“Protecting the rights and safety of sexual and gender minorities in Africa is what motivates my work.”

Noah Mirembe Gabigogo is a co-founder and director at the Taala Foundation, an organization that promotes wellness for youth on the margins through mental health support, education, and legal assistance. A practicing attorney, he is a passionate advocate for gender equality, and an experienced researcher and scholar on sexual and gender diversity in Africa. Through his work at Taala, Noah works to advance protections for youth marginalized on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. Noah previously contributed to legal mobilization for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. His efforts centered on improving documentation of violence and strengthening movement capacity to build self-determined alliances that use strategic litigation to advance goals for social change.

Vision: Development must be led by affected communities that are best placed to inform solutions for change. Securing legal protections is a critical foundation, but change on the social level is just as important to secure protections for the most vulnerable.