Robert Carr Fund/The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) Consortium

The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) Consortium

 

The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) Consortium is a regional consortium of two community-led networks: the Asia Pacific Transgender Network and the Pacific Sexual Diversity Network (PSGDN). The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), established in 2009 and based in Bangkok, supports trans-led organizing and advocacy for comprehensive healthcare and the protection of legal, social and human rights, and enhancement of the well-being and quality of life for trans and gender diverse people in the Asia and the Pacific region. The Pacific Sexual Diversity Network (PSGDN), based in Fiji, is a network of gender and sexually diverse community organizations in six Pacific countries — the Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu. Together, APTN and PSGDN work to strengthen transgender-led organizing and advocacy in more than 15 countries of Asia and the Pacific.

 

Grantee type:
Regional Consortium
Grant:
$473,100
Grant period:
2016-2018
Lead organization:
Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN)
Partner organizations:
Pacific Sexual Diversity Network (PSDN)

 

  • Research in China, India, Pakistan and Thailand, as well as in other countries in Asia and the Pacific as well as around the world documents that transgender people are at higher risk of discrimination, gender-based violence and other human rights violations, and face reduced access to employment, education, housing, and services.  Asia Pacific countries that continue to criminalize transgender people include Kiribati, Malaysia, Niue and Tonga.
  • These vulnerabilities correlate with disparities in health, including higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Studies interviewing trans women typically document very high (over 50%) rates of lifetime sexual violence, very high (over 20%) rates of HIV and STIs, oftentimes undiagnosed and untreated, and a lack of access to services that are affirming, affordable, and targeted to their needs related to gender identity, sexual health, behavioral health, and practical legal, economic and social needs. Significant disparities are also seen within trans populations in relation to age, race, migration and documentation status, and histories of sex work or drug use.
  • Transgender people have important direct experience of HIV-related health needs and barriers to health services. The capacity of networks of transgender people and other inadequately served populations (ISPs) to organize and advocate is central to efforts to improve human rights environments, improve HIV service accessibility, and improve efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of national and international funding for health and human rights.
  • Without legal gender recognition, it is harder for transgender people to access general and transition-related health services, although in some countries undergoing transition-related services is a precondition of legal gender recognition.
  • In most Asian countries, the vast majority of transgender people cannot obtain any official identification documents that reflect their gender identity. Instead, their listed title, name, sex and/or gender is based on the individual’s sex assigned at birth. The discrimination and exclusion that transgender people face is exacerbated when they are required to use an identity document that does not match their gender identity or gender expression. This discrimination may involve threats to a transgender person’s safety, or mean they are marginalized when trying to participate in virtually any area of life. This includes exclusion from school, vital health services, employment and housing, and from receiving access to social assistance and private banking, credit or mortgage facilities.

© APTN

 

RCF funding 2016-2018

The APTN Consortium received US$ 473,000 in funding from the Robert Carr Fund during 2016-2018, which was a continuation of steady RCF funding support for APTN since 2014. This funding was allocated to both core and strategic program costs to help build the capacity of the two regional networks of APTN and PSGDN to strengthen and support collective action across more than 15 countries of Asia and the Pacific. In 2019, the Robert Carr Fund awarded an additional US$ 1 million in funding to the APTN Consortium for continuation and expansion of its work.

 

Geographic coverage

The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) Consortium is a regional consortium convening and supporting organizations and individuals in more than 15 countries of Asia and the Pacific, including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan in South Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, and the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu in the Pacific.

 

Population coverage

Through the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) Consortium, organizations led by trans people in more than 15 countries are supporting the empowerment, leadership, health and rights of trans and gender diverse people.

 

Activities 2016-2018

With RCF funding in 2016-2018, APTN and PSDGN were able to support core staff and costs of regional network organizing and governance.  This provided both networks the stability, capacity and credibility to take on a wide range of projects that included the following:

  • APTN was able to translate its 2015 Trans Health Blueprint into Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia and Japanese, and during 2017 and 2018, APTN hosted Blueprint trainings in over 20 countries, reaching over 500 people. APTN and PSDGN also adapted the Blueprint for trans communities in the Pacific and organized trainings in Timor Leste, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu.
  • APTN has been involved with advocacy and education of the ICD and its impact on trans lives in the region. APTN has organized workshops and participated in dialogues and conferences speaking about depathologisation and the revision of the ICD, and is involved in the working group on the revision of the ICD-11. Suggestions that were provided by the working group that APTN participated in were accepted by the ICD-11 and transgender is no longer listed under the chapter of Mental and Behavioral Disorders but instead was moved to a new chapter of sexual health.
  • In 2017, APTN worked with UNDP to assess and report on legal recognition of gender in nine Asian countries — Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand – and in Fiji (2018) in the Pacific, creating analysis of policies as the basis for advocacy.
  • In 2017, APTN along with USAID, LINKAGES, PEPFAR, Thai Red Cross, UNDP and UNAIDS co-convened a “From Barriers to Bridges” trans health conference in Bangkok inviting over 150 delegates from more than 14 Asia Pacific countries, resulting in a regional road map for action and a subsequent country-by-county analysis of legal barriers in accessing health services in Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.
  • Since 2016, APTN has been monitoring violence, murders and hate crimes towards trans people in the region. The Trans Murder Monitoring project has noted particularly high rates of violence in cases reported from Asia.
  • In 2018, APTN worked with Curtin University and UNDP to research and release a 2018 “Denied Work” report on the degree of job discrimination in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.
  • In 2018, APTN led on with its Pacific partners implemented trans-led and owned research in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa documenting the lived experiences of trans people as an advocacy tool.
  • APTN also worked with the Global Fund CRG to deliver trainings for transgender people in India, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to support transgender communities to meaningfully engage in Global Fund processes and monitor the implementation of Global Fund funded activities.
  • APTN and PSDGN also organized a session on “Weaving Data into the Fabric of Trans People’s Experience” at the ILGA Oceania 2018 regional conference in Samoa to sensitize advocates about the importance of research and evidence-based strategic information for advancing health and rights-based programming for transgender people.

 

Results 2016-2018

Sustained support from RCF and other funders since 2014 has helped APTN and PSDGN to build organizational strength and capacity for services and advocacy. Key results include:

  • Network strength and influence: APTN was able to formally register as an organization in 2015 in Thailand, and PSGDN registered in 2018 in Fiji. Both networks hired, retained and trained staff, convened coalition members, and built and sustained regional governing boards. Because of this organizational stability, capacity and credibility, APTN and PSDGN were then able to engage in funded projects with organizations such as the CoC Netherlands, Global Fund, UNDP, American Jewish World Service, and Open Society Foundations, US Department of State. In 2018, APTN was given a recognition award by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) for the efforts in progressing and advocating trans health care in the region.