Vision and mission

Merhaba is committed to empowering the LGBT+ community with a migrant background, to supporting them in transcending their wounds. Additionally Merhaba works towards inspiring and changing society so that LGBT+ persons with a migrant background can also feel at home.

What we do:

co-creating inclusive societies

Merhaba is committed to co-creating an inclusive society where LGBT+ people with a migrant background feel safe, at home and fully part of. We start from the idea that we are all part of the groups and systems that oppress or exclude us, and that therefore we can change them from the inside. We aspire to stimulate an “inclusive awareness” that inspires and activates people to contribute to change in their own lives and environments.

Through educational processes, we make people aware of the “Human Blindness” that makes them blind to human dignity, and to how this creates fragmented identities for all of us.
For those who are vulnerable and excluded, we strive to:

bring them in connection with themselves
support them in transcending the wounds
create the safety they need to contribute to an inclusive society

How we do it: the three pillars of Merhaba

Merhaba utilises their working methodology across three pillars of engagement and works with methods that enable a deep understanding of the wound(s) perpetuated by the outcomes of Human Blindness.

The aim is to invite discourse and a change in behavioural attitudes through empowerment, community building and co-creating inclusivity.

Empowerment

Merhaba wants to support the LGBT+ community with a migrant background with educational programs and empowerment activities, in order to strengthen their sense of leadership.

We create social platforms where LGBT+ people with a migrant background can feel safe and can connect with each other. We support people in developing a positive identity, and in transcending their wounds. We create safety, and empower them in taking leadership over their own lives.

Community Building

Through educational and community building processes, Merhaba builds and reinforces social networks and environments that are inclusive towards LGBT+ people with a migrant background.

Central to this process is Community capacity building: a continuous process that promotes pride and leadership, through which communities and their members take responsibility for their own development.

Together with our volunteers and those partners who want to create more inclusion in their networks, we build towards an inclusive society where LGBT+ people with a migrant background are fully part of. We focus specifically on their immediate networks such as the family system, friends, partners, LGBT+ networks, etc.

Inclusion

Merhaba supports professionals through tailor-made programs designed to suit the needs of each specific individual, group and organisation in order to provide them with:

the necessary skills needed to navigate this complex world,
unique and invaluable insights that are widely applicable
in-depth understandings of the LGBT+ community with a migrant background