Working for Better

About the campaign

The #WorkingForBetter campaign will run during the month of March. We are asking participants to post to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram each day, if possible, or to pick a period during March when they can post.

What is the goal of this campaign?

We want to increase the visibility of livelihood and development work that is happening all across the globe. We are hoping that more visibility among development agencies, governments, allies, LGBTI organizations, and funders, will lead to more support, funding, technical assistance, and opportunities for local LGBTI leaders to collectively establish priorities and undertake community-based advocacy efforts.

Who can participate?

Anyone doing livelihood and development work.

What is “livelihood and development work”

Livelihood work includes any type of work that gives individual LGBTI people the opportunity to improve their livelihood, including micro-enterprises, job training and educational programs, entrepreneurial programs.
Development work includes work meant to improve development outcomes (e.g. health, education, income, living conditions, food security) of individual LGBTI people. This work includes local community and health centers, shelters, safe-spaces, as well as work on development policy, implementation of the SDGs, national development plans, research on human or economic development outcomes of LGBTI populations, and work development data.

Who is this campaign for?

It’s for you. There is no single organization running this campaign or seeking to brand the campaign as its own. The campaign is being run by a group of volunteers and organizations donating their time. The graphics and suggested content do not include the name of any particular group. This means that you can use your own group’s name and post from your group’s account.

Who is the campaign targeting?

As a short-term initial effort, this campaign is targeting anyone who is in a position to benefit LGBTI development and livelihood efforts. This includes leaders of development NGOs, staff of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, UN bodies, groups that support LGBTI human rights, researchers, and others. Not only can you tag, like and repost to get the attention of these folks, we are recruiting other people from within such institutions to tag, like and repost campaign posts to their own networks.

What is the theme/message of the campaign?

The theme is #WorkingForBetter to communicate the stories and efforts of people working for better lives, better jobs, better health, better schools, or you fill in the blank. #WorkingForBetter embodies the development concept of seeking incremental, targeted improvements in development outcomes. The content of each post is determined by the person posting. We are asking that people use the #WorkingForBetter hashtag and use the provided graphics for their posts. We have provided suggestions for customizing the graphics with your own content

Who is organizing this?

This campaign is not attached to any particular organization. It is being organized by four vounteers:

- Andrew Park (me), you can look around this website to find out about me.
- Lee Badgett, an activist/economist who has been working with queer groups for decades, and who is a leading global expert on the economic cost of exclusion, a co-creator of the UNDP LGBTI Inclusion Index, and co-author of leading research on LGBTI livelihood projects in the global south.
- Charlie Rounds, who, after doing humanitarian work in West Africa, has run LGBT travel agencies, directed the first foundation program on LGBTI youth, and now works with LGBTI entrepreneurs in the Caribbean and East Africa.
- Phil Crehan has worked as the Principle Investigator on multi-country LGBTQ+ data collection efforts in the Caribbean, in addition to having economic development experience at the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, with a passion to promote LGBTQ+ livelihoods and economic empowerment.

Over the past years, each of us has been working separately with LGBTI advocates and entrepreneurs across the world. Collectively we have talked to dozens, possibly hundreds, of LGBTI leaders in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Western Balkans, and Central and eastern Europe. Each of us have heard a common, persistent theme in these conversations: We need recognition, visibility, and support. After finding out that we all shared this frustration, we decided we wanted to do something about it. This campaign is the result. It’s a small effort, but we think it could have some impact.

We would like to thank Alturi for donating staff time and webspace as the internet host of the campaign.

How do I participate?

First, you need to register so that we can send you materials to help you participate.

Starting on March 1, you can post as often as you want (we prefer posts to be spread out over the month) using the #WorkingForBetter hashtag and provided graphics.

What should my posts say?

We are working on some sample posts. The topics are:

What is the work? Simply let people know what your project is.
Why is the work needed?
What do you need to make the work better?

We will also have graphics that you can choose from, and we will have instructions on how to use your own pictures, etc.

Can I use graphics in my posts?

Yes. Here are overlays you can use to create your personal social media images. You can create your images using the Pixlr image editor. Here is a step-by-step guide.

Square English

Square Spanish