Annual Conference

Sofia 2022

We look forward to being welcomed by our host organisations in Sofia, Bilitis Resource Center Foundation, GLAS Bulgaria Foundation, and Youth LGBT Organisation Deystvie. They have waited since 2019, when our conference was first planned in Sofia, so we are very happy and excited to work with them at last.

After three years not being able to gather in person, we thrilled to be able to bring our movement together in the same space once more, knowing how important it is for us all at this moment in time, and how much we need to experience connection, solidarity and inspiration with and from each other.

Despite unpredictability connected with the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we are working to make the conference a place for LGBTI activists to come together, to connect and reconnect, to reflect, realign and identify ways to move our collective work forward as a European and Central Asian LGBTI movement.

Theme

The theme for the 2022 ILGA-Europe conference is: ‘Shaping the World to Come’.

We are at a moment in history when the world is going through great change on so many levels. With climate change, mass migration, the rise of right-wing populist forces and the exploitation of the digital world, politics have become ever more polarised and divided, based on the shaping of carefully constructed narratives rather than facts. Amid this, the stakes are high for the rights, freedom and equality of marginalised groups. 

The change we are going through is being shaped by those in power. One of those powers is a long-standing, cohesive, forward-thinking, organised and active LGBTI movement, who alongside allies across the human rights arena, has been core to shaping a better society for all.

Our place at the table in shaping the world to come is essential, but there are questions we need to ask ourselves as we go forward. How do we secure our place at the table? How do we ensure those who are never given a place at that table are included in shaping our world? How we continue to be empowered in solidarity and alliance, and how do we continue to empower others, so that the LGBTI movement is core to a better future for all?

This year’s conference will be built under the ‘Shaping the World to Come’ theme with two cornerstones.

Firstly, under ‘Building Alliances in Shifting Contexts’ we will reflect on how we join forces and work together to counter different anti-democratic and anti-LGBTI forces and in response to crises, and how we shape cross-movement narratives to unify and bring positive change.

Secondly, under ‘Collective Resilience in The Movement’, we will look at questions around resourcing the movement, organisational design, fostering safety and security, staying connected and responding to changing contexts.

Participation

Anticipating potential COVID-related restrictions

Anticipating potential COVID-related restrictions that could re-appear later in October – and thus avoid a full or partial cancellation of the event – one decision we had to make was to limit the number of people physically present to 300. As we want to ensure as much fairness and accessibility as possible within this participation cap, we therefore need to also put limits on the number of participants sent by each organisation this year.

This said, we are firmly committed to ensuring that the diversity of the LGBTI movement in the region is reflected at the conference. This is why throughout the registration and the scholarship process, we will try to balance, to the best of our abilities, the different profiles of activists and organisations that are present in our movement, and we will use the scholarship process to support the participation of activists from under-represented and marginalised parts of the community.

What does that imply? The conference this year will be exclusively open to:

• Representatives of ILGA-Europe member organisations
• Representatives of LGBTI organisations working in Europe and Central Asia
• Allies of the LGBTI movement in Europe and Central Asia (institutions, funders)  

A strict maximum of two participants per organisation will be able to attend the conference, regardless if they are paying participants or scholars. Furthermore, we ask organisations who have been represented by large delegations in the past to delegate only one person, if possible.

While we do not have the resources and expertise to organised a fully-fledged hybrid conference, we will offer parts of the programme online to those who may not be able to join in-person.

Our AGM portion will however be hybrid, so that representatives of the membership who can’t attend in person, are still able to participate in the governance of ILGA-Europe.

For any questions about the Annual Conference, please contact us here.

Registration

Registration has been closed.

Participation fee

There is a two-tier scheme for participation fees.

To enable access and a diversity of participants, ILGA-Europe will fund a large number of participants to the conference. While some of the resources to cover this come from different strands of our funding, the scholarship scheme and different accessibility elements of the conference are partially funded from donations.

We ask you to evaluate your personal and organisational capacity and see whether you can help our work by choosing the ‘Partner fee’. The additional programmatic contribution in that tier will support the scholarship scheme and other work ILGA-Europe conducts to support the movement in Europe and Central Asia.

You may choose between three options for registration:

Partner fee*

(grant-makers, policy-makers, institutions, NGOs)

1. Accommodation in single room	900.00€
2. Accommodation in shared room	730.00€
3. No accommodation	450.00€

Civil society fee*

(members, NGOs, LGBTI groups)

1. Accommodation in single room	720.00€
2. Accommodation in shared room	550.00€
3. No accommodation	270.00€

Accommodation

1. Accommodation in single room	Single room (w/ breakfast) at the conference hotel
2. Accommodation in shared room	Twin room (w/ breakfast) at the conference hotel Only with another participant with whom you have agreed to share
3. No accommodation	No accommodation For security reasons, we recommend staying at the conference hotel.If options 1 and 2 are not financially accessible, please consider applying for a scholarship.

Catering

Opening evening + meals from Thursday to Saturday (lunch, dinner, coffee breaks)

Scholarships

Application for scholarships has been closed.

General Meeting

The next General Meeting (GM), which takes place on 20-22 October 2022, happens in conjunction with the Annual Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria.

A hybrid General Meeting

While we are excited to be returning to an in-person Annual Conference, we do need to ensure that members who won’t be able to be physically present in Sofia have the opportunity to take part in our General Meeting.

• Final agenda of the General Meeting in October

Call for candidates

In October, members will have to elect representatives to the main governance bodies of our organisation, in particular our Executive Board. We encourage candidates from across the wide diversity of our membership to consider running.

Background documents for application and nomination of candidates:

ILGA-Europe Executive Board

• Candidate Form
• Nomination Form
• Guidelines for nomination

Regional representatives to the ILGA World Steering Committees

• Candidate Form – Trans Committee
• Candidate Form – Youth Committee

The extended deadline for applications is 19 October 2022 at 23:59 EEST (Sofia time). All applications and nominations should be sent to chairingpool@ilga-europe.org.

Voting rights & Membership fees

In order to be able to vote or make nominations, your organisation needs to have paid the membership fees for 2020, 2021 and 2022. These fees are paid to ILGA World (not ILGA-Europe).

If your organisation is having difficulties to pay or if you have any questions about membership, please contact: membership@ilga.org.