Support Centre for Voluntary Agencies Working with Sexual Minorities and People Living with HIV/AIDS in Eastern India (2004-08)

Funded by Elton John AIDS Foundation, London

This project in Calcutta provided capacity building and educational resource support on issues of gender, sexuality, human rights, sexual health and HIV/AIDS to voluntary and government agencies working with sexual minorities, PLHIV and other vulnerable populations. An extension centre of this project in Bhubaneswar, Orissa collaborated with government and voluntary agencies on scaling up HIV/AIDS interventions for sexual minorities and PLHIV. The project reached more than 15,000 sexual minorities and PLHIV through 23 voluntary agencies in Bihar, Meghalaya, Manipur, Orissa and West Bengal. It provided an infrastructural and human resource base for several parallel and future projects in eastern and north-eastern India. A number of its information dissemination and advocacy activities are continuing through the Coalition Based Advocacy Project.

Click here for the Executive Summary of the final phase of the HIV/AIDS Support Centre Project (November 2006 to April 2008).

Click here for the Support Centre’s specific web pages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in eastern India. When the Support Centre started in 2004, it was focused only on sexual minorities and was called SAATHII Calcutta LGBT Support Centre. However, over the years, it grew in coverage and scope into a full-fledged HIV/AIDS resource centre serving eastern as well as other regions of India.