Movement Building

TIC has come to recognize the importance of assisting queer Muslims on a global scale. We understand that this can only be achieved by creating a network through co-oporating with organizations that hold similar visions and strategic plans. An international Movement Building Program has been designed to encourage unity with sister organizations.

The program also assists affiliate members in building their organizations by providing technical support, educational material and mentoring. All affiliate organizations have one member elected to serve on the affiliations committee and this member is sponsored by TIC to attend the Annual International Retreat.

If you’d like to find out more our movement building, please contact us.

Global Queer Muslim Network

The Global Queer Muslim Network is one of the programs through which TIC seeks to broaden the scope of its reach. The network seeks to achieve the following objectives;

• To establish unity of purpose and uniformity of programs and service delivery among queer Muslim organizations across the globe;
• To strength the scope and reach of the queer Muslim advocacy movement;
• To exchange cutting-edge knowledge, information and best practice models in order to ensure the efficacy of the queer Muslim advocacy network;
• To encourage the founding of more queer Muslim organizations as well as to mentor emerging queer Muslim organizations;
• To motivate individuals and organizations which are working in the queer Muslim sector by formally acknowledging outstanding leadership.

The network consists of a number of organizations, viz. TIC, Bedayaa, Marhaba, and Ma`ruf.

The organizations contact regular meetings to deliberate on the mechanisms which need to be adopted in order to make the network stronger and more effective. For example, the network underscores the need to have shared values in order to ward off any potential conflict of interests between the organizations. This inter-organizational collaboration is proving to be a strong and indispensable tool with which to influence the orthodox Islamic community on the topical issue of Islam and sexual diversity. In its quest for growth, the network is calling other queer Muslim organizations to join it.

The Training of Trainers

TIC has realized that it is important to ensure that its programs are sustainable. For this reason, from 2014, TIC will be offering the Training of Trainers program. Through this program, more people will be trained and mentored so that they will be able to facilitate training programs. The program seeks to train approximately six people internationally per year. Those who will be selected for this program will become TIC certified facilitators.

Staff training

Whenever TIC hires new staff, it makes sure that the members of staff go through the induction program. The organization has introduced a new induction program which equips the staff and its volunteers with a clear understanding of what the organization is all about. This includes familiarizing them with the strategic plan of TIC. The induction program also includes the Client Care workshop which gives the staff and volunteers a clear and panoramic view of the ideal ways of interacting with the different kinds of clients who make use of TIC’s services.

From time to time, TIC looks into key areas in which the staff can develop and consolidate their skills in order for them to improve their capability to deliver on the strategic plan. Through the staff training program, TIC seeks to ensure that it is equipped with forward-looking, skilled and well-equipped staff members. This training programme is very crucial, especially considering the nature and scope of TIC’s work. It is important for TIC staff members to have a strong grasp of the community which TIC work with. Islamic communities are still hostile to the kind of work that TIC is doing and there is need for TIC to know the strategic entry points and also how to influence the Islamic community in a step by step approach.

Training manuals

In order to ensure that it delivers high quality training, TIC develops training manuals in order to guide its training activities. The major training manuals the organization produces are the IPEP manuals. These are divided into the participant guide, the facilitator’s guide and the power point slides which go with the participant guide. The facilitator’s guide has been revised for the second time. The revised version takes into consideration the constructive evaluations which TIC has received from both facilitators and participants. The evaluations are intended to improve the quality of the training programs. The facilitator’s guide is a step by step guide which makes it easy for the facilitators to be guided by the intended outcome of the training program. The power point slides are a visual tool which helps the participants to reinforce the information that is contained in the participant guide. They also assist the facilitators with the facilitation process.