Rural Livelihoods In Zimbabwe

The volume of remittances to developing countries has been growing significantly, particularly over the last twenty years. The total value of remittances flowing through official channels worldwide more than doubled between 1988 and 1999. Most of these remittances are channelled through unofficial means by undocumented migrants. While there is growing realisation of its importance as a source of livelihood and development finance, there has not been much focus on remittances from undocumented migrants. Within the context of deteriorating economic conditions in Zimbabwe, this study shows the impact of remittances from undocumented migrants on household livelihoods in rural Zimbabwe. While based on a case study of a small community in Zimbabwe, the study provides material that underscores the significance of remittances from undocumented migrants for household livelihoods and development. The study is a useful addition to the literature on migration, remittances and development, and highly relevant to policy making. France Maphosa is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). He obtained his PhD in Sociology from the University of Zimbabwe where he was a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Sociology before joining NUL. He has researched and published on Sociology of Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility, Migration and HIV/AIDS at the Workplace, among others. He is co-editor of Zimbabwe's Development Experience Since 1980: Challenges and Prospects for the Future, published in 2008.

This book through detailed ethnographic methodology investigates the role women play in a post fast track land environment. The author examines how the hidden access to land, enabled the women to engage in agro based livelihoods and transitory mobility through social networks.

A collection of studies about rural people in Zimbabwe: women, traders, food producers, children and labour migrants; what they do, and how they manage their resources - land, capital, knowledge and markets - in competition and co-operation with others. Particular attention is given to the tensions arising between the rural people themselves and other actors in rural development and interested parties, for example the short term need for food and fuel security against sustainable development and the environmental agenda; and the importance of addressing the social dimensions of the increasing technological content in the development process. There is a long essay on poor children in a variety of social circumstances and the ways in which they work, including actual examples of how their time breaks down, the kinds of essential work they undertake, and their attitudes towards their routines. Most of the contributors are sociologists at the University of Zimbabwe.

Since the introduction of the fast track land reform programme in 2000, Zimbabwe has undergone major economic and political shifts and these have had a profound impact on both urban and rural livelihoods. This book provides rich empirical studies that examine a range of multi-faceted and contested livelihoods within the context of systemic crises. Taking a broad political economy approach, the chapters advance a grounded and in-depth understanding of emerging and shifting livelihood processes, strategies and resilience that foregrounds agency at household level. Highlighting an emergent scholarship amongst young black scholars in Zimbabwe, and providing an understanding of how people and communities respond to socio-economic challenges, this book is an important read for scholars of African political economy, southern African studies and livelihoods.

This book examines the dynamics underpinning the implementation of Zimbabwe’s fast track land reforms. By utilising ethnographic data gathered in central Zimbabwe, the book goes beyond the polarised debates which dominated scholarship in the earlier period to highlight the changing livelihoods occasioned by the land reform. The book argues that despite the challenges faced by the newly resettled farmers, the land reform has allowed landless and land-short peasants access to land and other natural resources which were previously enclosed to them under a bi-modal agrarian structure inherited from colonialism.

This book analyses rural people's diversification of their livelihood portfolios through roadside trading activities which draw on the exploitation of common property resources (CPRs). The impact of the use of CPRs in pursuit of positive livelihood outcomes was explored. Qualitative methodologies were employed to explore resource endowment of the rural households and the strategies they invent in order to earn a living. The Livelihoods framework and the actor-oriented perspective (AOP)were the analytical tools employed to understand the phenomena under study. The findings revealed that rural households were managing to meet their daily needs with some getting incomes well above the poverty datum line and consumption needs of rural households.

The study sites. Methods. The wealth index and its variation. Human, financial, physical and natural capital - the essets available to households. Households productive activities - the generation of cash and subsistence gross income. Exploring household strategies. Net income and poverty. Temporal changes in livelihood strategies. Modelling livelihood change. Making a difference.

Based on extensive original fieldwork, this book examines the complex and diverse livelihoods of Zimbabwe’s Tonga people as they have developed over time, including in the wake of the country’s post- 2000 political and economic crises. Despite being endowed with natural resources, the northwest region of Zimbabwe inhabited by the Tonga people is one of the most marginalised and underdeveloped parts of the country, neglected by both colonial and postcolonial governments. The Tonga- speaking people are a minority ethnic group that settled on either side of the Zambezi River around 1100 AD and remain deeply dependent on the river for their socio- economic livelihoods. This book reflects on the challenges faced by the Tonga people, from poor infrastructure, health and education facilities, to the issues caused by soil infertility and extremely low rainfall, which have been exacerbated by climate change. Many Tonga people were displaced by the construction of the Kariba Dam in the 1950s, and their access to the region’s natural resources has been restricted by successive governments. Showcasing the research of Zimbabwean scholars in particular, this book not only reflects on the vulnerabilities faced by the Tonga, but it also looks beyond these, to the livelihood practices that are thriving despite these challenges, and the ways in which livelihoods intertwine with Tonga culture and society more broadly. Overall, this book highlights the resilience of the Tonga people in the face of years of politico- economic crisis and will be an important contribution to research on livelihoods, ethnic minorities and rural development in Africa.