Dr Hellen Venganai is the inaugural Director of the Gender and Diversity Centre. She is a gender expert and researcher with over 10 years of progressive experience working in gender and women’s rights context. She also possesses leadership experience working in academia, civil society, private sector, and media with high level interaction with various stakeholders.

She holds a PhD in Sociology from Stellenbosch University, a Masters degree in Development Studies from Institute of Social Studies - Erasmus University Rotterdam where she specialised in Women, gender and Development. She also holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Gender Development Studies from the Women’s University in Africa, and a National Diploma in Journalism from Harare Polytechnic. She has taught courses in Development Studies, Child Sensitive Social Policies, and Gender Studies. She also possesses experience in supervising PhD theses and MSc and BSc dissertations. Dr Venganai has expertise in women rights centred research and her research interests revolve on gender, child rights, women’s rights, sexuality, culture, postcolonial studies, and development policies. Some of her previous publications focused on sexuality, identity construction, and gender based violence, sexuality and culture. Her doctoral research was on understanding the significance of cultural practices, notably labia elongation, in the lives of young urban Shona women and men in contemporary Zimbabwe. She has also been involved in a regional research project by the Stellenbosch University Department of Economics on the contemporary roles of African women in politics in Sub-Saharan African countries. At a personal level, Dr Venganai is also a gender and child rights advocate.

Education and Qualifications

Record of Employment

University Service

2021 – 2022               Chairperson, Gender Transformative Sciences Department

2021 – Present            Member, University Research Board

2019 – Present            Member, Higher Degrees Committee

2019 – 2020                Child Sensitive Social Policies Programme Coordinator

Recent Research (WUA Funded)

1. Interrogating Christians’ participation and spirituality in virtual church services: A gendered perspective.
2. Navigating Street Vending During the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Lived Experiences of Women Street Vendors with Disabilities.

Selected Academic and Media Publications

Woyo, E., & Venganai, H. (2022). Situating Gender and Disability in Tourism Scholarship in Africa: An Introduction to Intersectional Perspectives. In Gender, Disability, and Tourism in Africa: Intersectional Perspectives (pp. 1-29). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Venganai, H. & Benhura, A. (2022) Interrogating gendered exclusion of womxn in COVID-19 vaccination policies and practices in Southern Africa, Agenda, DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2022.2111082

Benhura, A. & Venganai, H. (2022). Exploring Gendered Monitoring and Evaluation of the Social Protection System in Angola: A Rights‑Based Perspective. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-022-00218-z

Venganai, H., 2021. Extending Conversations around Labia Elongation beyond Heterosexual Encounters. African Arguments. https://africanarguments.org/2021/04/extending-conversations-around-labia-elongation-beyond-heterosexual-encounters/

Venganai, H., 2020. Covid-19 prevention measures should leave no school child behind (NewsDay, 28 May 2020). https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/05/covid-19-prevention-measures-should-leave-no-school-child-behind/

Venganai, H., & Benhura, A., 2020. Girls’ stolen voices, future (Sunday Mail, October 2020).https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/girls-stolen-voices-future/amp?fbclid=IwAR30wWQrTmQrD8lskIj5840lt0xA17kh2W7rEIxhOo17J99CVX1LU_v3wWo

Venganai, H., 2019. “These things might be there in the Bible, but they are hidden” – Christian appropriations of the practice of labia elongation in Zimbabwe. The African Journal of Gender and Religion, 25(1), pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.14426/ajgr.v25i1.5

Mbereko, A., Scott, D., & Venganai, H. 2019. Experiences of different household structures caring for people living with HIV and AIDS in the antiretroviral era: Case study of Nyamakate rural area in Zimbabwe. Cogent Social Sciences 5, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1565075

Venganai, H., 2018. Reinterpretation of “Traditional” bodily modifications by young people in contemporary Zimbabwe. Africa Development, 43(1), pp. 43-60. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ad/article/view/190301

Venganai, H., 2017. Urban Shona women negotiating their identities through the cultural practice of labia elongation in contemporary Zimbabwe. Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research, 8(3), pp. 306-324. https://www.genderopen.de/handle/25595/1437

Venganai, H., 2015. (Re) constructing positive cultures to protect girls and women against sexual violence. Agenda, 29(3), pp.145-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2015.1052679

Venganai, H., 2015. The Gendering and Sexualisation of Young Women through Sex Educational Practices and Discourses in Southern Africa, in J. Wyn and H. Cahill (eds.). Handbook of Children and Youth Studies, pp.289-300. Springer: Singapore.

Consultancies

Dr Venganai has experience in consultancies including being part of the WUA team that developed the UNICEF funded Conflict and Gender responsive Social Protection Delivery Handbook and Training Manual for the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare. She has done consultancy work for community based organisations (CSOs) on vulnerabilities of adolescent girls and young women including child marriages in various districts. Dr Venganai was also part of the team of WUA consultants who conducted the Supporting Adolescent Girls Education (SAGE) Beneficiary Identification Programme for Plan International Zimbabwe.

Conferences/Workshops/Seminars attended;

Presented in the Round Table on Gender, sexuality and social justice: unpacking dominant development and policy discourses at the 16^th European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) General Conference (online): Solidarity, Peace and Social Justice, 5-8 July 2021.

Presented a paper titled “Rethinking queerness in the context of labia elongation”. 8th European Conference on African Studies, Edinburgh University, Scotland, 11-14 June, 2019.

Presented paper titled “Equal rights are okay, but we may end up having makanda asina nzungu (empty shells without groundnuts): The social construction of women interested in politics by young people in Masvingo urban”. Gender equality and the human rights of women in Zimbabwe National Symposium, Harare, Zimbabwe, 5-6 November, 2018.

Presented a paper titled “Bodies at the centre and voices on the margins: Debating women’s contraceptives in Zimbabwe”. 14th Development Dialogue on “Do We Need to Grow” Problematising Growth Economy in Development. International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands from 21st to the 22nd of November 2016.

Presented a paper “Why do you go to the gym if you were created perfect?” – Unpacking the ‘modern’ African body through ‘traditional’ bodily modifications. CODESRIA International Conference on (Re) Making African Bodies. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 3-4 November, 2016.

Presented a paper titled “The place of the “traditional” sexual practice of labia elongation in the lives of young urban Shona women and men in contemporary Zimbabwe.” 9th Global Persons and Sexualities Conference. Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom, 10-12 July, 2016.

Presented a paper titled ‘Even whites do it’: A Study of labia elongation with young women and men in Zimbabwe. New Social Forms Seminar Series, Department of Sociology & Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, 26 May 2016.

Presented a paper titled “Thinking about researching culture in ways that do not reproduce gendered stereotypes”. 22^nd Annual South African Sociological Association Conference. University of Johannesburg, South Africa. 28 June – 1 July, 2015.

Attended the Social Sciences for Development Conference. Stellenbosch University. Stellenbosch. South Africa. 9 - 10 September, 2015.

Attended the Narrating Lives and Living Stories in Contexts of Socio-political Change Symposium. Wits University, Humanities Graduate Centre. Johannesburg. South Africa. 7 – 10 July, 2015.

Attended the Colloquium on Young people engaging in/for non-violence and equality: Challenges, opportunities and constraints – Finland/South Africa Research Cooperation. STIAS. Stellenbosch. 29 – 30 September, 2014.

Honours/Awards

• Awarded a research grant by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden) for a study on the gendered analysis of Cyclone Idai disaster interventions in Chimanimani, 2020.
• Awarded a research grant by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law on Gender Equality and the Human Rights of Women in Zimbabwe, 2018.
• Awarded the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) scholarship to pursue PhD studies, 2014;
• Awarded an Overall Distinction MA Degree 2012;
• Awarded Distinction for my research paper titled ‘We See It Differently: Examining Power/Knowledge in the Contestation of the WHO’s Interpretation of Male Circumcision’, 2012;
• Awarded a Nuffic Scholarship to pursue MA studies, 2011;
• Awarded Trophy for Overall Best Student in the Social Sciences, Women’s University in Africa, 2009;
• Awarded Book Price for Best Student in Sociology Degree, Women’s University in Africa, 2009.

Tel (Bus): +263 242 459601 |459647
Mobile:  +263 774 399 281 | +263 715 378 638
Skype: hellen.venganai
Email: hvenganai@wua.ac.zw
Twitter handle: @hellen_venganai

The idea of establishing the WUA Gender and Diversity Centre was conceptualised in 2011 at a workshop supported by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). The university needed to respond to the 21^st century gender issues and contribute to policy making and programming by various stakeholders. The Gender and Diversity Centre is a hub for collaboration, engaging diverse groups of experts, scholars, and community members to identify and tackle critical questions related to gender equality. The aim is for the Gender and Diversity Centre to be a one stop and resource centre for anything that relates to gender and women empowerment in Zimbabwe and the African region. The Centre builds upon WUA’s remarkable legacy of addressing gender disparity and fostering equity in University Education, and promoting the participation of women in leadership positions.

The Centre uses a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach in addressing gender disparities and embraces the principle of intersectionality by being responsive to the needs of diverse groups of people. The Centre emphasises problem solving through promoting increased use of gender research evidence to inform policy and programme decisions. We amplify gender research, promote research collaboration in the study of gender, as well as support teaching and learning of and around gender. We also produce resources and spaces for community engagement around gender issues so that we do not leave no one behind. In addition, the Centre supports especially female scholars and students to realise their full potential through mentorship and capacity building programmes.

Research and Publication

• The WUA Gender and Diversity Centre prioritises Applied and Action oriented gender research to address gender ideologies and community issues.
• We conduct collaborative research between gender practitioners/organisations and the WUA Gender and Diversity Centre.
• We host periodic seminars on feminist methodologies and gender sensitive research skills.
• We organise platforms to support female researchers in increasing their research outputs and visibility; as well as improving their research competencies.

Gender Training
The Centre offers gender-related short courses which are guided by periodic needs assessments which reflect the needs of the community and industry. Through short courses and seminars, the Centre aims to change discriminatory attitudes and norms of decision-making structures and procedures at national and regional level. To contribute to poverty alleviation for women and other vulnerable groups, the Gender Centre imparts various entrepreneurship skills to groups such as women, out of school young women and men, and people with disabilities.

Resource Centre
The Centre is a one stop resource centre for anything that relates to gender including feminist knowledge, gender related reading material, as well as information on accessing services such as counselling and legal aid.

Consultancy Services
We offer consultancy to individuals, groups and organisations for various services including:

• Developing and reviewing Gender Policies, Gender Mainstreaming Strategies and Action Plans.
• Producing Gender Monitors by tracking of gender disaggregated data in various sectors
• Conducting Gender Audits and gender analysis.
• Capacity building of staff on gender and diversity sensitivity and frameworks for gender and diversity analysis.
• Designing gender responsive monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

Community Engagement
Our Centre is community oriented and has the drive to:

• Mobilise funds and resources to support the disadvantaged
• Conduct career guidance outreach programmes
• Run women empowerment programmes
• Provide legal aid clinics in partnership with relevant women’s organisations
• Conduct public lectures, media programmes and campaigns to raise awareness on gender and diversity issues in communities, including around sexual harassment. These advocacy initiatives entail collaborative efforts with like-minded institutions and organisations.

549 Arcturus Road, Manresa
Harare
Zimbabwe
Phone: +26324 2459601
Email: gendercentre@wua.ac.zw