Leigh-Ann van der Merwe is a self-identified coloured transgender woman from rural South Africa. She founded the Social, Health & Empowerment Feminist Collective in response to the lack of visibility and leadership of transgender women on the African continent. This organisation has been in operation for the last 13 years, supporting capacity enhancement for transgender women on the continent, with a focus on the development of #transfem leadership. Leigh-Ann's work is widely recognised even by organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the United Nations through her global advocacy. Her work focuses on addressing the socio-economic, political and cultural determinants of health for sexual and gender minorities. Leigh-Ann has for many years called for decolonial approaches to doing development work, including peer reviewed publications. As a researcher she has been a co-principal investigator as well as co-investigator in transgender led studies as the Botshelo Ba Trans and T-MAPP study amongst others. She holds a postgraduate diploma and Masters degree in public health and is a PhD candidate at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. Leigh-Ann is the first ever openly transgender woman to be appointed as a national commissioner in the South African Commission for Gender Equality.
