Kudakwashe Maria Chisvo is a funky jazz vocalist, voice actor, model and guitarist who goes by the pseudonym Vera. She has received a number of awards including the Women Rising Award from the Hub Unconference 2020 and an award from Pop Up Small Grants for creative digital projects. She has seven years of experience working as a program coordinator for some of Zimbabwe's most well-known arts development organizations such as Young Voices Network, Pamberi Trust, Jibilika Dance Trust, and Magamba Network.

Currently, Kudakwashe is the arts and events coordinator at Magamba Network. She creates and curates programming that creates opportunities for young women and marginalized communities. Examples of this include the Women in Arts Celebration at Young Voices Network, Female Literary Arts Music Enterprise at Pamberi Trust, The Training Kombi with Jibilika Dance Trust, Disability Arts and Culture Program with Incubator ZW and lastly The Women’s Cypher at Moto Republik, to name a few. She also curated and managed UNESCO’s pilot Resiliart Accelerator, a program that mentored and followed five women creatives from across Zimbabwe over a period of six months.

Kudakwashe runs a creative hub called the Incubator ZW, which has been supported by the U.S. Embassy, the British Council, Alliance Francaise, and the Zimbabwe German Society. She is on the board of Project iThemba, a youth-driven creative enterprise that hosts creativity for change workshops for the LGBTQ community. Incubator ZW has a podcast called HerHour that has trained six aspiring women journalists and videographers and was one of the first platforms to have an openly trans woman as a cohost.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Human Eyes

This project explored how to change perceptions of marginalized groups in Zimbabwe through the creative arts. Photoshoots were organized and mini documentaries were recorded featuring the stories of a woman, a gay man and a person with disability.  Participants narrated their own stories and the videos were accompanied by music and dance. The videos were displayed in December 2023 at the Listening Fest festival and are currently available on YouTube.

Kudakwashe was also a panelist for the IVLP Impact Awards Alumni Discussion Series panel on “Advancing Human Rights for Marginalized Communities,” which you can read more about here.

Explore Kudakwashe's insights on her IVLP Impact Award project and IVLP experience in this in-depth article, highlighting the power of global collaboration and cultural exchange: IVLP Impact Awards Perspectives: Stories of Inclusion Part I | Meridian Blog

Click here to watch the Human Eyes mini documentaries

"I hope that people can see people for more than their disability, sexual orientation and gender. People need to be seen as who they are at their roots. And that is people who deserve to be loved and respected." - Kudakwashe Maria Chisvo

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Kudakwashe participated in the IVLP Project A Global Moment in Time - Reflections on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center, in partnership with Colorado Springs World Affairs Council and Global Ties San Francisco.

Kudakwashe's exchange experience led to the development of her IVLP Impact Award Project: "In DC, we had a session on unconscious biases with Dr. Luby Ismail. The session made me realize that sometimes the negative biases and perceptions people have, are unconscious and it's important to create opportunities for people to change their biases unconsciously through music and art."

U.S. Communities Visited

San Francisco, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; Washington, DC

Country: Zimbabwe

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