Food Dignity X | Trans-Inclusive Food Security in Ecuador

Asociación Silueta X · Ecuador · Community Food Action Since 2007

Food Dignity X

Trans-Inclusive Food Security, Social Protection & Community Resilience Program

Food Security · Humanitarian Outreach · Social Protection · Health · Protection · Resilience

Food Dignity X builds on years of community food action by Silueta X to create a stronger pathway for people facing overlapping vulnerabilities — beginning with an essential need and connecting, when appropriate, to health, protection, rights and opportunities for greater stability.

Silueta X community outreach combining food assistance and health activities with trans women in Ecuador
Community Outreach · Ecuador Silueta X has previously combined mobile food assistance with HIV-related health outreach and community information.

Why this program matters

Food can meet an urgent need. The first contact can open a pathway to something more.

Food insecurity rarely exists in isolation. It can overlap with unemployment, displacement, violence, health barriers, disability, discrimination, housing instability and exclusion from social-protection systems.

Food Dignity X therefore treats food assistance as both an essential response and a voluntary point of connection to additional information, referrals and specialized support.

Reaching people who can be left behind

Poverty does not affect everyone through the same pathways

Trans people may experience overlapping barriers related to employment, discrimination, violence, health care, documentation, housing and social protection.

A trans-inclusive food-security response does not assume that every trans person is vulnerable. It ensures that people who are experiencing food insecurity are not excluded from assistance because conventional systems fail to recognize the realities they face.

A relevant precedent in Ecuador

WFP and UNFPA have already examined food security and nutrition among LGBTQI+ people and people at risk of HIV in Ecuador.

The assessment covered Pichincha, Guayas and Manabí and was intended to inform programme design.

View the WFP country record →

A program built on experience

We did not invent a food-security project to pursue funding

Food Dignity X systematizes a community practice that has appeared throughout Silueta X’s history in different forms.

2007
Community food initiatives Silueta X’s institutional history records community meals, food baskets and year-end food activities as part of community support.
2017
NaviTrans Food support, community connection and trans-focused activities became more visibly connected within Silueta X’s seasonal community actions.
2020
Trans Community Kitchen During the COVID-19 emergency, Silueta X publicly presented its Trans Community Kitchen in Guayaquil as an emergency response to economic exclusion and food insecurity.
2020
Mobile community outreach Silueta X brought food assistance directly to trans women in street-based settings and combined outreach with HIV testing, health information and referral pathways.
2021+
Food baskets and flexible responses Food assistance continued through baskets and other community responses designed around specific situations of vulnerability.
TODAY
Food Dignity X A structured framework connecting food security, humanitarian outreach, social protection, specialized referrals and community resilience.

Integrated community pathway

Food → Listen → Connect → Protect → Strengthen

Access to food never requires participation in additional services. When people voluntarily identify other needs, however, Silueta X can provide information or pathways to specialized support.

🍲 Food Respond to an immediate food-security need.
👂 Listen Create an opportunity for people to identify other needs voluntarily.
🔗 Connect Offer information and appropriate referral pathways.
🛡️ Protect Connect people with health, psychosocial, legal or protection resources.
🌱 Strengthen Link with longer-term resilience and autonomy opportunities where available.

Food security & humanitarian partnerships

Relevant to the food-security priorities currently identified in Ecuador

WFP’s Ecuador Country Strategic Plan focuses on vulnerable and food-insecure people, human mobility, essential needs, resilience, emergencies and more inclusive food systems.

Food Dignity X offers a community-based pathway for reaching people whose gender identity, mobility status, disability, health status or other overlapping conditions may create additional barriers to conventional assistance.

Essential Needs Food assistance tailored to vulnerability and context.
Human Mobility Potential integration with migrant, refugee and displaced populations.
Resilience Moving beyond emergency response toward greater stability.
Accountability Participation, responsible monitoring and feedback from affected people.

Alignment with thematic priorities does not imply endorsement, funding or partnership by the World Food Programme. Reference: WFP Ecuador Country Strategic Plan 2023–2027 .

Health, protection & humanitarian response

Food outreach can also become a voluntary bridge to health and protection

For humanitarian and sexual-and-reproductive-health partners, Food Dignity X offers more than food distribution: community contact can support safe information, referrals and connections to services for people experiencing overlapping vulnerabilities.

♀️ Gender-Based Violence Safe information and referral pathways for people experiencing violence when identified within program activities.
❤️ Sexual & Reproductive Health Community information and connections to appropriate health and prevention services.
🧠 Psychosocial Support Referral pathways to psychological and psychosocial support where relevant and voluntarily requested.
🌎 Human Mobility Integration with support pathways for migrants, refugees, returnees and people affected by displacement.
🚶 Mobile Outreach Flexible community approaches for reaching people facing geographic, social or institutional barriers.
🛡️ Safe Referral Dignity, confidentiality, informed choice and a do-no-harm approach to referrals and sensitive information.

Alignment with thematic priorities does not imply endorsement, funding or partnership by UNFPA. Reference: UNFPA Ecuador Humanitarian Preparedness and Response .

Fundable components

What international support can help make possible

Each funded intervention can select the components that match donor priorities, available resources and the needs identified with communities.

🍲 Prepared Food Assistance Community meals or mobile food assistance according to project design and context.
🛍️ Food Baskets & Essential Support Food products and other appropriate assistance for people meeting project vulnerability criteria.
🚶 Mobile Outreach Taking food assistance and information closer to people who face barriers accessing institutional services.
❤️ Health & Prevention Linkages Connections to HIV, sexual health, mental-health or other appropriate health resources.
🛡️ Protection & Social Referral Information and pathways related to violence, legal rights, migration, displacement and social protection.
📊 Evidence & Accountability Responsible monitoring, community feedback, learning and reporting to strengthen accountability.
Food baskets distributed through Silueta X community activities with priority for trans and LGBT people facing vulnerability

Adaptive assistance

The delivery model can change. Dignity should not.

Food security does not require one permanent delivery model. Depending on funding, context and community needs, assistance may include community meals, food baskets, mobile outreach or emergency responses.

This flexibility allows institutional partners to support interventions that are proportionate, accountable and adapted to the situation rather than maintaining infrastructure that may not always be necessary.

Vulnerability-informed targeting

Prioritizing people where multiple barriers intersect

The program retains a historical priority toward trans people while allowing funded interventions to include other populations facing food insecurity and overlapping vulnerabilities.

🏳️‍⚧️ Trans People Particularly when food insecurity overlaps with economic or social exclusion.
♀️ Diverse Women Including survivors of violence and women experiencing intersecting vulnerabilities.
❤️ People Living With HIV When food insecurity or related social barriers are present.
♿ People With Disabilities Recognizing economic, social and accessibility barriers.
🌎 Migrants & Displaced People According to project objectives and vulnerability criteria.
🛡️ People Affected by Crisis Where shocks or emergencies compromise access to basic needs.

The multiplier

Food assistance can connect with an existing support ecosystem

Silueta X does not need to build every service inside the food program. Existing specialized pathways can provide additional options when a participant voluntarily requests support.

Invest in a pathway, not a transaction

Your support can begin with food. Its value does not have to end there.

A funded food-security intervention can provide immediate assistance while also making information, health pathways, protection and specialized referrals easier to reach for people who choose to use them.

Immediate dignity. Stronger connections. Better-informed responses. Greater resilience.

Monitoring, accountability & learning

Compassion matters. Evidence matters too.

Funded interventions can establish indicators appropriate to their scope. Food Dignity X does not claim outcomes that have not been measured.

Food Assistance Meals, baskets or other forms of food assistance delivered.
People Reached Participation data collected with privacy and data-minimization safeguards.
Information & Referrals Appropriate support pathways offered when additional needs are identified.
Geographic Reach Locations reached within each funded intervention.
Community Feedback Appropriate mechanisms to understand accessibility, relevance and areas for improvement.
Learning Evidence used to improve program design and future responses.

Dignity, protection & accountability

Assistance should never require someone to surrender their dignity

Program design should minimize unnecessary collection of sensitive information, protect confidentiality, avoid stigmatizing eligibility processes and ensure that access to food is not conditioned on participation in unrelated services.

Do No Harm Design interventions around safety and dignity.
Confidentiality Protect sensitive personal information.
Informed Choice Additional services remain voluntary.
Accountability Create appropriate feedback and learning mechanisms.

Sustainable Development

Food security intersects with health, equality, protection and resilience.

Depending on project scope, Food Dignity X can contribute to development priorities related to poverty reduction, zero hunger, health, gender equality, reduced inequalities and partnerships.

SDG 1 · No Poverty   |   SDG 2 · Zero Hunger   |   SDG 3 · Good Health and Well-Being   |   SDG 5 · Gender Equality   |   SDG 10 · Reduced Inequalities   |   SDG 17 · Partnerships

Partner with a trans-led organization in Ecuador

Meet an essential need today. Help strengthen pathways beyond it tomorrow.

We welcome dialogue with United Nations agencies, international cooperation, foundations, humanitarian actors, universities, public institutions, companies and other partners interested in food security, social protection, health, gender, humanitarian response and community resilience.

Institutional partnerships: info@siluetax.org

Food Dignity X: a trans-inclusive Food Security, Social Protection and Community Resilience Program of Asociación Silueta X in Ecuador.

Program history: Food Dignity X systematizes previous community food-assistance experiences of Silueta X, including community meals, food baskets, mobile food outreach and the Trans Community Kitchen implemented during the COVID-19 emergency.

Operational scope: this program does not imply that a permanent community kitchen, food distribution service or humanitarian operation is continuously available. Activities, locations, eligibility criteria, participant numbers and delivery modalities depend on funded projects, available resources and partnerships.

Protection principles: food assistance should not require public disclosure of sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV status, migration status, disability or other sensitive information. Additional referrals and services remain voluntary.

Health and nutrition: food assistance and general information provided through the program do not replace professional medical or nutritional assessment when such care is required.

Monitoring: Silueta X does not claim participant reach, outcomes or impact that have not been documented. Each funded intervention should establish appropriate indicators, accountability mechanisms and safeguards.

Institutional alignment: references to WFP, UNFPA, the Sustainable Development Goals or international programming frameworks describe thematic alignment only and do not imply endorsement, affiliation, certification or funding.

International partnerships: United Nations agencies, foundations, humanitarian actors, public institutions, universities, companies and international partners interested in developing a funded component can contact info@siluetax.org .

Food Dignity X · Asociación Silueta X · Ecuador · 2026.