Our Approach

APTN is a trans-led organisation that supports and advocates for the rights for trans and gender diverse people in Asia and the Pacific. We work in five key strategic areas:

Movement building

Towards a Resilient and Self-reliant Trans Movement

The trans and gender diverse movement in the Asia and the Pacific region is resilient and self-reliant. We contribute to this movement by facilitating representation of the trans and gender diverse community. We help national partners build their skills and capacity as leaders and increase their access to funding, and we promote a culture of well-being and self-care for trans advocates.

Special Projects

APTN Trans COMP Community-based Monitoring Training

On 19 January 2022, APTN held the first Trans COMP Community-based Monitoring Training with our community partners in Thailand. This 2 hours training is facilitated by a country partner and then presented by Emily Rowe as APTN’s CBM tool consultant. It was ended by a Q&A session at the end of the training. A translator […]

Special Projects

Trans Day of Remembrance and Trans Awareness Week 2021 Campaign

This year, APTN created a campaign for Trans Awareness Week at 15-19 November 2021. APTN also released a joint statement “Together, We Fight!” collaborating with Transgender Europe (TGEU) and its partners & networks. Let’s read our campaigns below: Trans Day of Remembrance 2021 Read the Joint Statement for Trans Day of Remembrance 2021As we mark […]

Advocating

Advancing Justice, Rights and Access

APTN is a leader in advocating for the rights of trans and gender diverse people throughout Asia and the Pacific. We amplify the voice of the transgender community to call for an end to discrimination, and increased rights and protections for trans and gender diverse people. We work closely with academic, government officials, health care providers and other key stakeholders. Our reports and publications have guided evidence-based programming, social policy reform and human rights advances for trans people in many countries.

Special Projects

Trans Advocacy Week 2021

For the fifth year in a row, trans and gender diverse activists from all over the world will come together during the June/July session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to raise awareness of the human rights situation of their communities with diplomatic missions and UN bodies in Geneva. The UN Trans Advocacy Week […]

Special Projects

Amplifying Trans Advocacy Fellowship 2020

Please join us as we welcome our team of 2020 Amplifying Trans Advocacy Fellows. APTN’s Amplifying Trans Advocacy Fellowship integrates capacity building, seed funding, and technical assistance to enable trans human rights defenders from Asia and the Pacific to advance trans rights using international human rights accountability mechanisms.

Leadership development

Supporting the Leadership Development of Trans People and Organisations

APTN provides a vital platform for trans and gender diverse people to engage in community-to-community learning and build organisational capacity. We recognise the diversity in politics, and cultures throughout this region and we work closely with community partners to build the capacity of individuals and organisations. We provide technical guidance to develop proposals and programmes, and support them in developing programmes unique to their needs and country context.

Special Projects

APTN x YouthLEAD’s Dignity Amidst COVID-19: Trans Youth Leaders’ Stories

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented human crisis that is claiming lives, destroying livelihoods and disrupting economies across the world. With the support of UNAIDS, the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) and Youth LEAD have worked together to increase the visibility and voices of trans and gender diverse youth leaders throughout Asia and the Pacific

Public campaigning

Public campaigning is an important part of APTN’s work. Through engagement with traditional, online, and social media, we can raise public awareness of the issues affecting our community. We also strengthen the ability of trans and gender diverse communities to conduct their own public campaigns through training and fellowships programmes. This is a powerful way to reach our strategic objectives of movement building, leadership development and advocacy.

Special Projects

#SkillsforChange: Public Campaigning for Advocacy & Social Change

Public campaigning through engagement with traditional, online, and social media has proved to be a powerful tool to increase awareness and visibility of lived experiences of LGBTI people, to shift the narratives around SOGIESC rights issues in both public and political realms, and to amplify LGBTI advocates’ call for action for social change.

Purple and pink illustration of person with short black hair and flowers

Special Projects

Human Rights Week: COVID-19 Trans Resilience Social Media Tool Kit

#HumanRightsWeek presents us with an opportunity to share how we have been working alongside our country partners and trans focal points in the region to support the transgender and gender non conforming community and closely monitor the evolving situation presented by COVID-19. Over the next week we present our findings from our work over the last ten months which demonstrate an urgent need to guarantee the inclusion of transgender and gender non conforming people in efforts to #RecoverBetter from COVID-19 and more broadly. We call on the governments, our development and non development partners and the public, to #StandupforHumanRights and fulfill the promise of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs to ensure no one is left behind.

Research

Our research sheds light on the diversity and lived reality of the trans and gender diverse community in Asia and the Pacific, including the discrimination and human rights violations they face. We bring together the lived experiences of trans and gender diverse people, and world-class academic expertise to produce unique, impactful, trans-led research. This in turn provides the evidence needed for stakeholders to make better decisions.

Special Projects