POVO an online journal launched in December 2009 an arts and culture movement. It is a candid platform for Afrikans to express themselves in the global community, to voice their thoughts and deteermine the Afrikan narrative from the eyes of Afrikans. We believe that every person’s opinion is valid, which is why we have set up this platform for continuous and vigorous discourse on all issues African. As such, we strive to promote resilience, brilliance and perseverance in sight of seemingly insurmountable obstacles in people’s daily lives.
Objectives
POVO aims to cultivate a sense of patriotism born from a true pride in our country and its people. We want to celebrate Zimbabwe and we want the youth to feel they are a part of the country’s destiny. With this platform we intend to engage in various youth empowering exercises to partner with organisations, individuals, companies, communities who have the same ethos. Through meaningful contributions, we want to instill hope and a sense of self-worth to our fellow Zimbabweans and also showcase their various talents and interests.
History
The genesis of POVO can be traced to 2004, through the efforts of Baynham Goredema who was secretary of the Graphics Association of Zimbabwe at the time. It was his idea to create a small pocket sized booklet featuring contributions from various disciplines in the arts sector. He invited contributors to submit 300 word long articles with any one image or illustration using only the colours of the Zimbabwe flag. In total, 12 contributors responded with sponsors for the paper and printing of a total five hundred 32 page booklets printed in A6 landscape. The arrangement was for each contributor to get 10 books each for distribution whilst the rest would be given to strategic stakeholders within the Zimbabwean arts industry. Just when the book was ready for print, the Zimbabwean economy collapsed, which saw our major sponsors pulling out of the project altogether. The project was only resuscitated in 2009 as an online magazine with a global reach and was the more viable option for a startup like the POVO project.
