Many of the recipients of Arcus’ winter funding cycle are focusing on collaborations and partnerships to share information and influence positive outcomes for the conservation of great apes and gibbons. Global Wildlife Conservation will use its grant to support the Section on Great Apes of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) Primate Specialist Group.
The grantees of the winter funding cycle are focused on a variety of key areas, from LGBTQ human rights and racial justice to work with faith leaders and the media, to ensure that the most vulnerable groups are represented and protected. The Astraea Foundation is receiving a grant to support its International Trans Fund, a trans activist-led initiative and a component of the Global Trans Initiative that makes grants to under-resourced trans-led groups.
Many of the grantees for the fall funding cycle are focused on lifting and amplifying the work of grassroots organizations that advocate for LGBTQ rights and justice, particularly those by and for the transgender community. Borealis Philanthropy is using its grant to support the Fund for Trans Generations, a collaborative that supports trans communities throughout the United States through direct grants, organizational development support, and peer learning.
Most of the grantees in the fall cycle of funding are focusing their work on economic strategies that support conservation efforts, as well as on initiatives that will help place a strong emphasis on policy and government decision-making with regard to African and Asian ape habitats. Project Primate will use its grant to support the organizational and management infrastructure of the Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Guinea, West Africa.
The work of the organizations that are recipients of grants this funding cycle looks at great ape conservation in tandem with the engagement of local human communities and development of economic opportunities compatible with conservation outcomes. Working in the Northern Republic of the Congo, World Wildlife Fund will use its grant to focus on the zoning and gazettement of a new protected area, as well as on community engagement and the reduction of the trade in hunted meat.
The grantees for the latest funding cycle are focusing their LGBTQ advocacy work in a number of areas, such as with the faith-based community and with youth. Other grantees, meanwhile, will be focusing on policy change and justice for the LGBTQ community.
A muxe woman, Peregrina Vera is a member of the Indigenous Zapotec community from the town of Juchitán in the southeast of Oaxaca state in Mexico. A skilled artisan of traditional woven clothing, Peregrina also prepares decorations for local festivals. But in addition to her artistic endeavors, she is one of the leaders of the Transformándome (“Transforming Myself”) project housed at Mexfam, a nationwide civil society organization promoting access to health, education, and advocacy of sexual and reproductive rights. The project helps educate the muxe about their rights and how they can live authentically as themselves, including acquiring identification documents that accurately portray their names and genders.
Peregrina’s activism includes documenting incidents of hate crimes against the muxe throughout the region. This is a subject she unfortunately knows all too well after she experienced a recent violent attack and robbery in which all of her work tools were stolen.
These incidents have increased as new people have moved into the region.
“Before they did nothing to us,” Peregrina explains. “Now if you’re at a party, just by seeing you, they want to attack you, they insult you, and on many occasions, the aggression changes from words to physical attacks.”
By documenting these incidents, Peregrina is helping to bring the issue of hate violence to the attention of authorities and the public. She is also working to connect members of her community through online meetings using computers acquired by the Transformándome project. All of her activism is aimed at increasing the acceptance and inclusion of her muxe community.
Mujer Muxe, Peregrina Vera es miembro de la comunidad indígena Zapoteca del pueblo de Juchitán, en el sureste del estado de Oaxaca. Hábil artesana de la ropa tejida tradicional, Peregrina también prepara adornos para las fiestas locales. Pero además de sus esfuerzos artísticos, es una de las líderes de Transformándome en Mexfam, la organización nacional de planificación familiar de México. El proyecto ayuda a educar a la comunidad Muxe sobre sus derechos y sobre cómo pueden vivir auténticamente sin esconderse, incluyendo cómo obtener documentos de identidad que reflejen con exactitud sus nombres y géneros.
El activismo de Peregrina incluye la documentación de incidentes de crímenes de odio contra la comunidad Muxe en toda la región. Se trata de un tema que, por desgracia, conoce demasiado bien tras haber sufrido recientemente un ataque violento y un robo en el que le sustrajeron todas sus herramientas de trabajo.
Estos incidentes han aumentado a medida que nuevas personas se han trasladado a la región.
“Antes no nos hacían nada”, explica. “Ahora, si estás en una fiesta, solo con verte quieren agredirte, te insultan y, en muchas ocasiones, la agresión pasa de las palabras a los ataques físicos”.
Con la documentación de estos incidentes, Peregrina está ayudando a llamar la atención de las autoridades y del público sobre el problema de la violencia motivada por el odio. También está trabajando para conectar a los miembros de su comunidad a través de reuniones en línea utilizando computadoras adquiridas gracias al proyecto Transformándome. Todo su activismo busca aumentar la aceptación y la inclusión de su comunidad Muxe.
A bonobo in trees moving its mouth, with a binocular effect zooming in on the ape. A text overlay says, “Dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world.”
A forest with the sun shining through trees, with a text overlay that quotes Jon Stryker and Annette Lanjouw of Arcus Foundation saying, “Destruction of nature exposes us to a panoply of diseases, and creates and exacerbates social injustice and political repression around the world.”
A razed forest.
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A scene from a protest, people wearing face masks, waving signs and banners, drumming on a drum, dancing, shouting through a megaphone. Two signs are a sheer black color with gold trim and list several names, including Roxsana Hernandez, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, and Nina Pop. Another sign says “Black Trans Lives Matter”.
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A woman wearing a white dress, long wavy dark brown hair, teal lipstick, plum fingernails, rectangular metal glasses sits in a chair and talks. A text overlay identifies her as Úmi Vera, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, United States, and quotes her saying: “There’s incredible power in the trans queer migrant community. To be dehumanized so much and not lose your hope, your sense of joy—it’s just astonishing.”
A Learn More button that links to a story: LGBTQ Migrants to the U.S. Fight to Stay Safe
A person with shoulder-length, dark brown, straight hair wearing a pink and silver fuzzy tiara and a white and purple dress with a big tulle bottom and a corset top, over a white t-shirt that says SELENA, dancing around in circles outdoors with a crowd of people sitting and standing nearby, and with the flags of Puerto Rico, Panama, and Peru hanging from wood beams in the background.
A woman with short black and gray hair wearing a black dress shirt talks. A text overlay identifies her as Indyra Mendoza, Red Lésbica Cattrachas, Honduras, and quotes her saying: “For so many years, we missed being free and open with our partners—now is the time to make it happen!.”
A Learn More button that links to a story: “I Know Who I Am, But My Country Doesn’t Recognize Me”.
A woman wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt under a jumper featuring white and pastel yellow, blue and green circles, a black head covering and a red face mask, stands in front of a church building with a sign that says: “Central Methodist Mission You are born in love by love for love”. A text overlay identifies her as Mia Lukas, SistaazHood, homeless trans women supported by Gender DynamiX, South Africa, and quotes her saying: “With their support, we feel more included in society.”
A Learn More button that links to a story: Supporting Cape Town’s Homeless Transgender Women During COVID-19
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An aerial view of a forest with area of deforested land. A text overlay that quotes Fransisca Ariantiningsih, Orangutan Information Centre, Indonesia, saying “Logging and habitat destruction force animals from the forest, making them vulnerable to trafficking.”
A woman with neck-length dark brown straight hair and a beige dress shirt talks in front of a pink flowering tree.
A Learn More button that links to the homepage of the State of the Apes publication
A baby orangutan slowly climbs a tree.
A text overlay with a quote saying “The orangutan is Indonesia’s national treasure. It takes years to rehabilitate each individual.”
An adult orangutan eats tree bark while clinging to a tree.
A text overlay with a quote saying “Our ecosystem is shared between humans and wildlife. If one single thing is gone, it affects all.”
A Learn More button that links to the Arcus Foundation’s support page for Great Apes and Gibbons Conservation.
An adult gibbon with black fur climbs a tree with a baby gibbon clinging onto the adult. Two bonobos move through trees.
A man with a beard and buzzed hair wearing a tan polo shirt with the African Wildlife Foundation logo talks. A text overlay identifies him as Raoul Mulumba Tafua, African Wildlife Foundation, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and quotes him saying, “Protecting Congo’s forest biodiversity benefits the community from the perspective of climate change, food production, and tourism.”
A woman with tightly braided dark brown hair and wearing a t-shirt with pink sleeves, a pink bow, and the faces of two people against a light blue background, talks. A text overlay identifies her as Merveille Boale Batuli, supported by Village Enterprise and African Wildlife Foundation, and quotes her saying “I’m a mother, a widow, and I have to feed my family.”
A man in a gray dress shirt and wearing a shoulder bag sits behind a table and reaches toward prescription medicine boxes and opens one to take out a smaller box and hand it to someone on the other end of the table. A text overlay quotes Jon Stryker and Annette Lanjouw of Arcus Foundation saying “Conservation without social justice is neither ethical nor possible. To achieve conservation and respect for the world’s apes, we work with the people who live alongside them.”
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The man from the pharmacy walks down a dirt path past bushes while smiling.
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