Leeds and Oeiras produce new training guide on LGBTI+ awareness

A new training guide produced by Leeds and the Portuguese municipality Oeiras is providing a new approach to improving wider understanding of LGBTI+ people and communities.

The Rainbow Connections Training Manual: LGBTI+ Intercultural Competences has been developed as part of the Rainbow Connections project, funded by the Council of Europe's Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC).

The six month partnership involved the municipalities of Leeds and Oeiras, their LGBTI+ staff and local non-governmental organisations in a series of awareness-raising sessions bringing together LGBTI+ people and the wider community. These sessions and the insights they generated formed the basis of the new training guide.

The training manual will now be shared amongst the ICC's membership of over 120 cities and regions around the world, and can also be used by organisations to provide their own training here in Leeds and elsewhere.

Both partners realised early on that the requirements for a training programme in the UK and in Portugal had significant differences. In Portugal, there is a requirement for training provided by municipalities to be delivered by certified trainers and to cover topics in a level of detail. In the UK, there is a preference for shorter, less formal training, often delivered by people with lived experience.

Rather than trying to produce a single training programme that addressed both needs, the partners realised that by providing one approach with two options, they were actually better able to provide a training manual that would be useful in a wide variety of settings.

The Training Manual can be downloaded free in English or Portuguese:

English version

Portuguese version

The Council of Europe's Intercultural Cities Programme supports cities and regions in reviewing and adapting their policies through an intercultural lens and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to manage diversity as an advantage for the whole society. Leeds has been a member of Intercultural Cities since 2019.

The Council of Europe is a pan-European international organization focused on promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across the continent. It's not part of the European Union, although it shares some member states. Established in 1949, it has 46 member states. The UK is a founding member.