Queer African Youth Network (QAYN)
Queer African Youth Network (QAYN)
About

The Queer African Youth Network (QAYN) is a queer and feminist organization founded in 2010 with the aim of establishing an extensive support network to promote the wellbeing and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in West Africa.

For them, wellbeing is having :

- self-determination to be the agents of their own lives.
- safety to be who they are free of harm.
- Stability to gain and maintain what they value in their daily live
- access to adequate resources to live a dignified live.
- They are committed to building an autonomous movement led by lesbian, queer women, trans* and gender non-confirming young activists.

QAYN was founded in response to the homo-patriarchy of gay male practices that marginalized the leadership and issues of queer women in mixed organizing spaces in the then-nascent LGBTQ movement in West Africa and has grown from their founder Mariam Armisen’s experiences launching and leading what was then called the Queer African Youth Networking Center into an autonomous movement led by lesbians, queer women, trans* and gender non-confirming young activists.

QAYN begun as a virtual platform that gathered and disseminated accurate, relevant information on sexual orientation and identity to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) West African youth. In late 2010, to introduce the initiative on the ground, they organized a forum in Lagos, Nigeria, in collaboration with their first network member, Queer Alliance Nigeria. This forum brought together over 50 young LGBTQ Nigerians to help shape their focus and priorities. The feedback from participants enabled QAYN to refine her strategic direction and develop from a virtual space to a network of individuals and organizations across West Africa.

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Type of organization

1 office
2008
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Company Offices

  • Burkina Faso (headquarters)
  • Ouagadougou
  • 04 BP 511