NYASA Rainbow Alliance (NRA)
Rewriting The Narrative: Malawi Celebrates Historic Pride Parade
NYASA Rainbow Alliance (NRA) is an LGBT+ led membership organisation with
approximately 300 members working with and for the LGBT+ community in Malawi. Based in
Blantyre in Southern Malawi, the NRA was established in 2014 to increase the scope of the
existing LGBT+ organisational landscape and address some of the gaps identified by the members
of the LGBT+ community themselves. Because of their work to support the community the staff at
the NRA have faced some considerable threats. On one occasion a member of the NRA team was
attacked as he left the office premises, rocks were thrown at his car, and he received injuries to his
ear. On another three occasions, the office premises were broken into and laptops, a camera and
files containing sensitive information were stolen.
While criminal proceedings have rarely been enforced in post-colonial Malawi, same-sex
relations between consensual adults remain criminalised, exposing gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and other identifying people to routine violence, discrimination and stigma in almost all
aspects of their daily lives.
