About

History

VOVO was established in September 2013 with the aim of representing and increasing the visibility of LBTQ persons’ issues within the LGBTQI community and in the wider women’s and human rights discourse. The group was composed of 17 LBT persons who all believed it was time they had their own voice and spoke to their issues which they felt were often left out. They were in agreement that the group would be feminist, that it would be non-hierarchical, and that it would be different. Over the years, some members of the group left to pursue other interests while others joined the group, and the organisation grew and evolved. 

VOVO has grown from a collective with a fiscal host and no office space to an autonomous entity with its own space (The VOVO Hope Centre) and its own systems. It has been and continues to be a journey of learning. We continue to stand firm on our identity as a feminist organisation, a non-hierarchical organisation with the community at the heart of the word we do.

The dream of VOVO has grown beyond what we ever imagined when we started and we continue to push forward and work toward our vision as a community of a safe and inclusive Zimbabwe that embraces sexual and gender diversity and promotes equality for all its people in the affirmation of human rights.

What We Do

Mission

Integrate a feminist approach to change and challenge attitudes, beliefs and norms that limit and exclude marginalised communities from affirming their human rights.

Objectives of VOVO

  • Amplify and increase voice and visibility of LBTQI persons and communities
  • Demonstrate intersectionality of women and women’s struggles and connectivity to other movements
  • Advance, support and promote leadership, representation and participation of LBTQI persons at grassroots, local, national, regional level and international.
  • Create and sustain safe spaces for LBTQI persons
  • Reconstruct and rejuvenate the women’s movement in Zimbabwe to make it more inclusive
  • Document stories and experiences of LBTQI community for evidence based advocacy, movement building and historical record
  • Use models of organising and mobilising that reflect our feminist activism.
  • Advocate for the rights of LGBTQI persons