Our Team

Our Team

Jesca Gudza

Founder & Chair person

Jesca Gudza was born and educated in Zimbabwe. She then moved to the United Kingdom where she trained and qualified as…

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Jesca Gudza was born and educated in Zimbabwe. She then moved to the United Kingdom where she trained and qualified as a nurse and now works within the community as a Looked After Children’s Nurse Specialist. Jesca has vast experience working with vulnerable adults and children, in both a professional capacity and through supporting various organisations tackling diabetes and bereavement in Zimbabwe. She is truly passionate about uniting the community to fight against health inequalities.

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Lucia Vambe

Vice Chair

Lucia was born in Zimbabwe and came to the UK over 28 years ago where she obtained professional qualifications in Mental Health…
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Lucia was born in Zimbabwe and came to the UK over 28 years ago where she obtained professional qualifications in Mental Health Nursing as well as Education and Training. Lucia is Advancing Clinical Practice Lead in NHS Trust, United Kingdom.
She has been working for the NHS for over 18 years and is involved in Trust-wide implementation of clinical practice improvement programmes including reviewing clinical policies, mandatory clinical risk training, suicide prevention training and physical healthcare training. Lucia has completed Root Cause Analysis Training using Human Factors Approach and experience of serious investigations and family liaison duties.

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Jabu Chikore

Trustee

Jabu Chikore was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He was encouraged to become a nurse by his mother, who is also a nurse and a midwife…

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Jabu Chikore was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He was encouraged to become a nurse by his mother, who is also a nurse and a midwife. After working as a mental health ward manager for about seven years, he felt he needed more. He got to a point where he thought he needed to influence the profession. So, he completed the MSC in Business and Leadership. As he tried to move from a band 7 to a band 8 health post, he felt like there was a ceiling for people like him.

He then worked out his presentation and interview skills to increase his chances for getting opportunities. His perseverance worked. Opportunities started coming more quickly after that, but he still aimed at doing more. The Aspiring Directors of Nursing gave him support and an opportunity to learn what was expected in the boardroom as well as the opportunity to network widely.

As the Covid-19 highlighted the inequalities suffered by Ethnic Minority Staff, he began to think of ways to change the outcomes for the Ethnic Minority Staff. He was asked to lead the BME Network and he highlighted the difficulties and inequalities that were being faced by people due to Covid-19. He was appointed the head of nursing, He became BME Chair leading the BME strategy with the Trust as a whole. He is a member of the BME Men’s Nursing Group.

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Chris Dzikiti

Advisor

Chris Dzikiti is an experienced programme and project management professional with strong transformational leadership, operational…

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Chris Dzikiti is an experienced programme and project management professional with strong transformational leadership, operational management, strategic and clinical experience which has been built over 20 years in healthcare delivery and commissioning. He currently works as Head of Programmes, Transformation and Delivery for NHS England & Improvement.

Previously Chris has also worked as a Programme director leading on mental health transformation in London and as Deputy director of programmes leading the programme management office for a directorate. He studied for a Degree in Mental Health Nursing at City, University of London. He also holds an MSc in Transcultural Psychiatry from Queen Mary University (2005-2007) and an MSc in Healthcare Management from City (2012-2014).

He is also qualified in Prince 2, MSP and Lean six Sigma yellow belt. Chris is Chair of Zimbabwe Health Training Support, a UK-based group of healthcare professionals who support their fellow health workers in Zimbabwe. He is also Director of Operations for the National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care Units leading and supporting the publication of national minimum standards and national guidance / policies. Between 2017 and 2021, Chris was a healthcare consultant for Health Education England in India, providing technical support for Mental Health Services there.

He is also a published author, having contributed a chapter on psychiatric intensive care to the book Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing – The Craft of Caring. Chris is passionate about supporting BAME colleagues and is involved in coaching and mentoring young people from a BAME background.

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Prof. Edward Kunonga

Advisor

Professor Edward Kunonga is a passionate public health consultant currently working across acute and mental health trusts in the North East of…

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Professor Edward Kunonga is a passionate public health consultant currently working across acute and mental health trusts in the North East of England. He is a former joint director of public health and public protection for two local authorities in the South Tees area. In this role he led multi-disciplinary teams and won a number of awards including the prestigious MJ Awards (Municipal Journal) for the Best Public health and health improvement initiatives programmes in the UK in June 2019.

He has a passion for improving population health and has presented at many international, national, regional and local forums. He worked together Dr Chireka, in championing the plight of BAME staff in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitating weekly zoom community meetings to provide expertise, facilitate discussion, bring in international experts to the communities and ultimately to provide community support throughout the pandemic.

Some of this work is summarised in the publication in the Journal of Migration and Health called, At the deep end: COVID-19 experiences of Zimbabwean health and care workers in the United Kingdom. This is available on this website: Click here. He is an Honorary Professor at Teesside University where he is involved in teaching undergraduate, masters and doctorate level students as well as research collaborations. He is a certified lifestyle medicine specialist and also holds higher specialist training in public health and epidemiology.

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