The world is experiencing a rise in authoritarianism and a weakening of democracy. The expanding web of repressive laws and diminishing freedoms especially affect those already on the fringes of society. This new wave of oppression has hit the LGBTIQ+ community hard. From crackdowns of LGBTQIA+ activists in Turkey to stringent anti-LGBTIQ+ laws in Uganda, attempts to curtail human rights that are deeply troubling.
By Wendy Wongani Hara, Communications Assistant for the Connect, Defend, Act! program
In Malawi too, LGBTIQ+ people are navigating a legal and social environment that outrightly limits their rights and reinforces exclusion. But unlike some parts of the world where hard-won progressive and inclusive laws are now being repealed, Malawi’s anti-LGBTQIA+ laws have existed and been sustained for as long as the country has been independent. These laws were inherited from British Common Law during Malawi’s time as a colonial protectorate, and despite periodic efforts to repeal or reform them in favor of equal human rights, there has been no change to these anti-LGBTIQ+ statutes in the history of the country’s democracy.
The struggle for LGBTIQ+ freedoms in the Warm Heart of Africa has faced and continues to face opposition on multiple fronts. And yet, people continue to live their queer lives and courageously carve out wells of freedom and community.
The face of resistance
This radical resistance is reinforced by local civil society organizations (CSOs) that are tirelessly operating within this restrictive environment, developing ingenious ways to document, advocate, and empower. The Voice Organization is one such CSO, supported by Hivos under the Connect, Defend, Act! program. They document cases of human rights violations and facilitate referrals of violations to appropriate legal and psychosocial support services. For marginalized communities, restrictions on civic space are experienced in deeply personal ways. And so, the work of countering these restrictions always comes back to addressing the direct and immediate effects on the individual.
In the three months of documenting, they have successfully referred five separate cases of violations or discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people. One of the cases involved a lesbian woman who runs a business in Lilongwe. She was taken into custody following an incident in which she defended herself against an aggressive customer. The Voice worked to facilitate her bail process and connected her with legal representation, ultimately giving her a not-guilty verdict after multiple court sessions.
In a separate incident, another lesbian woman had faced cruel online harassment when a private video was leaked without her consent. Collaborating with the Legal Aid Bureau of Malawi, the organization assisted in filing a report with local authorities, prompting formal action against the offender.
Through documentation, The Voice aims to compile evidence that informs broader advocacy efforts and shines a spotlight on the realities that vulnerable groups face. But data gathering is only one part of the fight.
Convening for purpose
To truly effect change, documentation must be translated into tangible interventions that go beyond awareness but feed into policy recommendations and attitude shifts. This is where the work of Nyasa Rainbow Alliance (NRA) comes in. Under the Connect, Defend, Act! program they bring together diverse civil society actors to break down communication barriers and unite around the shared goal of protecting all human rights.
In September 2026, NRA convened an intersectional dialogue that gathered representatives from the LGBTIQ+ community, faith leaders, social media influencers, representatives from the Malawi Legal Aid Bureau, and the media. This dialogue brought stakeholders towards genuine collaboration. Through open and courageous exchange, participants explored both points of tension and areas of common ground.
Representatives from The Voice also contributed to the intersectional dialogue, further strengthening the links between documentation and advocacy for action. The dialogue also built upon earlier capacity-strengthening efforts led by the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, which trained both NRA and The Voice to utilize its civic space monitoring tool to document civic space restrictions and generate evidence for advocacy.
Through these curated spaces of cross-learning and exchange, Connect, Defend, Act! is growing a network of organizations that share knowledge and develop coordinated responses to challenges affecting LGBTIQA+ communities in particular and marginalized people more broadly.
Connecting for future protection
Our partners shed light on different parts of the same challenge. They back with evidence that individuals face discrimination and barriers to justice in their daily lives, but also show that collective work can support meaningful processes and generate evidence for advocacy and transformative action.
The individual work of these organizations is admirable on their own, but connections forged between them are just as impressive. Through Connect, Defend, Act!, civil society actors are learning from one another and working more closely towards the common goal of ensuring that LGBTIQ+ voices are not only protected but are also heard.
