LGBTQ+ human rights evaluation in the global South: Lessons from evaluating Project ACT

Abstract

This chapter explores considerations for evaluators who work in countries and regions where LGBTQ+ acceptance is low and LGBTQ+ stigma, discrimination, and violence are pervasive. We highlight the ways in which LGBTQ+ criminalization and repressive legal restrictions impact on the task of evaluating LGBTQ+ advocacy and service provision. Drawing on our experience of evaluating a human rights advocacy initiative to reduce stigma, discrimination, and violence as barriers to access to HIV care in Africa and the Caribbean, we outline principles of practice that evaluators might observe and strategies they might draw on to support LGBTQ+ communities in advancing human rights causes and improving the availability of affirming services in hostile settings.