Background
St Croix hosts fourth annual Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference (CWSDC)
Theme: “Starting here; starting now: Setting the foundation for sustainable engagement”
The CWSDC is a forum to develop a regional network of support for activism related to the recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, with an emphasis on women’s issues. Liberty Place of St Croix, USVI, hosted the October 4 - 7, 2016 conference with United and Strong Inc. of Saint Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), a regional network of human rights NGOs.
Read more on how the 2016 conference is inciting change...
Explore the CWSDC 2016 Agenda
Theme: “Self-development for community empowerment”
Conference hosts, ECADE and United and Strong are pleased to announce that #CWSDC2017 will be held in Saint Lucia, from October 5-9, 2017.
More than just a conference, #CWSDC is a network, a safe space and an incubator for LBTI activists.
The CWSDC provides a space for female- and trans-identified activists to strengthen advocacy and develop the regional network of support for activism related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, with an emphasis on women’s issues.
For more on this and previous conferences, see the CWSDC page.
Original CWSDC logo designed by Dexann Rose of Jamaica
More than a conference, CWSDC provides a space for female- and trans-identified activists to strengthen advocacy and develop the regional network of support for activism related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, with an emphasis on women’s issues.
Conference hosts, ECADE and United and Strong are pleased to announce that #CWSDC2017 will be held in Saint Lucia, from October 5-9, 2017.
Theme: “Self-development for community empowerment”
With the aim of creating change through individual development, #CWSDC5 will celebrate the significant contribution of Caribbean women-identified and LBTI people to their diverse communities. We will explore how women and LBTI peopel live and love at the intersection of the personal and political, their commitment to maintaining our collective bonds of family, culture and identity while creating spaces for self-actualisation and expression beyond hetero- and gender normative structures. The conference will focus on creating change through individual development and community mobilization.
The Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference was conceptualised during the women’s caucus in 2012 at the groundbreaking International Dialogue and Training on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Human Rights which was hosted in Saint Lucia. The first of its kind to be staged in the Caribbean, it recorded the highest number of lesbian and bisexual women from around the region in one space. A women’s caucus was organised in keeping with the theme: Focus on Strengthening the Caribbean Response and Linking Regional and International Advocacy Around the World. This highlighted the need for further dialogue and to reinforce support networks for lesbian, bisexual, intersex women and transgender people in the Caribbean.
From September 24 - 29, 2013 the first Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference was hosted in Curacao, where more than 30 lesbian, bisexual and transgender women activists and facilitators gathered under the theme: Strengthening the invisible woman and empowering her to leadership.
The CWSDC was subsequently hosted in Suriname, Trinidad and St. Croix, USVI.
Previous organising partners include United and Strong Inc, FOKO, WomensWay, Womantra and WCTT and Liberty Place.
Call for Applications - #CWSDC5
Now accepting applications from individual activists and organisation representatives. Self-funded applicants are encouraged, as only a limited number of scholarships are available. Interested activists are invited to apply by July 24, 2017.
Click the link to apply: Application form in english
Haga clic en este enlace para aplicar: Formulario de solicitud
Cliquez sur ce lien pour postuler: Formulaire de demande
Call for workshop proposals
The planning Committee of the Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference invites workshop proposals on this year's conference theme outlined above. Find guidelines for submitting proposals, including potential areas of intervention, at this link:
CWSDC5 CALL FOR PROPOSALS: WORKSHOPS.
Submission deadline: August 8, 2017.
2017 Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference
3rd CWSDC: Trinidad and Tobago
Click to learn about the 2015 #CWSDC
Read the Antillean's Sherine Powerful's piece on 3rd #CWSDC
Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality
ECADE
CWSDC Volunteer Registration
Wouldn't it be fantastic to be part of hosting the 2017 CWSDC?
If you live in Saint Lucia, you can be part of our 5th anniversary event!
Just tell us a little more about you by completing the Volunteer information form
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Partners:
#CWSDC5 is organised by ECADE and United and Strong Inc. with support from Arcus Foundation, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation, COC Nederlands and Outright Action Int'l.