence leading to homelessness; school bullying, harassment and exclusion leading to disengagement from education; violence and sexual assault across multiple social environments, all leading to increased risk of trafficking, alcohol and drug problems, poor mental health and suicidality, as well as decreased options for employment and a good life in the long term. In some countries the state is complicit in these outcomes, while in others these concerns are simply ignored or minimised. This is despite LGBTIQ+ young people having all the same rights and protections as all other children, as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other key rights frameworks to which the majority of countries have agreed to be bound.
The specific prejudices that LGBTIQ+ children experience, especially exclusion from their own families, combined with stereotypes that sexualise people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), create a unique, deep and complex set of vulnerabilities that require a comprehensive, multi-systems response.
background
We Are The Rainbow began in Davao City, the Philippines, as a development project and partnership between Many Coloured Sky, the Davao City LGBT Coalition and the Davao City Social Services and Development Office, in response to concerns that LGBTIQ+ children and young people in the city experience high levels of discrimination, violence, abuse and sexual harassment. We began with multiple focus groups of LGBTIQ+ children across the city, which highlighted that these challenges occur across all the key social environments of their lives – in their homes, their schools and across their communities.
With the support of a number of other government and NGO stakeholders, and over a four-year period, we co-designed and implemented a comprehensive strategy which we piloted in one district of the city. This proof-of-concept opportunity included the following activities –
a six-session program for LGBTIQ+ children and young people focused on positive peer connection, health and wellbeing
further iterations of the above program exclusively co-facilitated by LGBTIQ+ young people alongside Davao City child protection social workers
a day-long professional development program delivered twice to all government social workers across the LGA
a four-session program for parents of LGBTIQ+ children focused on understanding LGBTIQA+ experience and supporting LGBTIQ+ children, two sessions delivered by Many Coloured Sky and two by local social workers and LGBTIQ+ people
training and support of LGBTIQ+ community members and local social workers to run the children’s and parents’ programs
a two-hour introductory professional development program for leadership, wellbeing and teaching staff in three schools
focus groups with students in four schools
a two-hour program introduction to Councillors and senior staff of the LGA
extensive support and capacity building with local LGBTIQ+ organisations
More about WATR peer support programs
More about WATR parent programs
More about Many Coloured Schools
More about the Davao City pilot
This work demonstrated the feasibility of whole-community approaches that build towards safety and inclusion across the key social environments of LGBTIQ+ children’s lives, and which can be scaled up. Participants in the peer support and parent programs rated the programs very positively and indicated that they would encourage the participation of people they knew. Local government, schools and service providers all indicated that they wished to continue with this work into the future.
Regional activity
In 2022 Many Coloured Sky began a partnership with YOUTH VOICES COUNT (YVC), launching a funding round to YVC member organisations across the Asia Pacific to undertake We Are The Rainbow projects. The grant round was shared as an opportunity for LGBTIQA+ youth-led organisations to develop and implement their own projects focused on their own priorities, while the learnings of our earlier work in the Philippines was shared in formal briefings and workshops for all YVC members, and in mentoring sessions with successful grantee organisations.
From twenty-seven applications for support, five organisations were selected – two from India, one from the Philippines, one from Indonesia and one from Bangladesh – and a second organisation from Bangladesh requested mentoring from Many Coloured Sky for a project funded elsewhere. Each created strong and shared learning opportunities and positive outcomes in line with We Are The Rainbow’s aims, and demonstrated that we can impact positively and decisively to make the key social environments in which LGBTIQ+ children live, learn and play safe and inclusive for all.