Founder/Executive Programs Coordinator

Mx. Emmanuella David-Ette

Ella, as fondly called is a transgender/intersex lady that has a Bachelors’ degree in Library, Archival & Information Sciences with Music, Media/Theatre Arts & Dance from the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. She has worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the Assistant Librarian during her youth service in 2011/2012. She has also worked as a Program Intern for the Global Initiative for Human Rights (GIHR)- Heartland Alliance now Synergia Initiative for Human Rights (SIHR) and assisted in its runnings then. She used social media platforms to address issues addressing human rights violations which were based on ones’ real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity from a whole level which is inclusive and wrote the monthly reports. She has worked with Heartland Alliance International (HAI), Nigeria as the Program Assistant for Nigeria from 2014 to 2015 under the (Enhancing Key Population Intervention in Nigeria) EKPIN project in which she coordinated the first-ever healthy relationship counseling workshop in the country which targeted transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals, and Sexually Diverse women.

She was the Secretary of the West African Trans Forum (WATF), a new movement aimed for the whole of West Africa which includes both Anglophone and Francophone speaking countries from 2017 to 2018. She is also the Founding President and Executive Program Coordinator (EPC) for the first Trans and Intersex movement/organization, Trans & Intersex People- TIP for Human Rights In Nigeria (THRIN) now registered as Dynamic Initiative for Healthcare & Human Rights (DIHHR) located in Nigeria. Through her administration as the EPC, She has a working partnership with Heartland Alliance International, Women’s Health & Equal Rights (WHER) Initiatives, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA). She has taken the organization where the organization is able to access grants from funders first from the Mac Arthur Foundation via Synergia Initiative for Human Rights (SIHR), Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice which is currently ongoing and the International Trans Fund which is about to start. THRIN/DIHHR under her leadership executes projects within Nigeria by involving state and non-state actors which are one of our great feats. She uses the Trans Inclusive Feminist Approach (TIFA) while addressing issues relating to inclusivity, by looking at everyone through the lens of humanity irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender identity, by creating a voice for the often voiceless transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming community in Nigeria.

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

Lashawn Samuel

Lashawn is a transgender woman with extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation. She is actively passionate about trans & intersex rights and its conversations.  She has working experience as a Referral Officer on behavioral change and HIV prevention with the Population Council. Being groomed by ICARH as a peer educator and Heartland Alliance International Nigeria in the M & E department, she has extended her knowledge and experience to trans and intersex movement.