Solidarity
Connecting the movement
We create regional spaces where LGBTIQ+ organisations and activists can exchange knowledge, coordinate strategies, build solidarity, and respond collectively to shared challenges.
About Us
Building regional power for LGBTIQ+ equality
ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for the Western Balkans and Türkiye is a regional umbrella network of 80+ LGBTIQ+ organisations working together to advance equality, human rights, social inclusion, and community-led change.
Across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Türkiye, ERA connects organisations, activists, communities, institutions, donors and international partners — turning local realities into regional knowledge, advocacy, visibility and action.
We believe that stronger movements are built through solidarity, shared resources, evidence, long-term cooperation and the leadership of the communities most affected by discrimination and exclusion.
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Kosovo
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Türkiye
Our work
What ERA does
ERA strengthens the LGBTIQ+ movement across the region by supporting organisations, amplifying community voices, and creating spaces for regional cooperation, learning and collective action.
Our work brings together advocacy, research, capacity building, grant-making, communications, visibility, and movement convening. Through conferences, consultations, caucuses, trainings, public campaigns and community-led spaces, ERA helps connect grassroots experiences with regional and international advocacy processes.
Regional bridge
Our role in the region
ERA works as a bridge between local struggles and broader policy, funding, research and visibility processes. We support member organisations and partners by:
Capacity
Strengthening organisations
We provide capacity-building, training, mentoring, tools and resources that help organisations grow, adapt, advocate, communicate and sustain their work.
Research
Producing evidence
Through research, policy analysis and community-based knowledge, ERA documents the lived realities of LGBTIQ+ people and supports advocacy rooted in evidence and experience.
Policy
Supporting advocacy
ERA engages with regional, European and international institutions to ensure that the voices and priorities of LGBTIQ+ communities from the Western Balkans and Türkiye are visible and heard.
Grant-making
Moving resources
Through grant-making and partnership support, ERA helps channel resources toward organisations and initiatives working directly with communities on the ground.
Communications
Building visibility
We support communications, campaigns, storytelling and public visibility that challenge harmful narratives, strengthen representation and bring community realities into public and policy conversations.
Our network
A community-led regional network
ERA's strength comes from its members. Our network brings together organisations working in different political, social and legal contexts, but connected by a shared commitment to dignity, equality, freedom, safety and justice for LGBTIQ+ people.
We work with and for communities that are often pushed to the margins, including lesbian, bisexual and queer women, trans, non-binary and intersex people, young people, people living with HIV, refugees, migrants, Roma LGBTIQ+ people, sex workers, and others facing multiple forms of discrimination.
By working regionally, ERA helps make visible what is often treated as isolated or local: shared patterns of exclusion, weak implementation of rights, institutional mistrust, shrinking civic space, anti-gender and anti-LGBTIQ+ movements, violence, hate speech, and barriers to social and economic participation.
Our approach
How we work
ERA's approach is rooted in solidarity, accountability and long-term movement building.
We do not see equality as only a question of laws or policies. Legal protection matters, but real change also requires implementation, trust, resources, representation, safety, and the ability of communities to organise and participate fully in public life.
That is why ERA combines policy work with grassroots support, research with storytelling, capacity building with advocacy, and regional coordination with local knowledge.
Our work is shaped by the realities, expertise and demands of LGBTIQ+ communities across the region.
Discover ERA
Explore ERA
Who We Are
Learn more about ERA's mission, history, values and regional approach.
Who We AreOur Team
Meet the people coordinating ERA's work across advocacy, research, communications, programmes and organisational support.
Meet the TeamMember Organizations
Explore ERA's network of member organisations across the Western Balkans and Türkiye.
View MembersPartners & Donors
Learn more about the partners and donors who support ERA's regional work.
Partners & DonorsGet involved
Join us in building what comes next
Whether you are an LGBTIQ+ organisation, community initiative, donor, institution, researcher, journalist, activist or ally, there are many ways to connect with ERA's work. Together, we can strengthen regional solidarity, support community-led organising, and build societies where LGBTIQ+ people can live freely, safely and equally.
