How to Write a Good Case Study

Are you proud of something you’ve done in the field of LGBTI activism? Have you learned something and want to share it with other activists? Write a case study for The Hub!

Case studies are examples of work that contribute to peer-learning and build the community. You, as an activist or ally, can share resources and experiences under various areas of work.

Writing a case study is an easy way to get some positive exposure for your organisation or efforts and gain recognition as the passionate LGBTI activist that you are.

Do you need to be a seasoned expert? Not at all. Every activist has something to teach, whether they’ve been at this for 20 years or 20 days. Case studies don’t have to be stories of success — failure often teaches us much more.

Do you need to be a writer? Don’t worry. Writing the case study is as simple as answering a few questions by filling out a form. Our team at ILGA-Europe will help you to polish the case study and publish it.

Don’t know what to write? Browse The Hub for inspiration. We’re sure our growing library of content will help you think of something!

How to submit a new case study

The content on The Hub is organised by “cards”. Case studies can only be submitted if they are relevant to a certain resource card. If you can’t find a relevant card, then please contact the ILGA-Europe team for help.

How to write a good case study

Present one case study at a time.

If you talk about different pieces of work in one case study, people might get confused. Add new case studies for different pieces of work. 

Keep it short and to the point.

You’ll see that we work with a strict word count and question-answer format. This helps us keep case studies consistent and valuable for the readers. If fellow activists want to learn more from you, then they will be able to email you directly for more information.

Offer an honest reflection on your work.

At ILGA-Europe we value successes as much as we value learning from what went wrong. Only if we are open about this as a movement we have the potential to collectively grow.

We ask that you are truthful and realistic in your retelling. Your case study must be true, complete, and not intentionally misleading. If we deem your case study unbelievable, we might ask for proof before publishing.

If you make any general claims in your case study, they must be supported with credible scientific sources.

Make sure you have all the intellectual and other rights for your work.

Is this case study yours to tell? Please make sure you have permission to share all the information and materials you add to your case study.

In accordance with the Community Guidelines, by submitting the case study:

  • you represent and warrant that you are authorised to submit the content for publication, and that it does not violate the rights of others (intellectual property rights, the right to privacy and to the protection of personal data, etc.); 
  • you grant ILGA-Europe the right to make it available to the general public (if it is not marked as sensitive) or to Hub members (if it is marked as sensitive), under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0- license;
  • you recognise that personal attribution (under the aforementioned license) is not required for any copies made available outside of The Hub in accordance with the Community Guidelines – instead, you authorise ILGA-Europe to be quoted as the source, without this creating any liability for ILGA-Europe if the content turns out to infringe on the rights of others;
  • you authorise ILGA-Europe to adapt the content and its classification (as sensitive or non-sensitive) at its sole discretion.

Use non-offensive language and be mindful of triggering topics.

Be mindful of how you communicate references to potentially triggering topics like sexual assault, physical violence, addiction, suicide, etc. You can always reach out to our team for help.

We don’t allow any type of hate speech, graphic content, and explicitly sexual content. References to the specifics of the LGBTI activism such as sexualities and sex work are allowed.

We do not allow content that promotes or publicises criminal activities, including but not limited to hate speech, discrimination, illegal drugs, and/or physical violence. We explicitly welcome content that allows the peaceful advancement of LGBTI rights, including when this means challenging your own government or laws that are trans/homo/bi-intersex-phobic in their application.

What happens after I submit the case study?

Once you’re happy with your case study, you can submit it to ILGA-Europe for review. A team member will read through your case study and contact you with any questions or edits. When the case study is finalised, it will be published and ready for you to share with friends and colleagues!

Keep in mind that we reserve the right to edit or un-publish case studies if they break these rules or the Community Guidelines. We notify the authors of these actions in case these concern major alterations.

We allow submissions in English and Russian languages.