At the end of January, ITF held our annual staff retreat in Gaborone, Botswana. The retreat offered a meaningful opportunity for team members from across continents and contexts to come together in person, reconnect, and engage in shared reflection and meditation. It also provided dedicated space for collective work planning, aligning priorities for the year ahead, and strengthening collaboration across teams. Here is where we finalized our 2026 Workplan and made plans to mark our 10 Year Anniversary.

When we meet and exchange, our worlds expand. We are moved deeply to see how all of us exist and navigate life beyond work. These connections and the personal-professional journey we take together anchor our work for the rest of the year.

We’re excited to share a few glimpses of what this time was like for us. There were moments of joy and grief, and of trans world-building that felt especially powerful in each other’s company. As every year, we practiced collective care, finding softness with one another while navigating unprecedented challenges together. We leave more bonded, more connected, and deeply committed to continuing our work moving resources to support trans movements worldwide.

 

Each time we gather in person, we are reminded that our work is driven by deep solidarity with each other and with our movements. The retreat grounded us in our shared realities, strengthened our collective purpose, and renewed our commitment to moving more and better resources to trans movements worldwide in 2026 and beyond. We also held a tender moment, when one of our colleagues was hospitalized and we were called to live our transfeminist values of support and collective care in real time. As they recovery is underway, we are reminded that this work is not only about what we build together, but how we hold one another through uncertainty and vulnerability.

– Broden Giambrone, Executive Director

 

 

The opportunity to meet in Gaborone was unique in many senses, providing ITF with the possibility to plan our work with a 10-year Strategic Framework and a powerful, growing team guiding us. By holding together the many complexities and challenges ITF work brings – which includes the team’s health and wellbeing, as we were sharply reminded of –, our retreat in Botswana was a very important moment for connection, inspiration and reflection, as we work on a symbolic 10th grantmaking cycle and build a stronger ITF each day, grounded in transfeminist principles and contributing to trans-led movements’ thriving work and resistance towards better futures for all.

– Viviane Simakawa, Deputy Director

 

Finally, we want to pause to thank one another, and all of you in our trans community, for holding and witnessing each other through these turbulent times.

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)