Resiliency and livelihoods inquiry in dynamic vulnerability contexts
Insights from Northern Zimbabwe
A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities
2012
ADMIRE MUTSA NYAMWANZA
Institute for Development Policy and Management
School of Environment and Development
1
Psalm 23
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
LIST OF TABLES
8
LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS
9
LIST OF BOXES
10
LIST OF PHOTOS
11
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
12
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
14
ABSTRACT
17
DECLARATION
18
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
20
CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
21
1.1. Overview
21
1.2. Defining and justifying a resiliency perspective
22
1.2.1. Main concepts and their linkages
23
1.3. Overall research aim
25
1.4. Specific research questions
25
1.5. Entry points to utilising a resiliency perspective in the thesis
25
1.5.1. The three resiliency indicator and two outcome processes
26
1.5.2. The institutional and temporal scalar focus
29
1.6. Thesis outline
31
CHAPTER TWO. LIVELIHOODS INQUIRY IN RURAL SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN
CONTEXTS – WHERE FROM AND WHERE TO?
34
2.1. Introduction
34
2.2. Vulnerability
34
2.2.1. Risk hazard approach
35
2.2.2. Political economy approach
35
2.2.3. The coupled vulnerability approach
36
2.2.4. Poverty perspective
36
2.2.5. Towards an integrated approach to vulnerability analysis
3
37
2.3. Resilience
38
2.3.1. Resilience theory – engineering versus ecological resilience
38
2.4. Adaptive capacity
39
2.5. Resilience and adaptive capacity in livelihoods inquiry
41
2.5.1. Process versus Outcome
41
2.5.2. Adaptive strategies or Coping strategies?
42
2.5.3. Summarising analytical and methodological aspects in the resiliency perspective 43
2.6. Evolving thinking – key strands and switches to understanding livelihoods and vulnerability
in rural sub-Saharan Africa
44
2.6.1. Farming systems research
44
2.6.2. Famine and food security analyses
45
2.6.3. Sustainable livelihoods thinking
46
2.6.4. From sustainable livelihoods to resilient livelihoods thinking
50
2.7. Factors for understanding responses to vulnerability in rural SSA communities
52
2.7.1. Household-level factors
52
2.7.2. Community-level factors
57
2.7.3. Taking livelihoods inquiry forward
68
2.8. Conclusion
69
CHAPTER THREE. METHODOLOGY
70
3.1. Introduction
70
3.2. Philosophical underpinnings
71
3.3. The Dande case study
73
3.3.1. Selection of study ward and villages
74
3.4. Data collection techniques
77
3.4.1. Documentary analysis
78
3.4.2. Questionnaire survey
78
3.4.3. Life histories
79
3.4.4. Transect walks and Observations
80
3.4.5. Key informant interviews
81
3.4.6. Focus group discussions and participatory methods
82
3.4.7. Informal conversations
82
3.5. Data analysis
83
4
3.6. Research ethics
84
3.7. Research timing and timeline
86
3.8. Methodological challenges
87
3.9. Conclusion
89
CHAPTER FOUR. THE ZIMBABWE AND DANDE CONTEXTS
90
4.1. Introduction
90
4.2. National context – A brief review of key developments in Zimbabwe
90
4.3. Local context – Dande Communal Area and the Mid-Zambezi Valley
94
4.3.1. A historical overview: the pre-independence period
95
4.3.2. Authority structures in the area
97
4.3.3. Ethnic composition and Natural resources
99
4.3.4. Key development programmes in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley
103
4.3.5. An overview of the Ward 12 context
108
4.4. Conclusion
110
CHAPTER FIVE. LIVELIHOOD AND VULNERABILITY TRENDS IN DANDE
112
5.1. Introduction
112
5.2. Livelihoods structure and dynamics in Dande
112
5.2.1. Agricultural livelihood asset and activity trends
112
5.2.2. Non-agricultural activity trends
120
5.2.3. Summarising livelihood asset and activity trends
122
5.3. Characterising the vulnerability context in Dande
123
5.3.1. Increasing poverty levels
123
5.3.2. Low rainfalls and increasing drought cycles
127
5.3.3. Demographic changes
129
5.3.4. Wildlife and pests
131
5.3.5. Poor markets and infrastructure
135
5.3.6. Macro-economic challenges, policies and governance issues
141
5.3.7. Health constraints
143
5.3.8. Patterns and negative exposures resulting from interconnected vulnerabilities in
Dande
146
5.4. Conclusion
149
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CHAPTER SIX. ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES IN DANDE
150
6.1. Introduction
150
6.2. Adaptive strategies at the household scale
150
6.2.1. Living with change and uncertainty through diversification
150
6.2.2. Nurturing social learning processes and living with change and uncertainty through
migration and remittances
153
6.2.3. Living with change and uncertainty through changing crop cultivation practices
(extensification of fields and intensification of crop production)
156
6.3. Adaptive strategies from the local community scale
157
6.3.1. Nurturing social learning processes and living with change and uncertainty through
the increasing centrality of indigenous knowledge
158
6.3.2. Traditional leadership role in adaptive strategies and ‘self-organising’ for resiliency
165
6.3.3. Christian churches role in adaptive strategies and living with change and uncertainty
in the area
167
6.3.4. Other institutionalised local community adaptive strategies
6.4. Adaptive strategies from the sub national scale
169
171
6.4.1. Government institutions
172
6.4.2. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies
179
6.4.3. Cotton companies
183
6.5. Adaptive strategies in Dande: understandings from a multi-institutional focus
186
6.6. Conclusion
190
CHAPTER SEVEN. FACTORS INFLUENCING RESILIENT AND ADAPTIVE
RESPONSES TO VULNERABILITY CHANGES IN DANDE
191
7.1. Introduction
191
7.2. Household-level factors
191
7.2.1. Household wealth - factor towards ability to living with change and uncertainty 192
7.2.2. Household demographic structure – enabling living with change and uncertainty 199
7.2.3. Social identity – factor in nurturing social learning processes and living with change
and uncertainty
207
7.2.4. Ability to create and expand social networks – enabling the nurturing of social
learning processes and living with change and uncertainty
210
7.2.5. Household cognitive well being perceptions and motivation to resiliency
211
7.2.6. Inter-household dynamics and resiliency in Dande
212
7.3. Community-level factors
213
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7.3.1. The nature of local common property management systems
213
7.3.2. Community social networks formation
221
7.3.3. The evolving nature of formal social support
223
7.3.4. Demographic changes
225
7.3.5. Community well being notions
226
7.3.6. Geographical location
228
7.4. Conclusion
231
CHAPTER EIGHT. TOWARDS A RESILIENCY PERSPECTIVE IN LIVELIHOODS
INQUIRY – SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
233
8.1. Introduction
233
8.2. Revisiting research questions, summary of key findings and major conclusions
234
8.3. Resiliency perspective: new wine or old wine in new bottles?
242
8.4. Contributions of study to knowledge
244
8.5. Reflections on the thesis
245
8.5.1. Methodological reflections
245
8.5.2. Areas for future research
247
8.6. Concluding remarks
247
REFERENCES
249
APPENDICES
274
Appendix 1. Summary of key characteristics of the Dande study community
274
Appendix 2. Data collection instruments
275
Appendix 3. Selected research outputs
289
Appendix 4. Key informant and FGD schedules
293
Appendix 5. Inflation rates, and official and parallel exchange rates of the $ZIM to the USD
(2000-2008)
294
Appendix 6. Guiding principles for successful communal management of the commons
Final word count: 86, 823
7
295
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1
Definitions of adaptive capacity
40
Table 2.2
Differences between coping strategies and adaptive strategies
43
Table 2.3
Summarising main aspects on shifts from sustainable to resilient livelihoods
thinking
51
Table 2.4
Zimbabwe’s five agro-ecological zones
57
Table 2.5
Sources of social networks in rural SSA and their underlying principles
63
Table 2.6
Aspects of Co-management
65
Table 3.1
Scale of focus, summary of issues covered and techniques used
77
Table 3.2
Summary of techniques used
83
Table 3.3
Examples of code names used during the fieldwork exercise
85
Table 5.1
Timetable of crop-production activities
116
Table 5.2
Total number of livestock and owning households as at 2008
119
Table 5.3
Livestock and cotton yield trends across the three study villages
125
Table 5.4
Identification and characterization of drought years
129
Table 5.5
Population trends (1992-2008)
130
Table 5.6
Comparison of selected input prices at Mushumbi and in Harare
136
Table 5.7
Labour/employment ratings in the area
141
Table 5.8
Exposures and corresponding vulnerability factors
149
Table 6.1
Comparison of average acreage accorded to major crops in upland fields in
the 1990s (95/96) and in the 2009/10 season
152
Table 6.2
Cotton producer price trends in Dande 1989/90 season to 2006/07
season
185
Table 6.3
Summary of adaptive strategies from the three scales and their trends
188
Table 7.1
Wealth ranking and overall figures across the three study villages
192
Table 7.2
Livelihood trajectories by wealth ranks
193
Table 7.3
Typical home-task allocation in Dande
200
Table 7.4
Household size and structure figures from life histories
202
Table 7.5
Ethnic figures across the villages of study
207
Table 7.6
Livelihood trajectories by ethnicity over 1995/96 to 2010/11
210
Table 7.7
Percentages of social networks by wealth rank
211
Table 7.8
De facto authorities (and property rights) for different natural resources
215
Table 7.9
Community well being notions
227
Table 8.1
Revisiting the resiliency perspective for livelihoods analysis
8
243
LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS
Figure 1.1
Resiliency indicator, pillar and outcome processes in analysis
28
Figure 2.1
Ideas in sustainable livelihoods thinking
47
Figure 2.2
Adapted livelihoods framework for resiliency
51
Figure 4.1
Wildlife movements in and around Dande
103
Figure 5.1
Seasonal rainfall variability in Dande between 1988 and 2010
128
Figure 5.2
Complex patterns of the interrelated and reinforcing nature
of vulnerability factors in Dande
147
Figure 7.1
The ‘community’ aspect and social network formation in Dande
223
Figure 7.2
Livelihood trajectories across the three study villages mid-1990s
into the 2000s
230
LIST OF MAPS
Map 3.1
Selected study area
72
Map 3.2
Villages selected for in-depth focus
76
Map 5.1
Malaria stratification in Zimbabwe
145
9
LIST OF BOXES
Box 2.1
Analytical and methodological aspects of the resiliency perspective
43
Box 4.1
Different ethnic groups in Dande
101
Box 6.1
Indigenous techniques to deal with wildlife on crops and livestock
163
Box 6.2
Natural resource regulations
165
Box 6.3
Christian church role as told by respondents
169
Box 6.4
Contract farming in Dande
184
Box 7.1
Selected household cognitive perceptions
212
Box 7.2
The case of Nyambudzi Primary SDC
216
Box 8.1
Resiliency as well being and local sustainability
240
10
LIST OF PHOTOS
Photo 5.1
Wilted maize crop at the tasseling stage in an upland field
127
Photo 6.1
Typical two homes for one household in the area
159
Photo 6.2
Innovative agricultural techniques in the riverbanks
based on indigenous knowledge
162
Photo 6.3
Examples of intercropping in the area
162
Photo 6.4
Examples of edible wild plants in the area
164
Photo 6.5
Villagers waiting to receive Christian Care food packs
181
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ADB
African Development Bank
AFM
Apostolic Faith Mission
AGRITEX
Agricultural Technical and Extension Services
ARDA
Agricultural Rural Development Authority
AU
African Union
BC
Borehole Committee
CAMPFIRE
Communal Areas Management
Indigenous Resources
CIO
Central Intelligence Organisation
CIRAD
Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche
Agronomique pour le Développement
CPR
Common Property Resource
DA
District Administrator
DDF
District Development Fund
DRP
Drought Relief Programme
DVS
Department of Veterinary Services
EEC
European Economic Community
ESAP
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
EU
European Union
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
FHH
Female Headed Household
FTLRP
Fast Track Land Reform Programme
GoZ
Government of Zimbabwe
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
HCC
Health Centre Committee
HIV/AIDS
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome
ICRISAT
International Crops Research Institute for the SemiArid-Tropics
LGDA
Lower Guruve Development Association
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Programme
for
MDC
Movement for Democratic Change
MZRDP
Mid-Zambezi Rural Development Programme
NGO
Non-governmental organisation
NIE
New Institutional Economics
NTFP
Non Timber Forest Products
PAC
Problem Animal Control
PWMA
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
RDC
Rural District Council
ROSCA
Rotating Savings and Credit Association
RTTCP
Regional Tsetse
Programme
SADC
Southern African Development Community
SDC
School Development Committee
SSA
Sub-Saharan Africa
TCD
Tsetse Control Division
TILCOR
Tribal Development Corporation
UN
United Nations
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
VIDCO
Village Development Committee
WADCO
Ward Development Committee
ZANLA
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
ZANU PF
Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front)
ZAOGA
Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa
ZAPSO
Zimbabwe Aids Prevention Services Organization
ZIPRA
Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
13
and
Trypanosomiasis
Control
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
bandate
Sandy loam soils close to rivers
chenje
Edible wild fruit
chirwere cheminyatso
A tick-related disease affecting cattle
chisi
Local sacred resting day where everyone is not
supposed to work
derere renyenje
Edible wild vegetable
homwe dzavanasekuru
Literally, ‘the ancestral spirits’ pockets’; a term
referring to spirit mediums
hupenyu hwakanaka
Good life
hupenyu hwekutambudzika/kushushika A life of struggling
jambanja
Literally, a forceful act; popularly used to refer to the
fast track land reform
programme which was
characterised by violence
kapunganyunyu
Wild root used as a repellent against mosquitoes
katunguru
Edible wild fruit
kenya
Yellow maize-meal sourced by the government during
the 1991/92 drought
kufusha
The act of sun-drying food for future use
kumapeto kwenyika
An isolated and marginal area in the country
kumapurazi
Commercial farms
kumba
The ‘normal’ home in the villages
kushanda nesimba
Working hard
kushingirira
Tenacity
kutsaka
Home in upland fields
kutsva kwezvirimwa
Local lingua for the process undergone by sun-burnt
crop
lobola
Bride-price
madzishe
Chiefs (plural)
mahwindi
Touts at bus termini helping to load passengers’
luggage
mamunye/magomba
Destructive locusts in sorghum and maize fields
manhanga
Edible indigenous crop usually grown among other
crops (intercropping)
14
manyanya
Edible wild fruit
maricho
Local casual agricultural labour
maroro
Edible wild fruit
masabhuku
Village heads (plural)
masadunhu
Headmen (plural)
masau
Edible wild fruit
masvikiro
Another term for spirit mediums
matemba
Small dried fish
matohwe
Edible wild fruit
mawuyu
Edible wild fruit
mbeu yemudura
Seed preserved for future use
mhande
Edible wild grass
mhondoro
A lion believed to carry a spirit of the royal ancestors
minda yekugova
Riverbank fields
minda yekunze
Upland fields
mowa
Edible wild vegetable
muboora
Indigenous vegetable
muhurongwa
Indigenous wild tree
munyama wega wega
Continuing bad luck
munyemba
Sun-dried cow pea leaves usually for latter
consumption
musiga
Indigenous wild tree
musungusungu
Edible wild vegetable
mutapo
Shallow sandy clay soils mostly in upland fields
nhengeni
Edible wild fruit
nhunguru
Edible wild fruit
njuga
Literally, gambling; referring to taking chances in
planting the riverbank crop in this context
nyajena/machibuku
An indigenous sorghum crop variety
nyamatsatse
Star emerging from the east used to predict rainfalls
nyevhe
Edible wild vegetable
pfumvudza
Edible wild fruit
15
shapa
Loamy sand soils in the interfluves
tsubvu
Edible wild fruit
tsvanzva
Edible wild fruit
vadzimu
Ancestral spirits
vauyi
Immigrants
varidzi venzvimbo
Literally, ‘owners of the place’, a term used to refer to
ancestral spirits
16
ABSTRACT
Admire M. Nyamwanza, November 2012
The University of Manchester, PhD Development Policy and Management
Rural communities in Zimbabwe have experienced increased and reinforcing social, natural,
economic and political vulnerabilities over the years with far-reaching impacts on livelihoods.
Yet current livelihoods theory and inquiry has failed to keep pace in accounting for and
analysing the capacity of livelihoods to adequately respond to dynamics in such environments.
This study uses the case of a marginal rural community in the Mid-Zambezi Valley area of
Dande in northern Zimbabwe to evaluate a ‘resiliency perspective’. This comprises an
understanding of four main elements: people’s ability to anticipate and mitigate the effects of
adversity; their ability to thrive in a context of change and uncertainty; their capacity to nurture
social learning processes; and their ability to self-organise. The study generated four key
findings. Firstly, worsening socio-economic and nature-related vulnerability factors have
emanated from both the local and national levels. Secondly, these vulnerability factors emanate
from the interplay of variables that are both long-term (e.g. increasing drought cycles) and
short-term (e.g. deteriorating markets, rapid demographic changes resulting from migration).
Thirdly, local community practices, entities and processes are found to assume centrality in
responding to worsening vulnerabilities in the area – with individual household opportunities
constricting and formal state and non-state entities’ involvement in various livelihood activities
either weakening or stopping altogether. Lastly is the emergence of innovative accommodative
and negotiation processes among local and national players in livelihoods in the area with
respect to addressing some of the vulnerability changes occurring over the years. Following
these key findings, five major conclusions are drawn vis-à-vis taking livelihoods analysis
forward in the context of contemporary dynamic vulnerability changes as experienced in the
study area. Firstly is the need to undertake a holistic analysis of vulnerability factors, patterns
and trends in contemporary environments to be able to fully comprehend the nature and
development of current vulnerability dynamics and the full effects on livelihoods. Secondly is
the need to utilise scale dimensions that allow for the capturing of chains, networks, linkages
and flows in analysing livelihood and vulnerability dynamics in contemporary environments as
provided for in the resiliency perspective which implicitly advocates for the utilisation of
institutional and temporal scale dimensions in analysis. Thirdly is the need for livelihoods
inquiry to shift from static, deterministic, single-time frame analyses towards a more dynamic
approach to be able to understand and fully capture factors and processes behind the
opportunities and constraints for response to both the slow and fast variables of change
characterising contemporary vulnerability factors. Fourthly, there should be a shift from the too
prescriptive outlook of ideas around the ‘sustainability’ concept central in current livelihoods
thinking, towards a realigning of the concept with notions of social justice, place-based
dynamics and cultural diversity. This allows for the identification of locally-determined criteria
of sustainability and well being, hence making the concept more responsive to analysing and
understanding contemporary vulnerability dynamics. Lastly is the need to abandon linear
planning vis-à-vis designing development policies and practices in the context of contemporary
dynamic vulnerability changes towards engaging more with accommodative processes among
local and national actors in livelihoods to be able to adequately address vulnerability processes
occurring. Overall, the thesis brings a new resiliency lens into livelihoods analysis, which
defines a new frontier to livelihoods theory and research. It also provides evidence in support of
approaches to development policy and practice designs that call for the recognition of the
centrality of institutions relative to assets; and the attendant path-dependent, context specific
and cross-scale negotiation processes in livelihoods in general and in addressing contemporary
dynamic vulnerability changes in particular. The thesis also provides new empirical data,
comprehensive information and insights on livelihood and vulnerability dynamics in a marginal,
remote and relatively under-researched area of Zimbabwe.
17
DECLARATION
No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an application
for another degree or qualification for another degree or qualification of this or any other
university or other institute of learning.
Admire Mutsa Nyamwanza - November 2012
18
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
i.
The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis)
owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given the
University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for
administrative purposes.
ii.
Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, and whether in hard or electronic copy,
may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 (as
amended) and regulations issued under it, or, where appropriate, in accordance with
licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form
part of any such copies made.
iii.
The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual
property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the
thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in the
thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such
Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use
without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual
Property and/or Reproductions.
iv.
Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication, and
commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or
Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy
(See
http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/medialibraries/policies/intellectualproperty.pdf),
in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, the
University Library’s regulations
(See http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in the University’s
policy on presentation of Theses.
19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I give glory and honour to the Almighty Lord Jesus Christ, who turned my
dreams into reality. I remain a testimony of His grace and mercy.
Secondly, I would like to thank Robin and Jan Mills for funding my scholarship through their
generous contribution to the alumni fund culminating into the BWPI-Mills Fellowship, of which
I became a proud beneficiary. I will forever be grateful, and I am confident this work will
contribute significantly towards ideas in the realisation of their dream regarding poverty and
vulnerability reduction for people in underprivileged and marginal communities.
I am highly indebted to my supervisors, Professor David Hulme and Dr. Admos Chimhowu. I
was privileged to have such a wonderfully supportive team whose timely advice, insights,
kindness and assistance I will forever cherish. You were never out of reach; took time to come
down to Dande to give direction and support during the delicate fieldwork phase of my work;
always encouraging me when I was overwhelmed and confused; and remaining positive and
patient with me during the course of my work. You really gave me a uniquely rewarding and
rich learning experience.
I am also very grateful to Dr. Jeanette Manjengwa for the assistance, support and
encouragement during the whole fieldwork process in Zimbabwe; Dr. Emmanuel Manzungu
and the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Agricultural Engineering for logistical support
during my fieldwork; Dr. Dominica Chingarande for organising office-space for me during the
fieldwork period; and Krasposy Kujinga for the accommodation in Harare – you remain a true
friend and thank you.
A special thanks to my research assistant, Knowledge Mataya – for the enthusiasm, and for
making my work in Dande easier and enjoyable; as well as Mr Majaya (Mbire RDC CEO) and
ward 12 councillor Mr Chidongo for their integral role to my acceptance into the communities
in which I worked.
This PhD could not have materialised without the valuable co-operation of men and women in
Dande; especially villagers of Nyambudzi, Kapunzambiya and Bwazi communities. I thank
them for the generous offer of their precious time, warmth and willingness to share their
knowledge and experiences – you are such a wonderful people.
To Jayne Hindle, I say thanks for the special support. I will never forget when you decided to
take time off your busy schedule to pick me up at the airport on my very first day in
Manchester, and assisting me to settle down during those first days. Close buddies Badru
Bukenya and Marilyn Takawira – two great friends who helped me quickly get familiar with the
‘corners’ and adjust to the fast life in Manchester; as well as assisting with some of my data
analysis – I am so grateful.
Lastly, I thank all my family members for the encouragement throughout this arduous journey –
with special mention to Dominic and Mainini Eunice, your love and support is forever
cherished.
Dedicated to:
Mother Flora and my late father K.W.S Nyamwanza (R.I.P) – Asante Sana
20
CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
“It is not that just change is fast; it is getting faster and faster” Chambers and Conway, 1992
1.1. Overview
Though written two decades ago, the quoted statement by Robert Chambers and Gordon
Conway from their seminal paper on livelihoods (Sustainable rural livelihoods:
practical concepts for the 21st century) appears prophetic and more valid in today’s
world than it was at that time. Between then and now, the changes and related risks and
uncertainties in as far as livelihoods are concerned have assumed an even more rapid
pace1. As will be discussed in chapter four, in the case of Zimbabwe for instance,
worsening social, natural, political and economic challenges led to highly dynamic
vulnerability changes, and as Ellis (2006: 387) articulates, livelihoods in such
environments continue to deteriorate and “are becoming more rather than less prone to
collapse in the event of even minor disturbances in the rhythm of daily and seasonal
life”. In the context of such highly dynamic vulnerability environments, there appears to
be an academic community that has lagged behind, especially in so far as analysing
livelihoods and responses to challenges in these contexts is concerned. Whilst
approaches to analysing livelihoods and responses to vulnerability have evolved
considerably – from farming systems research, to famine and food security analyses,
and later sustainable rural livelihoods thinking – current dynamics appear to require
even more robust ideas in understanding responses to vulnerability within such contexts
as rural Zimbabwe. Dominating over the 1990s into the 2000s, sustainable livelihoods
thinking provided some of the widely used analytical and methodological tools for
understanding vulnerability, poverty and responding to crisis. As noted however, there
now appears to be a real need for new perspectives which are able to extend, expand
and/or enrich livelihoods approaches to be responsive to the highly dynamic and
uncertain contexts of the 21st century (cf. Scoones, 2009).
This thesis advances a resiliency perspective towards enriching livelihoods analysis, and
taking livelihoods inquiry forward in the context of current dynamics. In
operationalising this perspective, the thesis utilised the case of a marginal rural
community situated in the Mid-Zambezi Valley area of Dande in northern Zimbabwe.
As discussed in detail in chapters four and five, the selected case study community has
always experienced multiple livelihood vulnerabilities which include (but are not
1
The differentiation between ‘risk’ and ‘uncertainty’ as used in this work is highlighted in chapter two (see section
2.2).
21
limited to) droughts, population increase, wildlife and tsetse-fly as well as endemic
malaria. The situation in the area was, however, further compounded by developments
across Zimbabwe over the 1990s and 2000s. These developments include the
implementation of Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAPs) in the early
1990s (and their resultant economic and social effects)2; a debilitating 1991/92 drought
– the country’s worst in the 20th century (Marquette, 1997; Kinsey et al, 1998); a chaotic
and haphazard fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) in the early 2000s, leading to
loss of livelihood opportunities and population increase in the case study area;
hyperinflation reaching 500 billion percent by December 2008 (FAO/WFP Report,
2009); and a generally fragile state unable to develop and support basic markets,
infrastructure and social services across the country particularly in the 2000s. It is
within this exceptionally uncertain and dynamic vulnerability context that this thesis
operationalised the resiliency perspective and advances proposals from the findings
about revising and developing livelihoods inquiry.
1.2. Defining and justifying a resiliency perspective
A resiliency perspective is about understanding a system’s adaptive capacity and
resilience (cf. Folke et al, 2003; Olsson et al, 2004; Berkes, 2007)3. For livelihood
systems, the four pillars of this perspective relate to activities and processes allowing
for effectively (a) anticipating livelihood challenges and potential for surprises (b)
reducing the effects of present vulnerabilities (c) recovering from the effects of past and
present vulnerabilities and (d) thriving even in the context of a difficult livelihood
environment (cf. Manyena, 2006; Marschke and Berkes, 2006; Wilbanks, 2008;
Gwimbi, 2009). Other sub-components of the perspective as used in this thesis are fully
explored later in section 1.5, as well as in chapter two. The concepts resilience and
adaptive capacity, (which are at the centre of the resiliency perspective), have gained
currency in academic discourse particularly in the climate change field. Yet climate
change is only one of the many threats characterising the dynamic vulnerability contexts
in many developing country communities.
It is interesting to note that this thesis started as a study aimed at exploring responses to
pressures of climate change and variability in rural Zimbabwe. However, it soon
2
These effects included price increases for inputs and most goods and services due to the removal of subsidies;
compromised education and health care delivery systems due to a reduction in government expenditure; and massive
retrenchments.
3
The terms ‘resiliency’ and ‘resilience and adaptive capacity’ are therefore used interchangeably in the thesis as they
are taken to mean one and the same thing.
22
became evident from thorough literature reviews and discussions with supervisors and
colleagues that the effects of climate change and variability could not be separated from
other problems underlying the risks, livelihood uncertainties and vulnerability changes
witnessed in Zimbabwe in general and in rural Zimbabwe in particular in recent years.
This then led to the redesign of the thesis to focus on the more encompassing
understanding of livelihoods integrity in that context. It is through this refocusing and a
continuous engagement with the literature (particularly those analysing responses to
vulnerability in rural SSA communities at large), that I realised current livelihood
models and inquiries do not adequately address contemporary dynamic vulnerability
changes taking place in such contexts. I also realised that the concepts of resilience and
adaptive capacity, which were supposed to drive my initial analysis, could actually be
adapted to assist in ‘re-energising’ livelihoods analysis to capture such dynamic
vulnerability changes. The thesis therefore became a journey of mainly advancing the
utility of this resiliency perspective in understanding livelihoods in highly dynamic
vulnerability contexts. The perspective defines a new frontier of research in livelihoods,
located at the cusp of current academic debate particularly in climate change, and
practical action providing alternative insights and lessons on taking livelihoods inquiry
forward vis-à-vis understanding profound risk and uncertainty.
1.2.1. Main concepts and their linkages
The concepts resilience and adaptive capacity, as well as vulnerability and livelihoods
are central to this thesis and are fully explored in chapter two. They are briefly explored
here so as to allow a clear presentation of entry points used in operationalising the
resiliency perspective in the study. The concepts resilience, adaptive capacity and
vulnerability represent different but related manifestations of more general responses to
changes in the relationship between open and dynamic systems such as livelihood
systems, and their external environment (Gallopin, 2006). Resilience and adaptive
capacity have many a time been used together and scholars such as Folke and
colleagues (2003) view resilience as a precondition for adaptive capacity whilst others
like Walker et al (2002) consider adaptive capacity as an integral component of a
system’s ability to create and maintain resilience.
What is clear is that there is arguably a thin line dividing the definition and
conceptualization of these two terms. Some scholars (e.g. Adger, 2000; Glavovic et al,
2002; Robbards and Alessa, 2004) posit that adaptive capacity and resilience together
represent antonyms of vulnerability, implying that the less resilient a system is, the
23
lower is its adaptive capacity and the more vulnerable it becomes to changes and
disturbances and vice-versa. Others (like Maguire and Cartwright, 2008) argue that the
relationship between these concepts is much more complex, as vulnerability may be
better envisioned as only one component of a system determining its adaptive capacity
and resilience and/or vice-versa. They assert that a resilient system with high adaptive
capacity may not necessarily mean that it is not vulnerable, as a system may be resilient
and vulnerable at the same time being, for example, susceptible to floods, but having the
necessary and adequate strong institutional and resource mechanisms to respond to
those floods.
These academic debates show that there is an unclear but certainly strong relationship
between these concepts. For the purposes of this study, adaptive capacity is
conceptualized as a key component or aspect of resilience that reflects learning,
flexibility to experiment and adopt novel solutions and the development of long-term
responses to broad classes of challenges (after Walker et al, 2002). Resilience is defined
as a deliberate process comprising of a series of actions, characteristics and events that
augment the (adaptive) capacities of household and community livelihood systems
before, during and after stresses and shocks (after Manyena, 2006).
To obtain a complete analysis of any system’s resilience and adaptive capacity at any
given time, it is necessary to adequately understand that system’s vulnerability since
resilience concerns and responds to vulnerable conditions and processes that a system
faces. Following Chambers (1989: 1), vulnerability in this thesis is conceptualised as
“contingencies and stresses and means of coping with them” thus exhibiting both
external processes exerting pressure and strain on the system as well as internal
characteristics of the system (which is the system’s state/condition) enabling or
disabling it to respond to those pressures. Vulnerability therefore lies at the centre of
resiliency research as it manifests in the situations or processes that a system needs to be
resilient to as well as the condition of the system defining its capacity to respond.
As will be shown in chapter two, the concept of livelihoods has been elaborately
developed in sustainable livelihoods thinking, and whilst the thesis builds on this
thinking in taking livelihoods inquiry forward, I define livelihoods as the diverse ways
in which people make a living. Though seemingly simple, the definition implicitly
integrates both the opportunities and resources available to individuals or a group of
people as well as their interactions with and exposures to a range of beneficial or
24
harmful ecological, social, economic and/or political factors that may build or hinder
their capacities for achieving their goals and aspirations in life across time (cf. Hoon et
al, 1997).
1.3. Overall research aim
The overall aim of the thesis is to advance a resiliency analytical and methodological
perspective towards an invigoration of livelihoods analysis in light of dynamic and
reinforcing vulnerability changes in contemporary environments.
1.4. Specific research questions
The overall research aim was pursued through the operationalisation of the perspective
on a selected case study community in the Mid-Zambezi Valley area of Dande in
northern Zimbabwe. Four specific research questions seeking to understand livelihood
processes and vulnerability changes in the area from a resiliency perspective were
formulated. The study was designed to cover livelihood dynamics over 1990 to 20104.
This period was purposely selected as besides capturing major local dynamics in Dande,
it covers years in Zimbabwe’s history fully incorporating the evolution of multiple
covariant economic, natural, social and political vulnerabilities and livelihood
uncertainties gradually converging to create a situation akin to what Drimie (2004) calls
‘a web of entangled crises’. The four research questions pursued are as follows:

What have been the nature, patterns and trends of livelihood constraints in the case
study area and how have they shaped the vulnerability context over 1990 to 2010?

What response strategies have been implemented in addressing these constraints and
how effective have the strategies been over the years?

Which factors have influenced the establishment and implementation of resilient and
adaptive strategies over 1990 to 2010?

What are the major policy and practice lessons for response to dynamic vulnerability
changes in the study area and in similar environments?
1.5. Entry points to utilising a resiliency perspective in the thesis
As will be fully discussed in chapter two, a resiliency perspective leads to an emphasis
on particular aspects in livelihoods analysis. These include, inter alia, the capturing of
cross-scale dynamics; a long-term focus on livelihood processes; and a holistic
evaluation of constraints and their evolution over time. When applied to livelihoods,
4
As explained further in chapter two, a resiliency perspective requires that a relatively long time period be pursued in
understanding livelihood dynamics to be able to capture the nature, patterns, trends and full effects of changes.
25
resilience and adaptive capacity are also fundamentally metaphors (Norris et al, 2008),
which may best be explained and conceptualised through indicator and outcome
processes. The main entry point to utilising a resiliency perspective in this work
therefore proceeded from a search for a scalar angle that could adequately capture the
cross-scale interplay and linkages of the resiliency indicator and outcome processes as
well as the drivers of livelihood change across time. This led to a consideration of an
institutional and temporal scalar focus, which directed analysis towards uncovering
livelihood dynamics across different identified institutional scales in the case study area
over the 20 year period selected for study. In essence, scale is defined in this work as
the analytical dimension(s) used to examine, understand or study phenomena (cf.
Gibson et al, 2000), and it can be spatial (area scale), temporal (time scale), institutional
(relationship links and decision-making process scale), managerial (scale of plans),
jurisdictional (administrative scale) and knowledge (scale of validity truths) (after Thiel,
2008). This section therefore briefly looks at (a) the three indicator and two outcome
processes of resilience and adaptive capacity as used in the thesis and (b) the
institutional and temporal scalar focus of the study.
1.5.1. The three resiliency indicator and two outcome processes
The indicators of resilience and adaptive capacity are somewhat difficult to discern and
it is not possible to provide a list of ‘off-the-shelf’ indicators (Brooks and Adger, 2005)
since these vary from entity to entity even in the same locality. Carpenter et al (2005)
use the term ‘surrogates’ instead of indicators, thereby acknowledging that important
aspects of resilience and adaptive capacity in social systems such as livelihood systems
are not only context-specific but may also not be directly observable, and have to be
inferred indirectly. Surrogates are also forward-looking, rather than being measures only
of the current and/or past states and processes (Berkes and Seixas, 2005). Three
surrogates interacting across temporal and institutional scales as adapted from Folke et
al (2003) and Berkes (2007) were considered for this thesis and these include:
a) Ability to live with change and uncertainty: This involved inquiring about issues
regarding livelihood diversification in its broader conceptualisation, learning from
crisis, and building rapid feedback mechanisms for responding to various livelihood
constraints.
b) Nurturing of social learning processes: Social learning is mainly associated with
Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory, whose core constructs are observation
learning, imitation and modelling. In this thesis, this surrogate involved inquiring
26
about processes related to tapping into social memory, rectifying mistakes from past
experience, and enhancing useful livelihood strategies created during periods of
crisis.
c) Self-organization (versus lack of organization) – via individual agency, collective
networks and/or external institutions: This involved inquiring about issues regarding
the creation, presence and/or strengthening of effective local common resource
management systems, and locally beneficial cross-scale interactions (e.g. between
local and national development players) in relation to livelihood activities. In
seeking to explore locally beneficial cross-scale interactions in various livelihood
activities (including in common resources management) vis-à-vis dealing with acute
vulnerability changes, this surrogate strongly borrows from, and feeds into adaptive
management thinking (Holling, 1978; Walters, 1986) which describes flexible
policy making, recognition of the plurality of views, learning by judicious doing,
and iterative decision-making in the face of risk and uncertainty (cf. Swanson et al,
2009).
These surrogates should lead to the four resilience and adaptive capacity pillars
highlighted in section 1.2. The surrogates and the pillars together then form ‘layers of
resiliency’ leading to the two outcome processes of ‘well being’ and ‘local
sustainability’ in responding to ‘waves of change and uncertainty’ (see Figure 1.1). An
exploration of the outcome processes during the fieldwork helped in adequately
operationalising key resiliency aspects on the ground as meanings regarding these
outcome processes incorporated local notions of what could be directly equated to
resilience and adaptive capacity in the study community as explained below.
Well being: The term ‘well being’ is understood by rural people in many parts of the
world and it provides insights into people’s meanings of ‘a good life’, ‘happiness’, ‘life
satisfaction’ and/or ‘a bad life’ or ill being (cf. Narayan et al, 2000; Marschke and
Berkes, 2006; Brown and Westaway, 2011). Analysing this aspect as part of resiliency
outcome processes allowed for an exploration and understanding of locally and
culturally appropriate meanings for resilience and adaptive capacity within Dande
residents’ lifeworld. This was important as there are no Shona and Korekore (i.e.
dominant local language and dialect respectively) words or terms for resilience and/or
adaptive capacity. It was also helpful because what resilience and adaptive capacity may
look like and the aspects making up its processes have not been explored to any depth in
rural Zimbabwe.
27
Local sustainability: A dictionary meaning of the term ‘sustainable’ associates it with
positive actions and processes which are ‘long-lasting’, ‘continuous’, able to ‘keep up’
or ‘keep going’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2011), thereby also easily connecting it
with local lexicon in different communities around the world. ‘Sustainability’ is the
central term with respect to understanding response to vulnerability in conventional
livelihoods approaches as it describes livelihoods which are able to “respond to and
recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance (their) capabilities and assets
both now and in the future, without undermining the natural resource base” (Scoones,
1998: 5). Explicitly embracing as it does the integrity of both livelihoods and natural
resources ‘now and in the future’, this sustainability definition was viewed as
problematic for understanding resilience and adaptive capacity since contemporary
dynamic vulnerabilities and livelihood risks and uncertainties in most rural developing
country communities have almost always resulted in social and environmental
externalities. The prefix ‘local’ on the sustainability aspect vis-à-vis understanding
resiliency outcome processes is therefore important as it allows for an appreciation of
where local people balance meaning and trade-offs on the appropriate and useful mining
of their natural resource base, even when it would appear as undermining from an
outsider’s perspective thereby creating a balance in the analysis of responses to dynamic
vulnerabilities and ultimately resiliency in an area. Thinking around ‘local
sustainability’ advanced an alternative to ways in which ‘sustainability’ can be assessed,
which has been a weak element in much livelihoods analysis over the years (cf.
Scoones, 2009).
Figure 1.1. Resiliency indicator, pillar and outcome processes in analysis
Source: Author (from sources identified in the text)
28
1.5.2. The institutional and temporal scalar focus
The main question vis-à-vis scale in this thesis was, how might an adequate assessment
of livelihoods and livelihood opportunities and responses to dynamic vulnerability
changes emanating from local, national and/or even international processes but firmly
remaining focused on context be structured? (cf. Cash and Moser, 2000). The needs
underlying this question pointed to the explicit recognition of the assessment and
integration of past, present and future micro- and macro-level livelihood processes
(from the individual/household to the national/international levels) in order to make
meaningful contribution to livelihoods scholarship as well as to development policy and
practice in contexts characterised by multiple and reinforcing vulnerabilities. An
institutional and temporal scalar focus appeared best suited to address these concerns.
Focusing on institutional scale means phenomena are understood and examined on the
basis of functional relationships across different decision-making processes and entities.
Temporal scale has to do with tracing processes across time vis-à-vis rates, duration
and/or frequency of those processes (cf. Cash et al, 2006).
The adoption of an institutional and temporal scalar focus mainly emanated from three
distinct but related considerations. Firstly, as Agrawal and Clark (1999) articulate,
institutions remain the primary mechanisms available to mediate, soften, attenuate,
structure, mould, accentuate and facilitate livelihood actions and processes over time
whether change is radical, moderate or incremental. Secondly and as highlighted earlier,
focusing on institutional and temporal scalar dimensions allowed for the incorporation
of critical resilience and adaptive capacity aspects in a livelihoods study of this kind,
particularly aspects on cross-scale linkages between various units of study; non-linearity
(where system dynamics tend to vary non-linearly across scales); and a long-term focus
on livelihood dynamics (where history mattered and a retrospective approach in inquiry
needed to accompany circumspective and prospective insights). As contrasted with
focusing more on assets for instance – which has been de rigueur in most livelihoods
inquiries – this route facilitated greater attention to process rather than a static
description of a system at a single point in time (cf. Jones et al, 2010). Finally,
institutions are centrally placed in the adapted livelihoods framework used to organise
analysis in this thesis (see Figure 2.2). Though under-emphasised, the ‘institutions
component’ of most conventional livelihoods frameworks is actually the ‘nerve centre’
around which livelihood assets are accessed and distributed across the livelihood system
29
and therefore through which adequate responses to vulnerability and ultimately
resiliency should be primarily understood.
The institutional definition utilised in this thesis borrowed ideas from both New
Institutional Economics (NIE) (e.g. North, 1990; Ostrom, 1990) and from
anthropological and sociological perspectives (see Mehta et al, 1999). Rather than being
taken merely as rules and regulations as advanced by the NIE discourse therefore,
institutions were also viewed as what people ‘do’, ‘know’ and how they ‘behave’
(Mehta et al, 1999). Such a perspective permitted the capturing of cross-scale realities in
contemporary environments – where interrelationships and overlaps link various
institutional domains vis-à-vis livelihoods and vulnerability processes, refuting the idea
of a clear formal-informal divide. Institutions in this work therefore included
organizations; familial arrangements; rules of the game; compliance procedures; power
relations; moral and ethical behavioural norms; and symbolic meanings enabling and/or
constraining processes towards responses to various livelihood constraints. In essence,
and as highlighted before, units of analysis (e.g. households, villages, ward, extra-local
entities) were categorised into institutional scales (i.e. household scale, local community
scale and sub national scale) responding to vulnerability and vulnerability changes over
the years within a panarchical network. These institutional scales primarily reflect
different levels at which processes and decisions on the utilisation of capital, labour and
natural resources (central in understanding livelihood resilience and adaptive capacity)
among units of analysis in the study area happen (cf. North, 1990)5. For this reason, the
term ‘level’, where and whenever it appears in the thesis, is treated synonymously with
‘scale’.
Defining scales and units of analysis
Household scale: This comprised of the smallest units of analysis and the first
institutional scale in the study. It is the basic social and economic arena within which
symbolic elements, social activities and material resources important for responses to
livelihood constraints in the area are activated. The household was defined as a familial
arrangement comprising of individuals linked by kin or descent socially and/or
5
I, however, recognise that there are reasonable disagreements on the precise extent of or definition on the concept of
scale (e.g. the boundary of the ‘local’ and the ‘community’), and that there is rarely perfect congruence of, for
example, spatial and/or functional units of analysis identified at the same institutional scale (e.g. villages and ward in
this instance) or fine differentiations of processes happening across and/or emanating at different scales (e.g. at the
‘local community’ and the ‘sub national’) (cf. Clark, 1987; Sayer, 1991). As Cash and Moser (2000: 110) articulate,
“this variance is evidence of how scale is socially (and contextually) defined”, and it should be acknowledged that it
is a heuristic and its conceptualisation mutable and amenable to adaptation to suit a particular analysis or exercise.
30
economically co-operating but not bound by place or location (after Wilke and Rathje,
1982). Addressing the household as such essentially (a) provided a strong material and
social basis for the subsequent interpretation of livelihood opportunities for responding
to constraints within and outside familial arrangements in the area; (b) provided a
dynamic element to resilience and adaptive capacity analysis in the thesis by, for
example, reviewing how a household’s capacity to respond to livelihood constraints
may be discerned through the life-cycle of marriage, birth of children and the children
eventually leaving home to set up their own households (after Wheelock and Oughton,
1996), and (c) assisted in projecting the study community, i.e. villages and ward, as
heterogeneous and not as unified organic wholes and therefore being alert to various
social and economic differences within the area, important in understanding the various
factors influencing responses to vulnerability changes over the years.
Local community scale: This comprised of processes and structures at the ward and
village units selected for in-depth focus in the case study area, and they formed the
second institutional scale in analysis6. This scale therefore incorporated (a) a shared
geographical context and (b) shared socio-cultural, political and economic processes
such as shared local authorities (e.g. traditional authorities), general norms, values and
other aspects of cultural, economic, organizational and livelihood practices.
Sub national scale: This comprised of extra-local state and non-state entities originating
from the national level involved in local livelihoods in the Dande Communal Area in
one way or the other (e.g. agricultural input provision, physical infrastructural
development, natural resources management, human resources development and early
warning systems). It formed the third institutional scale in analysis.
1.6. Thesis outline
Following this introductory chapter, the thesis is organized around eight chapters as
follows:
Chapter Two provides an in-depth review of the main study concepts; the evolving
approaches to analysing livelihoods and vulnerability; and relevant literature around
factors influencing responses to vulnerability in rural sub-Saharan Africa at large over
the years. Besides thoroughly examining and outlining the utility of the major concepts
6
A ward in (rural) Zimbabwe is an administrative unit just above a village and below a district. It comprises of a
minimum of roughly 5 villages to a maximum of about 20 villages and is led by an elected ward councillor. On the
other hand, a village is the lowest administrative unit comprising of at least 15 households and led by a village-head.
As fully discussed in chapter 4; in Zimbabwe, governance structures are organised from the national, provincial,
district, ward to the village level.
31
in developing arguments in the thesis, the main intention of this chapter was to establish
the current state and direction of debate in livelihoods and vulnerability analysis, and to
clearly outline how the resiliency perspective could carry livelihoods inquiry forward in
light of gaps and weaknesses in literature vis-à-vis examining livelihoods in contexts of
reinforcing and dynamic vulnerability changes.
Chapter Three presents the methodology. It explores the philosophical dimensions of
the thesis; justifies the case study approach selected in operationalising the resiliency
perspective; and outlines the predominantly qualitative techniques, and a small-scale
quantitative survey used to gather data, as well as how the data was analysed. The
research timing and timeline; challenges encountered during the fieldwork; and ethical
issues are also presented.
Chapter Four describes the study context. It provides a brief outline of key national
historical, economic, political and social developments in Zimbabwe covering the
selected study period, and a detailed historical, socio-economic, political and ecological
profile of Dande Communal Area and the Mid-Zambezi Valley. The intention is to
justify the selection of both the wider Zimbabwe and the local Dande (and MidZambezi Valley) contexts in operationalising the resiliency perspective. The chapter
reveals both national and local contexts characterised by dynamic vulnerability changes
and profound livelihood risks and uncertainties over the years, enabling a clearer
engagement with and presentation of theoretical and empirical discussions in the
following chapters.
Chapter Five commences the empirical analysis of livelihood and vulnerability trends in
the study community. The chapter discusses sources of livelihoods in the area and their
patterns over the years. It also identifies the specific idiosyncratic and covariant
livelihood constraints over 1990 to 2010; the interlocking nature of these vulnerabilities;
and the resultant negative exposure conditions for livelihoods in the area. The chapter
sets the scene for a detailed resiliency inquiry in following chapters. Stresses and shocks
in the area are examined from a resiliency perspective, which presents a refreshing
dimension in livelihoods analysis by undertaking a holistic evaluation of vulnerability,
thereby enabling a clear understanding of the nature, patterns and trends of changes in
the area and the full effects on livelihoods.
Chapter Six explores adaptive strategies in response to the various vulnerabilities and
changes in the area identified in chapter five. These adaptive strategies are traced within
32
the three institutional scales of the household, the local community and the sub national.
The chapter examines the dynamic interplay between effective and ineffective strategies
through the analysis of institutional processes and entities positively contributing to
resilience and adaptive capacity and those succumbing in a context of dynamic changes.
What comes out of this analysis are the deepened insights of institutional and temporal
scalar dimensions as advanced within the resiliency perspective in this work vis-à-vis
analysing and understanding the capacity of livelihoods to respond to dynamic
vulnerabilities and changes.
Chapter Seven explores the specific factors determining resilient and adaptive
strategies, and hence resiliency in the area. Analysis in this chapter follows up on
discussions in chapter six and the aim is to make in-depth assessments of when and how
capacities to respond to dynamic vulnerability changes are gained and/or lost. The
process-oriented analytical focus within the resiliency perspective enabled clear insights
into trajectories undertaken by different households in the context of vulnerability
dynamics over 1990 to 2010. It also brought to the fore the centrality of various longterm factors in the configuration of the capacity of people to respond to changes at the
community level. This chapter therefore reveals the utility of engaging more with
understanding long-term processes as advocated for in resiliency analysis, as opposed to
examining states or conditions in single time-frame analyses.
Chapter Eight provides the summary as well as analytical and policy conclusions of the
study. The chapter revisits key findings and major conclusions emanating from the four
research questions pursued, and summarises how each of the findings contributes in
taking the analysis of livelihoods forward in the context of reinforcing and dynamic
vulnerability changes. Reflections on the resiliency perspective advanced in the thesis;
methodology; the study’s contribution to knowledge; and possible areas of future
research are also outlined.
33
CHAPTER TWO. LIVELIHOODS INQUIRY IN RURAL SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICAN CONTEXTS – WHERE FROM AND WHERE TO?
2.1. Introduction
This chapter starts with a critical examination of the concepts of vulnerability, resilience
and adaptive capacity. Understanding these concepts was crucial in building a platform
for their coherent and rigorous application and, most importantly, for establishing the
utility of the resilience and adaptive capacity concepts in analysing livelihoods in
dynamic vulnerability contexts. Secondly, the chapter traces evolving thinking in the
analysis of livelihoods and vulnerability in rural SSA – from farming systems research
in the 1960s and 1970s, to famine and food security analyses in the 1980s, and
sustainable livelihoods approaches in the 1990s and 2000s. It then discusses how the
resiliency perspective seeks to take livelihoods inquiry forward in the context of
dynamic vulnerability changes, in light of gaps and limitations in current livelihoods
thinking. Lastly, the chapter examines specific livelihood factors important in
understanding responses to vulnerability in different rural sub-Saharan African
communities over time as emanating from various studies. This was important for
relating thesis findings and discussions to the work of other scholars.
2.2. Vulnerability
The origin of the word vulnerability lies in the Latin terms vulnus meaning ‘wound’,
and vulnerare, meaning ‘to wound’ (Kelly and Adger, 2000: 328). The concept of
vulnerability thus begins with the notions of risk and (related) uncertainty, where, in this
instance, risk is taken to refer to the known probability distribution, characteristics and
nature of hazardous events which may be natural or man-made; whilst uncertainty is
taken to correspond to the unpredictable and unknown probability distribution of events
and their outcomes (cf. Knight, 1921; Gough, 1988; Zinn, 2008)7. In essence, a risk may
either be a stress or a shock and for livelihood systems, stresses and shocks may be
categorised into natural risks (e.g. floods; droughts), social risks (emanating from such
factors as demographic changes and health challenges), political risks (e.g. governance
failures, political conflict) and economic risks (e.g. unemployment, inflation,
deterioration of input, output and/or labour markets). From characterising the actual risk
7
This treatment of vulnerability in this work departs from the conflation of ‘risk’ and ‘uncertainty’ evident, for
example, in much of risk and disaster management literature (e.g. Amendola, 2004; Comfort, 2005; Compton et al,
2009) since the rate and intensity of the various livelihood challenges and constraints experienced in both the wider
Zimbabwe and the particular Dande case study contexts within the reference study period were largely unprecedented
and generated much unknown probability distribution of the outcomes of events.
34
itself, vulnerability proceeds by looking at the options and capacity of managing the risk
and related uncertainty (Heitzmann et al, 2001). This characterization fits in with
Chambers’ (1989) previously noted definition of the concept, referred to as
“contingencies and stress and means of coping with them”.
The implication then is that vulnerability is janus-faced, as there should be recognition
of an external side of risk or ‘external vulnerability’ (which is the risk itself and the
uncertainty that it generates) to which a system is exposed, as well as the internal side or
‘internal vulnerability’ “which reflects defencelessness, insecurity and a lack of means
to cope with and/or adapt to damaging loss” (Chambers, 1989: 1). Risks and
uncertainties can either be idiosyncratic (affecting and experienced in one household
and unrelated to other households due to factors such as illness, death of a key
household member or crop failure) or they may be covariant (affecting many
households in the same locality and caused by such factors as financial crises and
natural disasters) (Bhattamishra and Barrett, 2008). It should, however, be noted that
there is always an idiosyncratic component to risks and uncertainties, even covariant
ones, as households differ in their exposure, sensitivity and capacity to respond to these
dynamics.
Four broad approaches to the analysis of vulnerability namely the risk hazard approach;
the political economy approach; the coupled vulnerability approach; and the poverty
perspective, as discussed below, provided insights on the conceptualization of the term
in as far as this work is concerned.
2.2.1. Risk hazard approach
The departure point of analysis in this approach is the natural or biophysical threat an
entity is exposed to. The negative outcomes generated by these biophysical threats
become the equivalence of vulnerability. It also seeks to understand the ‘dose-response’
or sensitivity of the entity exposed (Turner et al, 2003). This approach, however, fails to
analyse or investigate how the system in question amplifies or counters the impacts of
the threat as well as the role of institutions and social structure in shaping differential
exposure and consequences (Blaikie et al, 1994).
2.2.2. Political economy approach
This approach is rooted in neo-Marxist and structuralist thought, and it seeks to analyse
underlying factors as to why certain groups of people are more vulnerable to risk and
uncertainty than others (Turner et al, 2003). It does this by examining cultural, socio35
political and economic processes causing social differentiations between and among
groups. Besides exploring differential exposures and impacts, this approach also
analyses differential capacities to recover from past impacts and/or to cope and adapt to
present and future threats (Eakin and Luers, 2006). Vulnerability in this case is therefore
conceptualised from a broad perspective where it is seen more as a dynamic state or
condition of being rather than as an outcome of some external hazard. Determining the
nature of this state of being are access to and distribution of resources, choice and
opportunity control as well as historical patterns of social domination and
marginalization. Though the contributions of this approach are substantial, analyses
using this framework have tended to produce generic descriptions of inequalities in
resource distribution and opportunity without really demonstrating ties to differential
susceptibility to harm (Eakin and Luers, 2006).
2.2.3. The coupled vulnerability approach
This approach emanates from the work of Turner and colleagues (2003), who argue for
a broader conceptualisation of vulnerability. They note that vulnerability should proceed
from recognition of the coupled human-environmental nature of livelihood systems as
well as the inclusion of the aspects of exposure, sensitivity and response coping- and/or
adaptive- capacity as central components of vulnerability analysis. The coupled
vulnerability approach also advocates for the consideration of the nesting of scales and
scalar dynamics in vulnerability analysis (with regards to time, space and units of
analysis), as well as ‘place-based’ approaches in understanding vulnerability (ibid).
Though this approach provides powerful insights to vulnerability analysis, questions
remain on whether the distinction between the drivers and consequences of vulnerability
is clearly laid out in the approach (Birkmann, 2006).
2.2.4. Poverty perspective
The concept of poverty has featured extensively in most literature analysing
vulnerability (e.g. Heitzmann et al, 2002; World Development Report, 2001/02; Hulme
et al, 2001; Chambers, 1989). Poverty has generally been characterised as the lack of
opportunity for people to meet economic, social and other standards of ‘well-being’ as
manifesting in the (lack of) capacity to earn (enough) income and meet material needs,
speak up for oneself and possess rights, maintain health and a basic education as well as
maintain a sense of social and cultural affiliation (OECD, 2001; Eriksen and O’Brien,
2007). The arguments linking poverty to vulnerability emanate from the fact that one
36
facet of vulnerability (internal vulnerability), is determined by (lack of) assets, choice
and opportunities within a particular system.
Socio-economic marginalization and powerlessness (including difficulties in organizing
and bargaining, lack of influence and independence) represent important aspects of
poverty and are also processes that generate vulnerability (Eriksen and O’Brien, 2007).
Ellis (2000) also points out that the most vulnerable systems (or households in the
context of his argument), are those that are both highly prone to adverse external events
and lacking in assets or social support systems that could carry them through periods of
adversity. There is therefore a strong nexus between vulnerability and poverty though
the two are not synonymous. As Coetzee and Nomdo (2002) write, people in vulnerable
conditions may not necessarily be poor, whilst amongst the poor there may be varying
levels and patterns of vulnerability depending on the multitude of dynamic processes
through which individuals and households respond to stresses and shocks. Though
rising poverty is certainly a contributing factor to increased vulnerability, poor people
may also not be vulnerable if they live in relatively stable contexts with good
infrastructure, communications and support systems (Drimie and Zyl, 2005).
2.2.5. Towards an integrated approach to vulnerability analysis
The different approaches discussed show the various angles from which vulnerability
can be conceptualised but it is useful to identify points of strength, convergence and
complementarity in these frameworks so as to create an integrated and robust approach
to the analysis of vulnerability in this study. Important aspects coming out of these
approaches are that vulnerability is:
 Multifaceted and results from multiple causes.
 Dynamic and context-specific.
 Best understood together with the concepts of exposure (with respect to the degree,
duration and extent to which a system is in contact with or subject to risks and
related uncertainties); sensitivity in absorbing impacts of those risks and
uncertainties without suffering long-term harm or other significant state change; and
coping and adapting8 (being able to adequately respond, which is at the core of this
thesis).
8
The definitions and distinctions between coping and adapting are fully explored in detail in section 2.5.2.
37

Also best understood by capturing the nesting of scales and change processes that
takes place, for example, from the household to the community and the national
levels.
2.3. Resilience
The definition of the concept of resilience may be traced to the Latin word resilio which
means ‘to jump back’ (Manyena, 2006: 433). In scholarly discourses, some have posited
that it originated from physics and engineering where it was used to capture the ability
of materials to bounce back after shocks and resume their original condition (Mohaupt,
2008). Others argue that the study of resilience evolved from psychology and psychiatry
in the 1940s where the interest was on analysing risks and negative effects of adverse
life events (such as divorce and war) on children (Manyena, 2006). Walker and
colleagues (2002) have argued that the term resilience has its roots in ecological
research where Holling (1973) in his seminal paper (Resilience and Stability of
Ecological Systems) sought to distinguish between an ecological system that persists in
a state of equilibrium or stability, and how dynamic systems behave when they are
stressed and move from this equilibrium. For the purposes of this study, it would be
helpful to highlight two schools of thought (i.e. engineering and ecological resilience)
as developed by Holling (1996) in his analysis of resilience in ecological literature
where the concept has been elaborately developed, then derive points of direction in
applying the concept to livelihoods analysis.
2.3.1. Resilience theory – engineering versus ecological resilience
The main point around the difference between engineering resilience and ecological
resilience is the emphasis on different aspects of stability – where stability is
characterized as persistence of a system near or close to an equilibrium state, thus
drawing attention to the distinction between efficiency and persistence, constancy and
change, and predictability and unpredictability (Gunderson, 2000).
Engineering resilience
The focus on engineering resilience is on efficiency, control and predictability. This
school of thought is consistent with the time required for a system to return to an
equilibrium or steady state following a perturbation or disturbance (Gunderson, 2000).
Resilience in this case is therefore measured by resistance to disturbances – how far the
system moves from an equilibrium and the speed of return to that equilibrium state. For
engineering resilience, the motive is to design systems with a single operating objective
38
which accommodates the engineer’s goal to develop optimal designs. As Holling (1996:
34) posits, there is an implicit assumption of global stability within engineering
resilience and that only one equilibrium steady state exists, “or if other operating states
exist, they should be avoided by applying safeguards”. This conceptualization of
resilience is thus common in such disciplines as physics, control system design and
material engineering.
Ecological resilience
Unlike engineering resilience, ecological resilience presumes the existence of multiple
stability domains and the tolerance of the system to perturbations that facilitates
transitions among stable states (Gunderson, 2000). This line of thinking focuses on
persistence, adaptiveness, variability and unpredictability and it emphasises conditions
far from any equilibrium steady state, “where instabilities can flip a system into another
regime of behaviours or stability domain” (Gunderson and Holling, 2002: 426).
Ecological resilience therefore relates to the ‘width’ or limit of a stability domain and it
is measured mainly by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the
system changes its structure by changing the variables and processes that control
behaviour (Gunderson, 2000). In its current state, ecological resilience theory is an
expanding body of ideas that attempts to provide explanation for the role of change in
adaptive systems, particularly the kinds of change that are transforming (Redman and
Kinzig, 2003). It aims to understand three fundamental themes which include resilience
and adaptive change from one state to another in systems with multiple stable states;
cross-scale interactions (panarchy); and lastly reorganization and renewal after
perturbations and disturbances using the heuristic models/metaphors of adaptive cycles,
linked across spatial and temporal scales (Allison and Hobbs, 2004).
2.4. Adaptive capacity
The concept adaptive capacity has gained prominence in current debates as it has been
widely used in the climate change field, where it denotes “the ability of a system to
adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate
potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities or to cope with consequences”
(IPCC, 2001: 6). The concept, however, has its roots in biology where it is used to mean
ability by species or organisms to become adapted (or to be able to live and reproduce)
to a certain range of environmental contingencies (Gallopin, 2006). In social and
39
ecological spheres, the term has been defined in different but related ways, raising more
or less similar points as shown in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1. Definitions of adaptive capacity
Moser (2008)
It more often refers to the ability to make various changes, sometimes deep and
structural, to help systems better align to long-term changes in their social and
environmental spheres.
Nelson et al
(2007)
It is a way to describe the precondition necessary for a system to be able to adapt to
disturbances and it is represented by the set of available resources and the ability of
a system to respond to disturbances including the capacity to design and implement
effective adaptation strategies.
Gallopin (2006)
It is the capacity of any human system from the individual to humankind to increase
(or at least maintain) the quality of life of its individual members in a given
environment or range of environments
Adger and
Vincent (2005)
It is a vector of resources and assets that represent the asset base from which
adaptation actions can be made
UN/ISDR(2004)
It is the combination of all the strengths and resources available within an entity
(household, community, society) that can reduce the level of risk (or the effects of a
disaster).
Luers et al (2003)
It is the extent to which a system can modify its circumstances to move to a less
vulnerable condition
Walker et al
(2002)
It is an aspect of resilience that reflects learning, flexibility to experiment and adopt
novel solutions and development of generalized responses to broad classes of
challenges
From these definitions, adaptive capacity may be conceptualised as the ability of a given
system to manage resilience in responding to conditions of vulnerability and it is treated
as an essential component of resilience in this work (as highlighted in chapter one). The
adaptive capacity concept emphasises focus on a system’s long-term response strategies
against vulnerability more than on short-term coping actions; as well as the contextual
nature of resiliency, as the concept continuously draws focus towards a system’s
personalised capabilities, resources and environments (as shown in Table 2.1). To the
extent that it represents the ability of a given system to better manage or adjust to some
changing condition, as well as being broadly a function of resources or assets inherent
in and accessible to a particular system; a resilient system should have high adaptive
capacity. A consequence of a loss of adaptive capacity and therefore resilience is loss of
opportunity, constrained options during periods of reorganization and renewal and an
inability of the system to recover from stresses and shocks (Folke et al, 2003). An effect
of this state of affairs would be for the system to emerge from periods of stresses and
40
shocks along less desirable trajectories, which in livelihood systems may be reflected,
for example, in increased poverty, degradation of the natural resource-base and social
dislocation.
2.5. Resilience and adaptive capacity in livelihoods inquiry
The conceptualization of resilience and adaptive capacity, forming the resiliency
perspective for livelihoods inquiry in this thesis, borrows heavily from ecological
resilience. The rigidly linear and single equilibrium ideas as postulated within
engineering resilience thinking may rather be inapplicable to livelihood systems as there
might not be a single equilibrium state to return to in livelihood systems due to the
dynamic and continuously changing nature of economic demands, access to resources,
social relationships and even the stresses and shocks experienced. Livelihood systems
therefore operate far from any (single) equilibrium state just like ecosystems, whilst a
non-linear model of livelihood resiliency analysis helps explain how the elements that
constitute a livelihood system change over time (Hoon et al, 1997). Cross-scale
connectivity (panarchy) is also an essential component. This involves an analysis of the
transfer and flow of resources between and among different scales around the livelihood
system, disturbances arising externally and externally created opportunities (Abel et al,
2006).
Resilience and adaptive capacity in this work are therefore taken as layered concepts.
Firstly, as they reflect the panarchy thinking; that is, interplaying at different
institutional scales as discussed in chapter one, and secondly temporally, as they reflect
their dynamic nature – changing over time and reflecting the integrity of the livelihood
system and the strategies that are feasible “at particular junctions in history” (Glavovic
et al, 2002: 3). Despite these parallels, it should be noted that livelihood systems are
distinctly different from ecological systems given the information-processing
capabilities of human actors and their abilities to engage in purposeful action and
reflexive learning (Schluter and Pahl-Wostl, 2007).
2.5.1. Process versus Outcome
Addressing the question on whether resilience and adaptive capacity are treated as
process or outcome was crucial as it clarified the position from which the concepts were
applied and understood. A process approach focuses on activities, evolving
characteristics and/or qualities whilst outcome approaches are focused on the ‘endstate’, which in livelihoods are often welfare indicators. The resiliency perspective
41
advanced in this work is essentially process-oriented as it focused on evolving
livelihood activities and characteristics aimed at planning in anticipation of livelihood
risks and uncertainties, moderating or reducing the effects of livelihood vulnerabilities
as well as successful reorganization, recovery and thriving even after periods of
livelihood system failures. The resiliency surrogates and pillars highlighted in chapter
one clearly reveal this processual stance taken in the study. A process-oriented
perspective was adopted as it effectively captures the dynamic nature of livelihoods,
including the changing opportunities for adequate responses to dynamic vulnerabilities
over time.
From this process-oriented perspective, resilient livelihood systems with high adaptive
capacity are therefore able to reconfigure even after significant declines in crucial
functions with respect to such aspects as primary productivity, natural resources and
social relations during and after stresses and shocks. From this process-oriented stance
also, in a resilient livelihood system, disturbances and challenges have the potential to
create opportunity for doing new things, for innovation and for development (Adger,
2006). Viewed as such, the concepts of resilience and adaptive capacity offer a dynamic
lens with which to assess and analyse livelihoods (Marschke and Beckes, 2006), within
an all-hazards approach, and providing a forward looking perspective which helps
explore policy options for dealing with risk, livelihoods uncertainty and future change
and disturbances (Berkes, 2007).
2.5.2. Adaptive strategies or Coping strategies?
Clarification on the nature and types of livelihood strategies being examined was also
important, since livelihood systems respond to change and challenges through either
coping strategies or adaptive strategies (cf. Fabricius et al, 2007). Coping strategies
have been defined as an array of ‘ad hoc’ short-term strategies adopted in response to
crisis (Davies, 1993; Adams et al, 1998). Examples of coping strategies include
rationing consumption, changes in labour allocation (e.g. vis-à-vis household gender
division of labour) and borrowing food. On the other hand, adaptive strategies mainly
refer to proactive mechanisms aimed at promoting long-term well-being in the face of
crisis (Fabricius et al, 2007). Examples of adaptive strategies include changes in
productive activities, and modification of local rules, regulations and practices so as to
secure livelihoods (Berkes and Jolly, 2001). Table 2.2 provides some major
differentiations between coping strategies and adaptive strategies.
42
Table 2.2. Differences between coping strategies and adaptive strategies
Orientation
Coping strategies
Adaptive strategies
Aims
Survival
Survival and Thriving
Time-frame
Short-term, immediate
Long-term, evolving over generations
Response types
Reactive, opportunistic
Reactive and proactive
Learning
Limited, through individual experience
and innovation
Extensive,
through
knowledge
exchange, intergenerational transfer and
institutional development
Scale of focus
Single and small, (e.g. individual or
household)
Cross-scale, both small and large (e.g. at
the household, village, district, nation)
Adapted from Fabricius et al (2007)
As highlighted in chapter one, and as further discussed in this chapter, the processoriented, long-term and multi-scale focus of a resiliency perspective makes it incline
towards understanding adaptive strategies more than coping strategies. Analysis in this
work therefore revolved around understanding adaptive strategies in the case study area,
which helped operationalise the resiliency perspective in a clearer way. It is, however,
important to note that coping strategies and adaptive strategies may overlap across
temporal scale, as coping mechanisms may develop into adaptive strategies over time
(Berkes and Jolly, 2001)
2.5.3. Summarising analytical and methodological aspects in the resiliency
perspective
This sub-section condenses analytical and methodological aspects of the resiliency
perspective in livelihoods inquiry advanced in this thesis as raised in preceding
discussions. These aspects are summarised in Box 2.1.
Box 2.1. Analytical and methodological aspects of the resiliency perspective

An all-hazards approach in analysing vulnerability and vulnerability changes

Cross-scale examination of livelihood processes and activities

Process-oriented, long-term approach in understanding livelihoods and vulnerability dynamics

A non-linear understanding of livelihood processes and activities

A focus on adaptive rather than coping livelihood strategies

Place-based analyses
Source: Author (from sources identified in the text)
43
Looking at the aspects summarising the resiliency perspective in Box 2.1, it is important
to note that the goal of resiliency as advanced in this thesis, (both as an analytical tool in
livelihoods inquiry and as a plan of action in contexts of dynamic vulnerability
changes), revolves around two main factors. Firstly, to understand the various adaptive
strategies through which people may protect a subjective level of well being while
retaining some possibility of improvement, and secondly, to explore locally defined
sustainable solutions to the various reinforcing livelihood risks and the uncertainties that
these risks generate through understanding people’s ability to live with change, nurture
social learning processes and self-organise.
2.6. Evolving thinking – key strands and switches to understanding livelihoods and
vulnerability in rural sub-Saharan Africa
This section traces evolving thinking vis-à-vis understanding livelihoods and responses
to challenges in the context of vulnerability and vulnerability changes in rural SSA
environments over the years. The intention is to understand how ideas and approaches
have kept pace with a changing world; where we are at present; as well as gaps, and
areas of refinement with respect to moving livelihoods analysis forward using the
resiliency perspective in the context of dynamic vulnerability changes in contemporary
times. Three approaches – farming systems research; famine and food security analyses;
and sustainable livelihoods thinking – are identified as having shaped thinking around
livelihoods and response to challenges over the years; with sustainable livelihoods
thinking dominating ideas and inquiries in current decades. These three approaches are
briefly presented in the following discussions.
2.6.1. Farming systems research
Farming systems research dominated in the 1960s and the 1970s, and livelihoods in
rural SSA were seen as revolving around individual households – these being
conceptualised as ‘farming households’ and their pieces of plots as systems in their own
right comprising of the structural complexities and interrelationships between various
components of the smallholding. The core attributes of this approach included a focus
on efficiency, constancy and predictability as reflected in the advancement of ideas
around the utilization and application of appropriate farm-level technologies and
reducing the range of natural variation of the farming system (Darnhofer et al, 2008). As
an approach to understanding responses to vulnerability then, this perspective would
focus on the efficiency of a small farm-household as an agricultural enterprise, its
responsiveness to new technology and the removal of barriers to raising farm output and
44
incomes as a means of countering experienced and expected stresses and shocks.
ICRISAT village level studies (VLS), which began in India in 1975 and later extended
to Africa, were a clear example of the utilization of this approach. It soon became clear,
however, that farming systems research was too static and deterministic in its
orientation rather than recognizing that rural households operate in a heterogeneous and
changing environment (Norman, 2002). As Muller (1992) articulates, in emphasising
methodological individualism, farming systems thinking could not adequately capture
historical, social, economic and cultural action as well as power arrangements central to
vulnerability response processes in rural African communities. Ignoring social structure
and historical developments therefore proved to have limited application in rural Africa.
2.6.2. Famine and food security analyses
These emerged in the early 1980s with Amatya Sen’s (1981) seminal work on famine.
A recurrent theme in this literature (e.g. Longhurst, 1986; Cutler, 1986; Corbett, 1988;
Pyle and Gabbar, 1993) was that a predictable sequence of coping behaviour exists in
response to food insecurity and that adoption of later or ‘last resort’ strategies signals
livelihoods collapse (Adams et al, 1998). Pyle and Gabbar’s (1993) analysis of survival
and recovery strategies among Berti and Zaghawa migrants in Northern Darfur, for
example, notes three stages in a household’s coping strategies and response mechanisms
in the face of food insecurity. The first being conservation and insurance mechanisms
(where households pursue strategies which do not endanger future production and are
directed at conserving the assets they possess such as change in cropping and planting
practices), followed by a second stage of the depletion of productive resources
(disinvesting in future production and taking care of immediate concerns such as sale of
livestock and taking credit from merchants and moneylenders). Lastly is destitution
(where households starve, survive on food aid or beg).
This literature was and is helpful in understanding livelihoods in changing vulnerability
contexts9, however, it narrowly focused on the problems of famine and food insecurity,
paying scant attention to a variety of other crises households and communities in rural
Africa face. It also largely retained the view of rural African households as farming
enterprises despite evidence to the contrary emerging then of occupational multiplicity
9
The sequential analysis in understanding response to vulnerability pioneered in this work, for example, also became
evident in insightful work by scholars such as Devereux (1993) and Davies (1996) who in their analyses classified
livelihoods according to whether they are Accumulative (asset-enhancing), Adaptive (asset protecting and
vulnerability reducing), Coping (reversible asset-depleting) and Survivalist (non-reversible asset depleting) in the
face of pressures and challenges.
45
becoming more common and pronounced and livelihoods becoming more mobile and
delocalised (Rigg, 2005).
2.6.3. Sustainable livelihoods thinking
The 1990s into the 2000s witnessed the emergence and dominance of sustainable
livelihoods approaches which take an open-ended view of the combination of assets and
activities that turn out to constitute livelihoods and strategies for the rural family in
facing and dealing with vulnerability (Ellis and Biggs, 2001). The roots of the concept
‘sustainable livelihoods’ may be traced to the works of Sen’s (1981) classic focus on
entitlements10; Long’s (1984) actor-oriented perspective11; the World Commission on
Environment and Development Brudtland advisory panel report (WCED, 1987)12; and
more directly from Chambers and Conway’s (1992) seminal livelihoods paper giving
the basis for the current definition of ‘sustainable livelihoods’. According to sustainable
livelihoods thinking (e.g. Chambers and Conway, 1992; Scoones, 1998), a livelihood is
about assets, including both material and social resources, and activities for a means of
living; and it becomes sustainable when it can cope with, and recover from stresses and
shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets while not undermining the
natural resource base.
A sustainable livelihoods approach encompasses analysis on the context in which
people live (i.e. their socio-economic, technological, demographic, agro-ecological,
political context); their access to natural, human, social, physical and financial capitals
(and their ability to put these capitals to productive use); the institutions, policies and
organizations that determine people’s access to these assets and the returns they can
achieve; the priorities that people identify in confronting the problems that they face as
well as the different strategies they adopt in pursuit of these priorities (Ashley and
Carney, 1999). Beginning with Scoones’ (1998) ‘diagrammatic checklist’, these ideas
were used to formulate analytical frameworks by various scholars, such as Moser’s
(1998) asset vulnerability framework, Bebbington’s (1999) capitals and capabilities
framework and Ellis’ (2000) framework for micro-policy analysis of rural livelihoods.
Various organizations and development institutes alike (e.g. CARE, the UNDP, DFID,
10
This had to with legitimate and/or effective command over sets of utilities a person has for a living.
11
The actor-oriented perspective’s major focus was on the lived experiences and micro-world of the family and
community and it drew attention to related issues such as poverty, vulnerability and marginalization (de Haan and
Zoomers, 2005)
12
This report can be said to be the ‘midwife’ of the term ‘sustainability’ in livelihoods – where ‘sustainable
development’ was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”.
46
Oxfam-GB) also developed their own operational sustainable livelihoods frameworks
revolving around those same principles. It is, however, not the intention to analyse the
various sustainable livelihoods analytical and operational frameworks individually in
detail here – essentially because they only have different emphases rather than
fundamental conceptual differences (Chimhowu and Hulme, 2006).
Figure 2.1. Ideas in sustainable livelihoods thinking
Source: Scoones (1998)
Accompanying sustainable livelihoods literature was work on diversification (e.g.
Barret et al, 2001; Bryceson, 2000; Bryceson, 2002; Ellis, 2000; Francis, 2000; Rigg,
2005), emphasising the importance of an increasing mix and multiplicity of livelihood
activities in rural Africa not only with the aim of countering stresses and shocks
experienced (akin to income-smoothing and ex-post response strategies), but also in
strengthening resource bases and livelihood options in light of future stresses and
shocks (accumulative ex-ante anticipatory strategies)13. The significant epistemological
advance in these approaches in so far as understanding livelihoods and vulnerability in
rural SSA was concerned is that they departed from the view of rural dwellers as fulltime farmers, to viewing them as pursuing an array of livelihood options enabling them
to counter vulnerability changes, of which farming may only be one.
Sustainable livelihoods thinking (and diversification work) went on to form the basis of
much current livelihoods analysis with respect to understanding vulnerability in rural
SSA. The next sub-section examines the methodological and analytical strengths and
13
Identified multiple livelihood activities in diversification literature include off-farm wage work in agriculture, wage
work in non-farm activities (e.g. urban employment), rural non-farm self-employment (e.g. trading) and remittances
from urban areas and abroad.
47
weaknesses in sustainable livelihoods thinking vis-à-vis understanding dynamic
vulnerability changes in contemporary environments. This enabled a clear grasp on how
a resiliency perspective as advanced in this thesis sought to build on the merits as well
as refine the deficiencies in capturing the interplay and effects of, as well as response to
multiple and reinforcing vulnerabilities, and ultimately carrying livelihoods inquiry
forward.
Strengths and weaknesses in sustainable livelihoods thinking
Strengths and merits
In order to extend sustainable livelihoods thinking and make progress in analysing
dynamic vulnerability changes, it is useful to build on its concrete merits and learn from
the positives we know (Clark and Carney, 2008). The strengths and merits in
sustainable livelihoods thinking vis-à-vis analysing vulnerability have been widely
acknowledged. Firstly, the approach is people-centred, in that it actively seeks to
understand people’s lived realities, experiences and struggles. It therefore endeavours to
look at the real world, proceeding to assess and analyse issues from a local and
contextualised perspective and focusing on understanding complex, local realities.
Secondly, sustainable livelihoods thinking focuses on people’s capacities rather than
needs; and assets and strengths rather than weaknesses. This is important in so far as it
emphasises positive processes for succeeding in overcoming adversities and livelihood
uncertainties (Mohaupt, 2008).
Thirdly, the approach seeks to be holistic; as it
recognises multiple strategies, multiple actors and multiple outcomes in as far as
people’s livelihoods are concerned (Murray, 2001). In that case, it adequately captures
livelihood dynamics in as far as making a living in the context of dynamics in rural SSA
is concerned where, as already discussed, diversification and occupational multiplicity
is the norm.
Sustainable livelihoods frameworks have also projected clear components for analysis –
e.g. vulnerability context; assets; institutions; strategies; and outcomes – which act as a
checklist so much that some less obvious issues in inquiry are not overlooked in
investigation and analysis. This is one quality which enabled it to drive meaningful
livelihoods research (as opposed to other ideas presented earlier). As Clark and Carney
(2008: 5) posit, the sustainable livelihoods approach has therefore been most useful as
“an analytical and heuristic tool (providing) a way to order information and
understand...the links between different aspects of people’s livelihoods”.
48
Weaknesses and drawbacks
Sustainable livelihoods thinking has been criticised for ignoring and/or underemphasising some critical issues which scholars (such as Scoones, 2009) say if
incorporated, it could then be adequately re-energised in order to be fully responsive in
analysing new contexts and challenges. The drawbacks discussed here form the basis
for much of the contributions of the resiliency perspective with respect to taking
livelihoods inquiry forward in the context of dynamic vulnerability changes as advanced
in this thesis.
One of the most common criticisms of sustainable livelihoods thinking is that it does
not adequately address social and political processes, and therefore institutions of
exchange, extraction, exploitation and empowerment (Scoones, 2009). The approach
tends to down-play the role of structures, mediating processes, institutions and
organizations, rather focusing more on the household and household assets and
activities, yet these livelihood assets and activities are not neutral, but engender
processes of inclusion and exclusion (de Haan and Zoomers, 2005). Much emphasis
therefore has been on micro-level locale-specific perspectives, ‘black-boxing’ macrolevel structural processes in analysis. A common approach in most livelihoods inquiries
has been to take up household level multi-sited analyses, which has been important for
comparative purposes across local geographical scales, but less engaging in linking
local with national and global scales. In the context of contemporary vulnerability
dynamics and opportunities for response both emanating from micro- and macro-level
processes, livelihoods analyses may, however, need to focus more on recursive links
across institutional scales – linking macro conditions and structures and localised
actions and processes, to be able to capture these current dynamics. Basic questions on
history and political economy therefore matter in the context of current changes;
including inquiries on the nature of the evolving activities of the state, the influence of
private capital and terms of trade, and other wider structural forces’ influence on local
livelihoods (Scoones, 2009).
The term ‘sustainable’ at the heart of sustainable livelihoods thinking has also not been
adequately defined and qualified to suit realities in different contexts (cf. Murray, 2002;
Prowse, 2010). Questions that often come up are ‘sustainable’ for whom and to what?
These questions are all in the mould of Robert Chambers’ famous question: “whose
reality really counts?” (Chambers, 1995; 1997), and have become all the more crucial in
49
the context of dynamic vulnerability changes in contemporary environments. This is
important considering the many trade-offs that take place between various
environmental concerns and livelihood activities for survival and thriving in
increasingly difficult livelihood contexts especially in rural SSA. It is important to note
that sustainable livelihoods approaches were largely developed with relatively stable
contexts in mind, in which overcoming poverty was the primary objective (Longley and
Maxwell, 2003). How ‘sustainability’ is assessed especially in contexts of highly
dynamic vulnerabilities has therefore remained a weak element in sustainable
livelihoods thinking, and this is an area which requires qualification so as to adequately
capture contemporary dynamics.
A last major criticism of sustainable livelihoods thinking in this work is its focus on
‘outcomes’. As Plummer and Armitage (2007) articulate, this implies a single dynamic
equilibrium, and assumes that investments and interventions directed at building
‘sustainable’ livelihoods should converge upon specific stable idealised outcomes e.g.
more income, improved food security, increased well being and more ‘sustainable’ use
of the natural resource base. Dynamic vulnerability changes, reinforcing risks and the
related increasing livelihood uncertainties, however, make thinking around specific
idealised outcomes untenable. In contemporary environments characterised by such
dynamics, utilising ideas that embrace unpredictability of process and multiple
equilibria in analysis might be more insightful. Other concerns have also been raised
regarding sustainable livelihoods thinking’s under-emphasis of the vulnerability context
(e.g. Moser, 1998; Murray, 2000) as well as emphasis on short-term coping with
immediate shocks and stresses and less focusing on long-term dynamics (Scoones,
2009).
2.6.4. From sustainable livelihoods to resilient livelihoods thinking
From discussions in the previous section, it can be asserted that though lagging behind
in adequately capturing dynamics in changing vulnerability contexts, core ideas in
sustainable livelihoods thinking still remain relevant and central. As noted before, this
means the resiliency perspective as advanced in this work builds on the strengths of this
thinking, blending it with new ideas in taking livelihoods analysis forward – from
thinking about ‘sustainable’ livelihoods to ‘resilient’ livelihoods. Table 2.3 summarises
the major aspects vis-à-vis shifts from sustainable livelihoods to resilient livelihood
thinking as raised in various discussions in this work so far.
50
Table 2.3. Summarising main aspects on shifts from sustainable to resilient
livelihoods thinking
Sustainable livelihoods thinking focus
Resilient livelihoods thinking focus
Sustainability
Resilience and adaptive capacity
Assets
Institutions and assets
Linking household and geographical/spatial scales
Linking institutional and temporal scales
Coping and short-term dynamics
Both coping and adapting – however focusing
more on long-term adaptation dynamics
Outcome-oriented
Process-oriented
Source: Author
In keeping with blending resiliency aspects with useful ideas from sustainable
livelihoods thinking in understanding dynamics in changing vulnerability contexts, this
thesis adapted a sustainable livelihoods framework in the operationalisation of the
resiliency perspective. Ideas from Scoones’ (1998) ‘diagrammatic checklist’ and Ellis’
(2000) livelihoods framework were used in the adapted framework to guide analysis.
This is because whilst showing general interrelationships and connections, these
scholars’ presentations provide room for re-arranging ideas and infusing new ones as
they seem less rigidly formulated to show particular linear or contextual patterns.
Figure 2.2. Adapted livelihoods framework for resiliency
Adapted from Scoones (1998) & Ellis (2000)
51
To adequately place resiliency inquiry in the selected case study area in the context of
wider livelihoods analysis, it was necessary to explore factors influencing responses to
vulnerability in other rural SSA communities over the years as emanating from other
studies. This created a platform for critically engaging with findings from the study
area, as well as relating the findings with wider livelihoods policy and practice lessons
emanating from research elsewhere. The next section therefore focuses on
understanding these various factors.
2.7. Factors for understanding responses to vulnerability in rural SSA
communities
For analytical purposes, these factors are divided into household-level factors and
community-level factors – a distinction which only serves to enrich our understanding
of aspects around the occurrence and development of these factors and their effects;
which should, however, not blur their interaction within and across units and scales.
2.7.1. Household-level factors
These included household demographic structure (i.e. size, composition, education-level
of household members as well as their life-cycle stage of consumption and productive
capacity); household economic (or wealth) status; household social identity (as
determined by such aspects as ethnicity and the sex of household head); household
social networks (and its ability to expand these); household past and current crises; and
household access to formal social support.
Household demographic structure
This factor was mainly linked to the labour aspect in most analyses of responses to
vulnerability in rural SSA communities. The amount and quality of labour was found to
affect household levels of livelihood diversification and consequently food and income
flows in the home. Mortimore and Adams (2001), for example, discuss how a sharp
limit to labour – as defined by the number of economically productive in-situ adults in
the home, and the resources available for bringing in extra people from outside to help
particularly in agricultural activities – being a huge determinant factor for successful
adaptive strategies to drought in the Sahel particularly in the wake of the need to ‘work
land harder’ to ensure food security in the home. In their study on household responses
to multiple stresses in a rural semi-arid district of Sekhukhune in the Limpopo province
of South Africa, Quinn et al (2011) also found human capital being the dominant asset
valued by households, and labour being the input whose supply people appear to
52
exercise the greatest degree of control. Higher education levels in SSA have also
generally been seen to increase household members’ opportunities into well-paying
formal employment especially in urban centres and abroad, and by extension widening a
household’s opportunities for income diversification, particularly as it relates to
remittances in the home (cf. Westerhof and Smit, 2009).
Household economic or wealth status
A household’s economic or wealth status is primarily defined by its financial assets
which in most cases then enable the accumulation of and access to other assets, as well
as the capacity to diversify livelihoods. In most rural SSA communities, studies show
financial assets to be mainly in the form of livestock (especially cattle) and land. In
various Household Food Economy (HFE) assessments undertaken by Save the Children
(UK) in the semi-arid communities of Tanzania from 1997 to 2000 for example, a direct
relationship was observed between household wealth status and the numbers of cattle
held, and the size of farming land a household was able to cultivate. Poor families were
found generally having no cattle at all and able to cultivate between only 1 and 2 acres,
whilst better-off households had 25 cattle and above, and were able to cultivate between
6 to 8 acres of land each season (SCF/UK). Poor households therefore typically had
fewer reserves of food and fewer sources of cash or barter exchange to access or
improve other household assets (human, physical, natural and social) so as to widen
livelihood opportunities and strengthen their capacities to respond to challenges. Once a
drought strikes for example, the poor are therefore the most in need of food assistance
(ZIMVAC, 2010). As observed by Bird and Prowse (2009) in their study on household
responses to economic stresses and the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, the poor also
almost always adopt forms of adverse coping, which may support short term survival
while undermining long term adaptation. Such adverse coping include the liquidation of
crucial productive assets; reduction in consumption in ways that have potentially
irreversible welfare effects (e.g. avoiding essential medical expenditure and
withdrawing children from school); and the adoption of behaviour that undermines trust
and social standing (e.g. theft, begging or engagement in commercial sex work) (ibid).
Household social identity
Aspects around social identity, particularly with respect to gender and ethnicity
(including the migrant status of a household in areas that have experienced high inmigration flows), were also found to influence the capacity of households in different
53
rural SSA communities to adequately respond to livelihood stresses and shocks. Gender
and ethnicity in rural SSA have long been acknowledged to differentiate claims over
and access to critical livelihood resources, especially land (e.g. Clark, 1984; Moghadam,
1994; Gordon, 1996; Hameso, 2001)
Whilst women are a heterogeneous group in rural Africa14, the trend in various studies
was that they generally own fewer assets and have fewer opportunities to improve their
‘well-being’ due to institutional and historical patterns of patriarchy in most of these
communities. As Horrel and Krishnan (2006) found in their study on poverty and
productivity in rural Zimbabwe, this is apparent for de jure female headed households
(FHH) (i.e. those headed by widows, single or divorced women) – which were typically
poorer and had fewer household members than male headed households or de facto
FHH. Such de jure FHH households were found to be largely disadvantaged in terms of
access to land, credit, health care and extension services mainly because of the absence
of a male figure-head to negotiate these resources and services in the patriarchal and
male dominated set-up. As a result, they were found to have less crop diversification,
and concentrated more on the cultivation of traditional staples (e.g. maize, roundnuts
and groundnuts) than cash crops.
The ethnic factor in most cases was found to be mobilised when a certain ethnic group
or groups wanted to gain advantage over tangible and/or non tangible resources (goods
and services) in competitive situations. Given the complexity of the rural SSA
environment however, the ethnicity factor has to be understood situationally i.e. within
specific social, political, economic and spatial contexts. Whilst a defining element for
ethnic consciousness in all circumstances was the presence of two or more ethnic
groups in an area; depending on context, it became more pronounced in circumstances
in which different groups had different interests in the livelihood resource-base of a
defined area (e.g. pastoralists versus agriculturalists); had different skills with which to
exploit the resources; and held different claims over critical resources (e.g. state versus
ancestral based claims on land) (see Blench, 1997; Leach et al, 1999; Hussein et al,
1999; Moore, 2005; Shettima and Tar, 2008).
Livelihood stresses and shocks such as population increase in an area, political conflict
and even macro-economic challenges were also found to increase ethnic sentiments,
14
For example, as wives staying with their husbands; wives with absent (migrant) husbands; widows; single or
divorced; and in some cases as spirit mediums with authority.
54
especially as competition over resources intensifies. Egwu (1998), for example, posits
that as population increased in most semi-arid rural west African communities, specific
historical and ancestral claims to both grazing and cultivation lands became popular in
buttressing access and rights. In such cases, migrants come to be perceived as strangers;
only accessing land through secondary rights, with limited security of tenure (Tacoli,
2002). Belongingness to a particular ethnic group therefore becomes important for
household claims and rights to particular resources, especially land – which is important
in widening livelihood opportunities and strengthening a household’s position against
stresses and shocks.
Household ability to create and expand social networks
Creating and expanding local and external social networks was also seen to be an
important factor vis-à-vis ability to adequately respond to vulnerability in rural SSA. In
most literature, this has to do with reciprocating gifts, services and information between
and among neighbours, kin or friends as well as intermarriages among people of
different wealth and ethnic groupings and geographical locations. Studies on successful
household adaptation to climate variability and change in rural South African and
Mozambican communities (Osbahr et al, 2010; Osbahr et al, 2008), for example, found
highly networked households being able to easily access crucial information and advice
related to markets and improving their farming techniques; get emotional support and
receive cash loans and food from various sources during difficult times. It was also
found that it is because such households regularly invested in these networks that they
were able to make them part of their adaptive strategies (Osbahr et al, 2010). In central
Mali, Adams (1993) observed that a household’s ability to network within village-level
associations enabled its participation in non-market community exchange of food and
labour when food scarcity was widespread during and after the 1988 farming season. In
Tanzania’s semi-arid areas, where ethnicity has strong implications for people’s culture
and livelihoods, intermarriages have also been found to reduce the strength of some of
these cultural issues and extending the boundaries of sources of household assistance
during critical times (Morris et al, 2001). As Oduro (2009) argues however, social
networks may not provide complete insurance when shocks and/or stresses are
covariant, and if the household network is not geographically spread out.
55
Past and current household crises
These were found to influence a household’s capacity to respond to vulnerability in both
positive and negative ways. The frequency and intensity of livelihood challenges that a
household goes through were, for example, seen to drastically reduce the ability to
respond, and/or to work positively – where continuous exposure leads households to
accumulate lessons and experience to adequately respond over time. The positives
around past and current crises is best brought out in indigenous knowledge literature
and the immense role of this type of knowledge for people in responding to such
adverse situations as droughts and hunger periods in the home, floods, HIV/AIDS, and
climate change (see Taylor and Mckenzie, 1992; Walker and Warren, 1995; Stigter et
al, 2005; Dube and Sekhwela, 2008). The emphasis in all discussions on indigenous
knowledge revolve around the utility of (lessons leant from) past experiences to respond
to old and new challenges. The negatives of past and current crises have to do with the
severe depletion of household assets.
Household access to formal social support
This relates to access to state and non-state institutional support. In most of rural SSA,
this is in the form of cash and food transfers, credit, agricultural input supply, public
works employment, old-age pensions, free basic education and health care. Inquiry on
formal social support in this instance therefore concentrated on the more long-term
‘social protection’ measures rather than the short-term ‘social safety net’ initiatives, in
line with the resiliency focus of this work15. A study on livelihoods dynamics in rural
Botswana by Sallu and colleagues (2010), for example, found that access to government
cash and food transfers for households, especially those with elderly and disabled
members, was among the top three factors enabling households to move towards
increased ability to deal with livelihood challenges. A discussion of a cash transfer
scheme in Kalomo rural district of Zambia by Devereux (2006) also shows how targeted
households evidently enjoyed improved food consumption, asset protection and
investment, as well as improved nutrition and school attendance of children. Cross and
Luckin (1993) have also documented the role of social pensions among poor households
in rural South Africa in backing credit, renting capital equipment and buying necessary
15
Whilst social safety nets have been viewed as offering only welfarist consumption support to the poor and the
vulnerable mainly in times of livelihood shocks (e.g. in the form of food aid, supplementary feeding, HIV/AIDS
support), social protection include these safety nets programmes and a suite of other public measures (mentioned at
the beginning of this sub-section), meant to protect the vulnerable against both stresses and shocks and to enhance
their rights and social status in the long-term (Devereux, 2006; 2009).
56
inputs for agricultural activities. Samson (2009) also writes that recent data in rural
South Africa points to the fact that working-age adults in poor households that receive a
social pension are more likely to look for work and more likely to find employment than
comparable adults in households that do not receive the social pension. The stated cases
all show the utility of formal social support in enabling households to move towards
strengthened capacities in dealing with vulnerability.
Concerns on the role of formal social support in enabling households in rural SSA to
adequately tackle livelihood stresses and shocks in the long term have, however, also
been raised in some studies. Among these concerns are issues of dependency (on these
support measures by those accessing them), as well as underproduction in beneficiaries’
fields. Using examples from rural Malawi and Namibia, Devereux (2009), for instance,
discusses at length the controversies around public works. He notes that public works,
for example, aiming to achieve consumption smoothing – are many a time implemented
during the ‘food-gap’ period in the year in most communities – which, however, also
happens to be the middle of the farming season in most of rural SSA, thus requiring
hungry people to work for transfers at this time of the year which competes directly
with labour requirements in their own fields thereby risking setting up a vicious cycle of
dependence on public works employment, neglect of own farm and underproduction.
Notwithstanding these concerns, access to formal social support appears an important
factor vis-à-vis responding to vulnerability in rural SSA in most literature.
2.7.2. Community-level factors
These included geographical location; community demographic patterns; the nature of
common property management systems in an area; level of community social networks;
and the nature and extent of the activities of sub national entities in local livelihoods.
These factors are discussed in detail in the following sub-sections.
Geographical location
This factor was seen to influence responses to livelihood challenges in a number of
ways. The interrelated aspects of an area’s climate and topography; poverty levels;
physical isolation and distance to local, regional and/or national economic centres; and
infrastructural development – important for livelihoods in rural SSA contexts – were all
seen to define the geographical location factor vis-à-vis responses to challenges in many
studies.
57
In making the discussion of this factor clearer, analysis here follows the differentiation
provided by Bird et al (2010), between ‘first nature’ geographical characteristics,
comprising such aspects as climate, topography and physical isolation of an area; and
‘second-nature’ geographical characteristics, comprising levels of infrastructural
development and social services in an area. Beginning with ‘first nature’ characteristics,
the climate and topography of an area were seen to affect its agricultural potential, and
in turn impacting on one of the main sources of livelihoods, (agriculture), in most rural
SSA communities. Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions provide a classic example of
how different climate and topographic characteristics have provided different
opportunities for viable agriculture in different communities (see Table 2.4)16.
Table 2.4. Zimbabwe’s five agro-ecological regions
Natural region I: Rainfall over 1000mm per year. Land and temperatures suitable for
diversified and specialised farming
Natural region II: Rainfall moderately high, between 750 – 1000mm per year. Areas
suitable for intensive cropping and livestock production.
Natural region III: Rainfall between 650 – 800 mm per year (with mid-season dry spells).
Areas suitable for semi-intensive farming, livestock production and fodder crops.
Natural region IV: Rainfall between 450 – 650 mm per year. Areas prone to seasonal
droughts and suitable for semi-extensive farming – mostly livestock production and drought
resistant crops
Natural region V: Rainfalls below 450mm per year, and areas suitable for extensive farming;
mostly cattle production and game ranching
Source:Auret, 1990
In this case, natural regions IV and V – characterised by low rainfalls and poor soils –
have less conducive conditions for undertaking diversified and intensive crop
production activities than natural regions I to III.
The physical isolation of an area and its proximity to regional, national and/or local
economic centres were seen to affect livelihoods in so far as markets and market access
is concerned. Communities that are isolated and far from economic centres were found
to have poor access to wide and varied input, output and labour markets and therefore
fewer opportunities to diversify livelihoods (and incomes). Studies on spatial
determinants of poverty in rural Kenya (Okwi et al, 2007; Burke and Jayne, 2010), as
well as on farm households adoption of coping and adaptive strategies in rural Nigeria
(Oparinde and Hodge, 2011), all confirm this point as they found communities situated
far from the main road and local markets having limited livelihood options due to
difficulties in accessing markets, with travelling to markets pushing up people’s
16
Zimbabwe is divided into five agro-ecological regions (Box 2.1) based on different agricultural activities, soil
types, vegetation and varying rainfall averages and climatic conditions as shown.
58
transport and/or time costs. These studies also found the severely poor, as opposed to
the non-poor, as disproportionately likely to live in the physically isolated areas, far
from accessible roads and many a time with little access to education (particularly
higher education).
On ‘second nature’ characteristics, low levels of infrastructural development were, for
example, found to lead to partial integration of communities into fragmented markets,
inadequate access to public services and low returns on all forms of investment. Bird et
al (2010), for example, write on the ‘bad neighbourhood effect’ in areas with low
infrastructural development and markets meaning that, for instance, even if individuals
in those areas have entrepreneurial skill, the investment capital and the will to invest in
a business; the returns on their investment will not be much due to the unfavourable
‘second nature’ geographical characteristics. The ‘bad neighbourhood effect’ also
extends to inhibiting human capital development in the sense that even if children
receive technically good education in these areas, the absence of local and accessible
successful role models and good entry level employment opportunities will blight their
success and aspirations in life (ibid). In their research in semi-arid zones in south-central
Zimbabwe, Bird and Shepherd (2003) identify a strong link between poor and/or
declining levels of public and private infrastructural investment, high levels of
remoteness and high incidence of not only income poverty (i.e. headcount) but also of
chronic poverty (i.e. gap and duration).
Community demographic patterns
The main aspect that most studies in rural SSA have sought to understand vis-à-vis the
relationship between responses to livelihood challenges and community demographic
patterns is population increase. Effects of population increase on livelihood responses to
vulnerability in rural SSA were found to manifest in three areas: impacts on natural
resources management; expansion of agricultural land; and intensification of
agriculture. Two main opposing schools of thought – one neo-Malthusian (e.g.
Meadows et al, 1972; Scott, 1979) and the other related to the work of Ester Boserup
(1965) have informed the analysis of population increase and livelihoods in rural SSA.
The neo-Malthusian school views population increase as leading to irreversible
degradation and depletion of resources, reduced soil fertility and loss of biodiversity
through the increased cultivation of agriculturally marginal lands, the unsustainable use
of existing fields, and the weakening of local natural resource management institutions
59
as regulation compliance lessens due to increased competition for scarce resources.
Studies by Hansen and Reenberg (1998) on field expansion and changing land-use
patterns over 1956 to 1994 in selected rural communities in Burkina Faso, as well as by
Giannecchini and colleagues (2007) on the effects of the arrival of Mozambican
refugees in the rural South African communities of the Limpopo province in the 1980s,
are examples of those supporting the neo-Malthusian school. In both studies, population
increase led to an extension of cultivated areas, deforestation and a weakening of
village-level institutional control on shared natural resources.
Those advancing the Boserupian thesis point out that population increase has resulted in
positive livelihood trends in some rural SSA communities. They argue that population
increase in such cases has actually led people to innovate agricultural production and
mitigate resource degradation with the help of new land-use practices (Christiaensen
and Tollens, 1995). The Machakos study in rural Kenya (Tiffin et al, 1994) is one
popular case which has been used to support this standpoint. In this study covering
dynamics over the 1930 to 1990 period, it is suggested that a rising population in the
Machakos district actually facilitated more productive agriculture and exchange within
society through the uptake of new technology in agriculture intensification, as well as
improved livestock to diversify livelihoods. As Carswell (1997) posits, the Machakos
evidence advanced the neo-Boserupian idea that increased population density can
induce the necessary social and technical changes to bring about better living standards
and well being for people, provided there is a proper policy environment which
encourages trade, the spread of knowledge and the provision of security for
investments.
There is, however, also need to take into account issues of local micro-politics vis-à-vis
population dynamics in rural SSA communities beyond the Malthusian/Boserupian
debates presented. This involves recognising the mutual imbrication of the relations of
property and production between households, land tenure relations, local social
divisions and classifications with demographic changes in a given area. Focusing on
these issues would be enlightening in so far as they bring out different socio-political
factors feeding into population dynamics within an area enabling some households to
successfully adapt to vulnerability changes more than or at the expense of others (cf.
Shipton and Goheen, 1992; Pender, 1999; Peters, 2004). These differing views in the
analysis of population increase and livelihoods in rural SSA show that there are no
simple explanations between community demographic patterns and vulnerability in the
60
region. The important lesson therefore is that analysis should be based on place-based
specificities and conclusions should be adequately informed by related historical, socioeconomic and political developments within an area.
Level of community social networks
Social networks are a manifestation of the more popular concept of ‘social capital’, or
the ‘moral economy’17. This has to do with the levels of co-operation and interaction
people within a community are engaged in vis-à-vis their livelihood activities, locally
and beyond. Social networks have been explained under two main classifications. The
first is horizontal networks, alluding to networks of people of similar economic and/or
social status, further differentiated into ‘bonding’ ties (i.e. networks among people of
intimate social circles such as family, close friends and neighbours) and ‘bridging’ ties
(i.e. networks with more distant friends, associates and colleagues with no frequent
interactions) (Buchenrieder and Dufhues, 2006). The second is vertical networks,
alluding to networks of people of different economic and/or social status. These are also
referred to as ‘linking’ ties (mainly characterised by patronage as well as crossinstitutional interactions and activities). Social networks should ultimately predispose
people towards mutually beneficial information sharing, collective action and decisionmaking. In that sense, shared norms, practices, attitudes, beliefs, solidarity, community
livelihood group formation and membership all become essential aspects in assessing
the levels of community social networks (Uphoff, 2000; Grootaert et al, 2004).
Literature on social networks in rural SSA maintain that these networks are not a natural
given, but must be constructed and maintained through investment strategies or
conditions oriented towards the institutionalisation of the network ties (Narayan, 1997;
Grootaert and van Bastelaer, 2002; Osbahr et al, 2010). These investment strategies or
conditions include constant interaction, rituals, reciprocity and the ability to sanction
(Buchenrieder and Dufhues, 2006). Work by such scholars as Lave and Wenger (1991),
Wenger (2000) and Brint (2001) among others, has emphasised the examination of
aspects on different types of ‘communities’ (within an area) in adequately
understanding conditions for social network formation and institutionalisation in rural
SSA. They argue that geographical propinquity (i.e. simply living in the same area, e.g.
same ward or village), for example, creates a ‘community of place’, as it predisposes
17
‘Social networks’ rather than ‘social capital’ was chosen for use in this discussion (and in the whole thesis) due to
the ‘baggage’ that the latter concept brings in analysis (Chimhowu and Hulme, 2006), including the danger of it
becoming a ‘catch-all’ for the merits of social interaction without specifying the particular structures, social
relationships, attitudes or contexts that matter (Dekker, 2004).
61
people to particular common covariant problems (e.g. floods, wildlife, droughts)
especially in areas bedevilled by multiple vulnerabilities. This situation creates
‘necessity for interaction’ of people on an ongoing basis around dealing with these
common problems, and they call these compelling arenas of interaction ‘communities of
practice’. Within ‘communities of place’ are also found ‘communities of choice’, which
are less compelling and essentially elective arenas where people choose to engage in
responding to various livelihood challenges they face. There are also ‘communities of
perspective’ or faith-based arenas (branching from ‘communities of choice’) providing
further spheres around which people interact and constantly network towards solving
their livelihood challenges.
In a previous discussion on the related household-level factor of the ability to create and
expand social networks, it was shown how social networks in rural communities in such
countries as South Africa, Mozambique, Mali and Tanzania have been at the centre of
livelihoods knowledge and information sharing, livelihoods material and psychosocial
support as well as bridging divides between ethnic and societal groups. Localities with
strong social networks are therefore, ceteris paribus, more likely to be informed; adopt
innovations; have rapid feedback mechanisms against crises; and more able to ‘selforganise’ towards increased local sustainability and well-being for its members (cf.
Woodhouse, 2006). Table 2.5 gives examples of the various sources of social networks
(and their underlying principles) in different rural SSA communities from various
studies carried out in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and
Cameroon.
62
Table 2.5. Sources of social networks in rural SSA and their underlying principles
Sources of social community
networks
Underlying principles
Rotating savings and credit
associations (ROSCAs) (e.g.
Women’s clubs; Insurance cooperatives;
Business
development groups)

Burial societies







Community members form a group and agree on an amount for each member
to contribute to the group-savings on a regular basis
Cumulative savings are then rotated to each group member on a regular basis
Group may disband or start another cycle after everyone has had their turn
A special kind of ROSCA whereby group formation is spurred by a need to
insure against the unbudgeted expenses of death and funeral of a household
member
Financial contribution to the group in most communities is done monthly
In times of bereavement, a Society member is given financial and material
support from group-savings.
All Society members are also obliged to provide labour in helping out at the
funeral wake
Society members may also devote time to assist the bereaved member in their
fields after the funeral to cover for time lost during mourning and as a way of
providing emotional support after burial
Labour sharing schemes

Community members (especially at village level) co-operate during busy
farming periods by rotating working in each other’s fields (e.g. in weeding,
harvesting, threshing)
Community gardens and Grain
saving schemes

Community members contribute labour in a common field (nominally referred
to as the 'chief’s field’ in most communities), and the produce is stored by the
village-head or headman – to be donated to needy and extremely vulnerable
community members such as orphans, the aged and the disabled
Funeral ceremony support

Every community member (especially at village level) contributes cash, food
or utensils to be used at a fellow villager’s household in the case of
bereavement, as well as emotional support to the bereaved family and labour
at the funeral wake.
Contributions and attendance are voluntary, but, nonetheless, every able and
available community member is expected to contribute and to attend, so as to
ensure continuity of practice in the community

People living with HIV/AIDS
(PLWHA) support groups


Some require membership joining- and regular-fee payment, however, in other
communities groups benefit from government and NGO support
These are formed mainly to assist members infected and affected by
HIV/AIDS through the provision of counselling; participation in public
education; access to material support; access to home-care and participation in
income generating activities
Faith-based
organisations
(FBOs) (e.g. churches)

Provision of spiritual, psychosocial and material support to community
members – primarily organisation members – in times of livelihood
challenges.
Neighbours, relatives, friends
and patrons



Reciprocal gift and labour exchange
Financial and material lending arrangements
Adopting children in case of both parents or guardians’ demise
Community
committees

Co-management of community social services and shared natural and physical
resources

Non-monetary transactions in the community
Barter trade
resource
Sources: Madembo, 1997; Greene, 2000; Dhemba et al, 2002; Kasente et al, 2002; Foster, 2006
63
Nature of common property management systems in an area
The dominant definitions and theoretical framing of ‘common property’ in literature
have narrowly restricted the analysis of common property management systems to a
range of natural resources. Much focus in this area has therefore concentrated on an
analysis of management systems around such resources as water, wildlife, fisheries,
forests and rangelands (e.g. Jodha, 1986; Ostrom, 1990; Wade, 1992; Freudenberger et
al, 1997; Beck and Nesmith, 2001). For livelihoods in rural SSA (as elsewhere),
however, clearly common property in the sense of common interests linked to
community resources and services are considerably broader and (as shall be treated in
this thesis), they encompass not only natural resources but also shared community
physical resources such as roads, health centres, schools, dip-tanks and boreholes
important in responding to vulnerability and in general ‘well-being’. For clarity
purposes in analysis, however, these ‘commons’ were differentiated into ‘classical
commons’ – referring to natural resource commons as conceptualised in much common
property literature, and ‘other commons’ – referring to the physical/infrastructural
common property. In contexts of multiple and reinforcing vulnerabilities, ‘classical
commons’ are potentially subject to congestion, depletion and/or degradation, in the
same way that ‘other commons’ are potentially subject to neglect, dilapidation,
deterioration and collapse. The nature of common property management systems in
rural SSA communities were shown to have implications on institutional innovation in
dealing with vulnerability dynamics; conservation and quality maintenance in a
changing environment; ensuring access to the majority of community members; and the
compliance of users to resource rules.
Crucial elements of the classical commons literature provide valuable contributions
towards the analysis of the role of the nature of common property management systems
in responding to vulnerability in rural SSA. Feeny et al (1990) highlight four common
property management systems emphasised in classical commons literature which are:
a) open access (i.e. lack of clearly defined property rights)
b) communal property (i.e. held by a group of users)
c) private property (i.e. where rights are vested in individuals or corporations)
d) state or public property (where rights are vested in the government)
Scholarship on the management of the classical commons over the past decades has
mainly stemmed from the works of Hardin (1968) and Ostrom (1990). These scholars
64
laid out detailed arguments in support of private governance and collective governance
of the commons respectively. Whilst Hardin argued that open access and the
unrestricted demand for a finite common property resource leads to over-exploitation
requiring enclosure or privatisation, Ostrom argued for communal management as
guided by eight specific principles (see Appendix 6).
The standard analysis of efficient property management systems (following these two
traditions) then tended to place emphasis on singular entities. Whilst for Hardin the
solution lies in the individual or the state, the Ostrom tradition maintained an emphasis
on communal governance. Realisation of deficiencies around emphases on the theories
and practice of these strictly unitary management systems brought to the fore a third
strand in common property management discourse – Co-management, or what German
and Keeler (n.d) call ‘hybrid resource management regimes’ involving complementary
roles across two or more management systems. Co-management focuses on dynamic
social learning and active linkages between actors operating at multiple institutional
scales (see Table 2.6). Ideas forming the co-management strand essentially link directly
with the adaptive management tradition (highlighted in section 1.5.1), which
emphasises co-learning among different actors in resource management, collaboration
in resource governance, and innovative managerial perspectives (McLain and Lee,
1996; Lee, 1999).
Table 2.6. Aspects of Co-management
Characteristics
Pluralism and Linkages
Communication
Negotiation
Multiple
types
of
stakeholders
(e.g.
government,
traditional
leaders, resource users)
Development of shared
understanding
Decisions are reached
through dialogue (tend
towards consensus and/or
consent)
Shared
(experiments)
undertaken
Diversity
of
represented
Dialogue
consideration
appreciation
Equity and
promoted
efficiency
Modifications are made
from
an
ongoing
process of reflection
(reflexivity)
Diverse inputs present in
decision-making
Responses are made to
values and policies
from which routines
stem.
Multiple
types
of
information accepted via
multiple
systems
of
knowledge
(e.g.
traditional
ecological
knowledge)
Active questioning of
the governing norms
and protocol in which
values and policies are
embedded.
interests
and
builds
and
Transactive
making
decision-
Parameters
of concern
Multiple perspectives on
the problem domain
Perspectives exchanged
and
modified
via
discursive
communication
Connections
across
multiple scales (e.g. local
communal, sub-national)
Adapted from Plummer and Armitage, 2007
65
Social Learning
actions
are
These three main strands have therefore formed the basis of understanding common
property management in rural SSA. A main point emanating from the reviewed
literature, however, showed that what can be considered a successful management
system (vis-à-vis adequate responses to livelihood stresses and shocks) is tied to local
and wider historical, social and political factors within different communities. For
example, in their Sekhukhune rural district study in South Africa, Quinn et al (2011)
found that the tensions, conflicts and disagreements characterising natural resources
management systems in the area as the population grew was as a result of new post
apartheid local government structures being superimposed on traditional chieftaincy
authority structures resulting in uncomfortable overlapping jurisdictions, unclear lines
of authority and divided local loyalties and ultimately difficulties in enforcing natural
resource regulation compliance. Similarly, in their research on initiatives towards the
benefits of wildlife to communities living closer wildlife in Namibia, Shackleton et al
(2002) noticed that local people had historically been left out of decision-making
processes with respect to natural resources management and when they were later
incorporated, it was only in name, and only after they had forged close alliances with
NGOs over the years is when they became better informed on their rights and became
more knowledgeable of the constitution that guided local wildlife management
committees such that they were then able to challenge elitist and self-serving behaviour
within these committees.
The point therefore with regards to the examination of this factor is that there is need to
attend to specific histories, and local and wider contextual, cultural and political factors
in analysis. Only then might it be possible to know, in this case, when, why and how a
particular common property management system has (or has not) been helpful within a
given vulnerability context. As Dale (n.d) articulates, it is only when we are armed with
an adequate local and contextual institutional and temporal map that we can understand
whether or not a particular management system is useful.
Nature and extent of the activities of sub national entities in an area
As highlighted in chapter one, sub national entities are state and non-state entities
originating from the national level involved in livelihoods in an area in one way or the
other. In rural SSA, these may be government entities, agricultural marketing agencies,
national and/or international NGOs as well as specialised UN agencies. These entities
have played positive roles in funding development initiatives; supplying technical
66
advice in various livelihood activities; infrastructural development; natural resources
management; labour, input and output marketing activities; and various social
protection initiatives over the years. Negatives have, however, also been raised in the
activities of these entities in rural SSA over the years, and these include the creation of
dependency and cycles of underproduction (as discussed in section 2.8.1); creating the
‘disincentive effect’ in targeted communities18; and the creation of social tensions in
targeted communities19.
Literature on the evolution of the activities of sub national entities in livelihoods in rural
SSA links these activities to economic-policy developments in most SSA countries from
the 1960s when most of these countries got their independence from colonial rule. From
the 1960s to the 1980s for example, state entities dominated through huge spending and
investments in extensive agricultural and extension services, input subsidies,
infrastructural and social services development as well as parastatal marketing agency
activities. This changed in the 1980s and the 1990s with the implementation of ESAPs
at the behest of the Bretton Woods institutions in an endeavour to arrest the negative
performances of most SSA economies then, largely blamed on these huge state
spending activities. Massive government roll-back from the stated activities, (in line
with the ESAPs), then exposed most rural SSA dwellers to hardships and low quality
services in various livelihood concerns linked to the withdrawn or downscaled
government activities. This is the period when various non-state entities emerged to
cover this gap created by the withdrawal of state entities. Non-state entities therefore
became very visible in such activities as agricultural marketing and social protection
interventions like food aid, feeding schemes and cash transfers as well as infrastructural
development in some areas. SSA governments, on their part, changed their interventions
to targeting the most vulnerable and needy through such activities as the granting of
social pensions to the elderly, disability grants and public works projects 20. These state
and non-state entity activities have continued into the 2000s in most SSA countries and
18
The argument behind the ‘disincentive effect’ – mostly applied in the case of food-aid – is that food-aid deliveries
increase supply faster than they stimulate demand thereby depressing food prices in recipient communities and
creating disincentives for producers and traders to invest in improved technologies and infrastructure in those areas.
19
In most studies, much of these problems were found to be a result of such factors as lack of continuity of
interventions for a reasonably longer period to make an impact; problems in targeting beneficiaries; coverage of
beneficiaries (e.g. targeting small numbers); and lack of co-ordination (e.g. between non-state and state agencies or
between institutional entities carrying out the same activities).
20
Public works are ‘employment-based safety nets’ that transfer commodities such as food, cash and agricultural
inputs to the able-bodied rural unemployed and the food-insecure in exchange for working in constructing and/or
repairing public infrastructure such as schools, roads, dip-tanks and health centres in their communities.
67
are projected in literature as having gone a long way in strengthening livelihoods vis-àvis responses to vulnerability in most communities.
As noted earlier, the nature and extent of the activities of these entities have also, at
times, had negative effects with respect to responding to vulnerability, and to
livelihoods in general in rural SSA. Basing on fieldwork experience and evidence in
Malawi, Zambia and Ethiopia, Ellis (2008), for example, argues that NGO activity in
rural SSA may cause social divisiveness if not carefully planned. He notes that one
manifestation of this potential divisiveness has been the oft expressed opinion in
community meetings, including even by key informants, when planning for those who
should be targeted in interventions, that ‘we are all poor here’. He writes that this is
more often than not articulated by respondents as a plain statement of fact, not as special
pleading or with undertones of victimisation, and despite efforts by the concerned NGO
authorities to transparently explain why certain individuals or households are deemed
eligible to receive assistance whilst others are not, “a sense of puzzlement and
unfairness about the selection process almost always, nevertheless, persist in many
communities long after targeting decisions have been made” (ibid: 1). Other strong
arguments on the negatives have revolved around food transfers and the ‘disincentive
effect’ in rural SSA communities (see Fitzpatrick and Storey, 1989; Tapio-Bistrom,
2001; Mabuza et al, 2008).
2.7.3. Taking livelihoods inquiry forward
The various household- and community-level factors discussed are quite enlightening as
they provide an understanding of what other scholars have been focusing on, as well as
a platform for relating thesis arguments and findings with observations from other rural
SSA communities. What is apparent in much of the literature reviewed, however, are
the clear traits and influence of sustainable livelihoods thinking. These (traits) include,
for example, much emphasis on assets as opposed to institutions and processes; a single
dynamic equilibrium in understanding livelihoods – focused on, for instance,
‘outcomes’ such as poverty reduction, food security, and ‘sustainable’ natural resources
management – which, in some cases, should be achieved through following certain
‘guiding principles’; as well as a focus on understanding the effects of one or two
livelihood stresses and/or shocks, probably emanating from sustainable livelihoods
thinking’s under-emphasis of the vulnerability context. Weaknesses in these aspects
with respect to adequately understanding livelihoods in the context of contemporary
vulnerability changes have already been discussed in the preceding section. This thesis
68
therefore pushes for a resiliency perspective – which embraces uncertainty, complexity
and unpredictability vis-à-vis understanding livelihoods.
2.8. Conclusion
This chapter began by reviewing the main study concepts thereby clarifying their utility
in developing and understanding arguments in the thesis. This was followed by an
examination of the evolving approaches to analysing livelihoods and vulnerability in
rural SSA over the years, and how a resiliency perspective seeks to take livelihoods
inquiry forward in the context of gaps and weaknesses in current livelihoods thinking
vis-à-vis capturing dynamic vulnerability changes in contemporary environments.
Lastly, the chapter explored various factors important in understanding responses to
livelihood challenges in rural SSA as emanating from studies in communities across the
region. This created a platform to relate thesis findings to those of other scholars.
Overall, this chapter clarifies the direction suggested by a resiliency perspective with
respect to taking livelihoods inquiry forward in the context of multiple and reinforcing
vulnerability changes in contemporary environments.
69
CHAPTER THREE. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
This chapter discusses and justifies the methodological aspects and design of the study.
It highlights the philosophical underpinnings of the thesis; discusses data collection
tools used to address research questions; issues of data analysis; research ethics;
fieldwork timing and ‘timeline’; and methodological challenges encountered during the
research process. As discussed in chapter two, an adapted livelihoods framework
provided the analytical basis of the study and shaped the major themes around which
the actual questions used during the fieldwork process were formulated. The thesis
utilised a case study approach (Yin, 2003). Case studies “have all the elements of a
good story as they tell what happened, when, to whom, why and with what
consequences” (Patton, 2002). There were two major reasons why a case study
approach was preferred for this study:
a) The thesis argues for the utility of a resiliency perspective in livelihoods inquiry ‘as
rooted in the claims of those making them’ (cf. Feagin et al, 1991), thereby
grounding observations and concepts about social action and processes in natural
settings studied at close hand. A case study approach suited these theoretical
motives, and offered the best approach in reaching the overall research aim.
b) As highlighted in chapter one, the thesis’ main focus is to understand how we can
more fully comprehend the combination of factors important for understanding and
analysing livelihoods in dynamic vulnerability contexts. Such a concern deals with
operational links defining response capacity processes that have to be traced over
time – how people have reacted to past and current stresses and shocks, and why
they have reacted that way. Understanding such ‘how’ and ‘why’ scenarios is best
pursued using a case study design (Yin, 2003)
Mixed methods combining qualitative and quantitative techniques (Tashakkori and
Teddlie, 2003; Caracelli and Greene, 1993) were employed to gather different but
complementary data on livelihoods, institutional processes, vulnerability and responses
to livelihood challenges in the selected case study area. This resonates with the position
of most livelihood scholars (e.g. Scoones, 1998; Ellis, 2000; Francis, 2000) who argue
that livelihood studies are best pursued using multiple and mixed methods drawn from
various disciplines. Qualitative methods, however, dominated the research as the thesis
aimed at gaining high quality data and an in-depth understanding of long-term
70
vulnerability and institutional processes important in answering the research
questions21. The use of many qualitative techniques was also important in fully
connecting with different participants’ subjective perceptions and local interpretations
regarding changes in the vulnerability context, as well as resilience and adaptive
capacity notions and processes. A small-scale questionnaire survey was used to
summarise assets and activities, document patterns of interest across different periods,
sample respondents for life histories as well as increase an understanding of the range of
situations and degree of variations or homogeneity between the households and villages
selected for study.
3.2. Philosophical underpinnings
The study is based on a critical realist approach. Critical realism focuses on a complex
view of ontology which asks the question “what properties do societies and people
possess that might make them possible objects of knowledge?” (Bhaskah, 1979). It
argues that research “should be able to make generalised claims (thus not falling into the
‘judgemental relativism’ of social constructivism) but that the subjectivities of
individuals and the meanings imbued within action are central to understanding the
external world (thus rejecting the ‘concept independence’ of positivism)” (Prowse,
2010: 216). It therefore provided a solid epistemological basis for a reflexive
livelihoods research of this kind – which sought to make theoretical and methodological
claims around the utility of a resiliency perspective but grounded within deeply
localised inquiry. Critical realist thinking also posits that the world is structured,
differentiated, stratified and changing (Danermark et al, 2002), which corresponds well
with the general aspects of the resiliency perspective and the institutional and temporal
dimensions undertaken in understanding livelihoods in this work. A critical realist
ontology as guiding the thesis therefore ensured a clearer operationalisation of the
resiliency perspective in understanding livelihoods under changing vulnerability
conditions, and the ways in which dynamic and emergent properties of institutions at
various scales generate diverse practices and processes affecting livelihoods over time.
21
Qualitative methods are good at capturing processes (Murray, 2001), whilst numerical methods like surveys, are
best at capturing states or conditions (Ellis, 2006).
71
Map 3.1. Selected study area – Dande Communal Area, Zimbabwe
72
3.3. The Dande case study
As noted in the introduction section of this chapter, this work used a case study
approach and the case selected was Dande Communal Area, also known as Mbire, in the
Mid-Zambezi Valley region of Mashonaland Central Province in Northern Zimbabwe
(see Map 3.1). The work sought to focus on a relatively ‘extreme’ case (i.e. an area
experiencing, or which has experienced more multiple and reinforcing livelihood
stresses and shocks relative to other areas in rural Zimbabwe over the years). As shall be
discussed further in chapters four and five, Dande is situated in one of the semi-arid
regions of Zimbabwe. Besides the covariant livelihood challenges experienced in the
country at large over the 1990 to 2010 period therefore, the area is also characterised by
idiosyncratic climatic crises such as low, variable and erratic rainfalls, high
temperatures and frequent droughts. As noted in chapter one, other challenges
experienced in the area include increasing population, malaria, wildlife and general
infrastructural underdevelopment, often interacting in a vicious circle.
Such extreme cases often reveal more information because they activate more actors
and more basic mechanisms, (in this case in as far as responding to a changing
vulnerability context is concerned). They are therefore more relevant from both an
understanding-oriented and an action-oriented perspective (Flyvbjerg, 2006). The
objective is to obtain the greatest possible amount of information on a given problem or
phenomenon, and the case is selected on the basis of its information content. In Stake’s
(1995) typology, such a case is an ‘instrumental’ case study which, in this instance,
played a facilitatory role in helping in the operationalisation of the resiliency
perspective and in comprehending processes and factors critical in understanding
livelihoods under dynamic vulnerability conditions22.
It is important to note, however, that given the context specificity of the conditions that
interact to shape the vulnerabilities, resilience and adaptive capacities of livelihoods in
different communities, even in the same area, conclusions drawn from such studies can
only be generalised to the broader theory and application in livelihoods inquiry within
the precepts of analytical generalisation (see Yin, 1994). This means analytical and
methodological aspects regarding the operationalisation of a resiliency perspective in
dynamic vulnerability contexts in rural SSA and elsewhere, and insights on institutional
22
As Baxter and Jack (2008) posit, the case itself is of secondary interest. However, because it is used to accomplish
something deeper other than merely understanding a particular context – in this instance providing insights to a
resiliency perspective in livelihoods analysis, the case is often looked at in-depth; its contexts scrutinised; and its
ordinary activities thoroughly detailed.
73
and temporal dimensions and processes important for understanding livelihoods in
difficult and unpredictable environments that underpin and led to the study in the first
place are the same platforms to which the findings must be linked – and not
generalisation to a wider population in other rural wards and/or villages in Zimbabwe or
elsewhere as assumed under statistical generalization.
3.3.1. Selection of study ward and villages
The main consideration in the specific numbers of villages and ward targeted was
driven by a goal to balance the need for research and analytical rigour; maintain the
focus and fulfilling the objectives of the study; and the logistics of conducting the
research within the time and resources available. It is also important to emphasise, as
highlighted in chapter one, that the thesis was mainly concerned with following an
institutional and temporal scalar line of focus, rather than a spatial/geographical scale
line of focus in the understanding of issues pursued. Three villages in one ward (ward
12) were therefore purposively selected for in-depth study (see Map 3.2). The initial
plan was to focus on two wards for comparative purposes; however, this was changed
after a reconnaissance visit to the area – which also involved a pre-test of the research
instruments used to collect data. It was realised that if high quality fine-grained data on
the long term dynamics around vulnerability, institutional and other socio-economic
processes important in fully operationalising the resiliency perspective and answering
research questions was to be successfully done within the period set aside for fieldwork,
then only one ward had to be targeted. Nevertheless, the ward selected provided an
informative picture on the diversity and differentiations existing within Dande
Communal Area as a whole. For example, the ward possesses the following
characteristics typical of the majority of the 16 other wards in the area:
o Ethnically diverse
o Has one of the major rivers in the area, (Manyame), passing through it and a
substantial number of households with riverbank fields (minda yekugova) along this
river
o Has a substantial number of households practicing cotton farming (the main cashcrop in Dande)
o It is a country-border ward (sharing a border with Mozambique on its northern side)
74
o Has heavy wildlife presence though it is considered a ‘non-wildlife producing’ ward
(only 3 out of the 17 wards in the area are considered ‘wildlife-producing’ wards23)
o It has villages both close to and far from the social and economic centre of the
district (Mushumbi Business Centre) – where, for example, the major social services
are found; main input and output markets in the area are found; and most
government services including the RDC are located
o It is within the so-called tsetse-fly cleared zone (as are 14 of the 17 wards in the
area)
These factors therefore made observations and conclusions coming out of this study
ward more or less analytically generalisable to other wards in the area. The three
villages selected for in-depth focus in the ward were differentiated by distance from the
main business centre in Dande (i.e. Mushumbi Business Centre). The rationale was that
proximity to the centre and remoteness from local main infrastructure, services and
markets would provide village contrasts vis-à-vis most essential livelihood processes,
opportunities and constraints over the years (cf. LADDER Research Team, 2001). The
selection of three villages emerged from the three radiuses set together with the
councillor of the selected ward and the Rural District Council (RDC) chief executive
officer (CEO) as the likely distances within which differences of proximity to this main
centre would be observed. Given that there are some 36 kilometres from this main
centre stretching to the ward border (with Mozambique to the north) along which
villages in the ward are dotted; one village (Nyambudzi B, comprising a total of 135
households) was selected within the 0 to 12 kilometre radius of Mushumbi Business
Centre; the second one (Kapunzambiya, comprising a total of 70 households) within the
13 to 24 kilometre radius and the last one (Bwazi, comprising a total of 150 households)
within the 25 to 36 kilometre radius. Other factors which influenced village selection
within these radiuses included accessibility (road networks and otherwise) and
population considerations (the bigger the village, the more diverse the population and
the richer the information).
23
A ‘non-wildlife producing’ ward in the area is a ward where there are no formally recognised wildlife areas with
substantial numbers of wild animals permanently based there.
75
Map 3.2. Villages selected for in-depth focus
76
3.4. Data collection techniques
As noted earlier, the study utilised a mixed-methods approach in collecting both
qualitative and quantitative data. These techniques included documentary analysis, a
questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, life histories, informal conversations,
focus group discussions, transect walks and observations. Table 3.1 summarises the
utility and triangulation of these different techniques at different institutional scales
during the research.
Table 3.1. Scale of focus, summary of issues covered and techniques used
Scale
Issues covered

Sub national




Local
community




Household/
Individual



Depth knowledge of the activities of formal state
and non-state entities vis-à-vis livelihoods in Dande;
their changing influence and responsibilities and
effects of these changes mainly over 1990 to 2010
Tracing the interaction and relationships between
institutions at this scale and across other scales over
the years
Assessment of ward and villages physical and
natural assets and their changing nature over time
Trends in community (ward and villages) livelihood
activities, challenges (stresses and shocks) and
responses to these challenges over the years
Structures and processes around the management of
as well as rights and access to community (ward and
villages) physical and natural resources as well as
social services over 1990 to 2010
Interaction between institutions at this scale and
across other scales
Local perceptions and notions around wealth ranks,
as well as ‘well-being’ and ‘local sustainability’.
Trends in household livelihood assets and activities
over 1990 to 2010
Trends of idiosyncratic and covariant livelihood
challenges (stresses and shocks) and responses to
these over 1990 to 2010
Opportunity and constraining factors towards
adequate responses to experienced and expected
stresses and shocks
Levels of interaction with actors at other scales (and
advantages and/or disadvantages of this interaction
to livelihoods at the household level)
Perceptions and notions regarding ‘well-being’ and
‘local sustainability’.
77
Techniques used
o
o
o
o
o
Documentary analysis
Key informant interviews
Questionnaire survey
Focus group discussions
Informal conversations
o
o
o
o
Documentary analysis
Key informant interviews
Focus group discussions
and
participatory
methods
Questionnaire survey
Transect
walks
and
Observations
Informal conversations
o
o
o
Questionnaire survey
Life histories
Informal conversations
o
o
3.4.1. Documentary analysis
This involved a thorough review and examination of relevant published and
unpublished documents on the socio-economic, historical, ecological, political, cultural
and other contextual issues on livelihoods in Dande in particular and in the MidZambezi Valley region in general. The bulk of this data was used as background
information. Some of it was, however, used to strengthen the presentation and analysis
of findings.
These documents were obtained from various sources such as the National Archives of
Zimbabwe library, where historical documents on the dynamics of the social and
economic life of people in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley region were obtained.
Some useful policy documents pertaining to specific government and non-governmental
interventions vis-à-vis resource management, disaster risk management, and general
livelihood activities in the area were also obtained at both the national level (from such
government departments as the Civil Protection Unit and the Climate Change Office
and non-governmental organizations such as Christian Care), and the local level (from
the RDC, Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) office, Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA) office, Lower Guruve Development
Association (LGDA), and cotton companies operating in the area). Lastly, useful books,
theses, manuscripts, journals and occasional papers on livelihoods, vulnerability and
responses to livelihood challenges in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley were accessed
from the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) and the Centre for Applied Social
Sciences (CASS) libraries at the University of Zimbabwe.
3.4.2. Questionnaire survey
A questionnaire survey (see Appendix 2) was employed to collect demographic and
socio-economic data of purposively selected households across the three villages of
study, and to obtain an insight into selected key community aspects. The questionnaire
included sections inquiring on household livelihood assets and activities, livelihood
stresses and shocks, and responses to these stresses and shocks. It also inquired on
respondents’ perceptions on the dynamics of and trends in critical community social
services and infrastructure over 1990 to 2010, as well as their level of participation in
selected community activities. Lastly, the questionnaire inquired on the presence of
local voluntary and other organizations involved in livelihoods in the area; respondents’
participation and levels of involvement in these organizations; as well as perceptions on
benefits. The questionnaire therefore collected data on quantifiable household and
78
community livelihood aspects which would assist in the analysis of resilience and
adaptive capacity in a dynamic vulnerability context as well as corroborate information
obtained through qualitative techniques. The questionnaire survey also provided a
sampling frame for selecting life-history cases from the wider population of long-term
residents in the area.
Selection of respondents
The selection of households for the survey followed purposive/judgmental sampling.
Since the study sought to cover livelihood dynamics over the 1990 to 2010 period,
households which have stayed in the area at least since 1990 – long enough to have
witnessed and experienced local vulnerabilities and other critical events impinging on
livelihoods within that period were purposively targeted. From an exercise conducted
with village heads and selected village elders in the three villages to identify such types
of households, it was realised that these formed a manageable number whereby they
could all be included as respondents in the survey. As explained by these key
informants (helping in the identification process), virtually all villages in Dande 1990
and before comprised of quite small numbers of households averaging 15 to 30
households; numbers which, however, ballooned in the 1990s and after24. As such, it
was therefore possible to make a 100% targeting of such (1990 and before) households
in all the three villages. Nyambudzi B had 27 such households; Kapunzambiya 14; and
Bwazi 30 making a total of 71 households participating in the questionnaire survey
exercise. The interviews primarily targeted household heads, and where possible other
adult household members present were encouraged to join in and participate so as to
supplement and verify information.
3.4.3. Life histories
A life history relates to a person’s account of his/her life concerning their personal
history, experiences, life challenges and opportunities. 18 selected individuals’ life
histories were recorded across the three villages. These were selected from the 71
households involved in the survey and six individuals were chosen from each village,
dividing among three wealth categories of the well-off, the average and the worst-off
24
As shall be explained further in chapter five, these increases in household (and population) numbers after 1990
were due to a number of factors and events in and around the area, among them the Mid-Zambezi Valley Rural
Development Programme (MZDRP); the fast track land reform programme in the early 2000s; and the children of
original inhabitants growing up and setting their own homes over the years.
79
such that there were two households in each category from each village25. Selection of
the 18 individuals also depended upon (my subjective evaluation of) the value of the
individuals involved to the aim and objectives of the study as guided by their input
during the questionnaire survey exercise as well as their willingness to co-operate and
offer sensitive and private information concerning their lives. The life history method
was used to acquire high quality detailed information on changes in livelihoods over
time: ‘what’ happened to households of selected individuals, ‘how’ they responded,
‘why’ they responded in the way they did, and ‘what’ the outcomes were. It therefore
helped in carefully tracing how individuals and households in the area have constructed
their livelihoods over time, responded to livelihood challenges and framed resilience
mechanisms over time.
3.4.4. Transect walks and Observations
A transect walk entails walking along a pre-determined route with one or more
informants from the local community and exploring various issues that one comes
across (such as land use, vegetation, topography and even community physical assets
such as boreholes and roads) through local informants’ eyes. Three transect walks were
conducted in each of the three villages and these were mainly guided by the positioning
of key physical and natural resources in the area (e.g. village homesteads, the main road,
the main Manyame River and riverbank and upland fields). The first transect walks
therefore were along the main road (which runs across the ward from Mushumbi
Business Centre on one end to the border with Mozambique on the other end) from one
end of a village to the other. Next were those which followed a gradient from village
homesteads, (most of which are dotted along the mentioned main road), towards a
north-easterly direction where upland fields in the area are situated (refer to Map 3.2),
and where much upland-field clearing has been taking place over the years. The third
transects involved following a gradient along the main Manyame riverbank, observing
particularly the nature and extent of riverbank farming which is carried out there and
other sources of livelihood opportunities in those areas such as grazing lands and wild
masau fruit trees dotted in these areas.
On all the transect walks, I was accompanied by my research assistant (a 35 year-old
local man) and a local elder (on all occasions different male informants aged over 50
years), selected on each transect walk undertaken in each of the three villages. These
25
There were actually four wealth ranks which emerged from wealth ranking exercises, i.e. the better off, the middle
rank, the poor and the very poor (see Table 7.1). For the purposes of the selection of people for life histories however,
the poor and the very poor were placed in the same (worst-off) category.
80
people helped explain observations which were being made during these transects.
Transect walks helped me gain a deeper understanding of the natural resources and
physical community assets in the three villages, and the diversity and associated
problems around these resources and assets. Transect walks also enabled me to vividly
grasp community dynamics regarding such issues as increasing population through, for
example, observing the expanding upland fields and listening to stories on how village
upland-field boundaries have been shifting over the years. Issues around land-use and
ownership as well as crop production in the villages also became clearer through these
transect walks.
Observation was therefore a main technique during the transect walks and generally
during the course of my stay in Dande. Besides what has already been mentioned as
observed during transect walks, I also made general observations on cultivation
practices, the types of crops grown and various local livelihood activities where people
spent most of their time on. Data gathered through observations enabled the
triangulation of information gathered through other techniques and the checking of
discrepancies between what people said and what they actually do in practice.
3.4.5. Key informant interviews
A series of key informant interviews were carried out during the course of the
fieldwork26. These were conducted with selected officials working in various relevant
sub national (i.e. state and non-state) entities involved in livelihoods in Dande over the
years, as well as authority figures and opinion leaders at the local community level who
included village heads of the three villages, the ward councillor, a local spirit medium
and a church pastor. Six elderly men and women (above 65 years old) in each of the
three study villages were also selected to specifically assist in constructing vulnerability
profiles and confirming historical timeline of events in the area. These elders also
assisted village heads in conducting wealth-ranking exercises as well as in identifying
households which participated in the survey.
Interviews with key informants were semi structured and both iterative and exploratory
in nature; focusing on relevant livelihoods, vulnerability and institutional trends and
dynamics important for resiliency analysis. Questions were therefore asked according to
a semi-structured checklist (which had room to change to suit the particular informant
26
Refer to Appendix 4
81
being asked) but guided by research questions and themes in the adapted livelihoods
framework27.
3.4.6. Focus group discussions and participatory methods
Six focus group discussions were conducted in the three villages, exploring key
objectives as well as verifying information gathered during other interactions. Gender
was an important criterion used in conducting the FGDs as separate group discussions
were held between male and female community members which allowed for a free,
lively and more constructive exchange of ideas which could have been difficult in
mixed groups. There was therefore one group discussion for men and another for
women in each of the three villages. Collective exploration of notions and perceptions
around ‘well being’ and ‘local sustainability’ important in understanding resilience and
adaptive capacity in the area were mainly acquired through these group sessions.
Selected participatory learning exercises such as historical timelines as well as the
construction of problem trees were also done during group discussions.
3.4.7. Informal conversations
These were used with villagers and key informants where appropriate to clarify issues
arising from data collected using other methods thus verifying key facts. The relaxed
approach characteristic of this method enabled the establishment of rapport and
relationships of trust with informants thereby necessitating the obtaining of much useful
personal and sensitive household and community information.
Data on local power struggles and differential access to critical livelihood resources in
the community (such as land and food aid), was collected through this method. Local
perceptions of ‘wealthy’ and ‘poor’ were also discussed through informal conversations
thereby verifying what had come up in wealth ranking exercises conducted with village
heads and a few selected elders.
27
See Appendix 2
82
Table 3.2. Summary of techniques used
Technique
Questionnaire survey
Numbers
71 households
Selection Criteria


Life histories
18 cases



Key informant
interviews
17 interviews
Focus group
discussions
6 focus group
discussions
Transect walks



3 transects in each of the 3 villages, guided by key
community physical and natural resource positioning (i.e.
village homesteads, village boundaries, main river,
riverbank fields, main road and upland fields)

Relevant published and unpublished material from the
National Archives of Zimbabwe library, and University of
Zimbabwe’s CASS and IES libraries
Policy documents from the national Climate Change
Office and the Civil Protection Unit in Harare as well as
from local-level state and non-state entities in Dande
-
-
non-
2 focus groups in each of the 3 study villages – one
comprising male and the other female adult community
members

Informal conversations
Officials from government and relevant
governmental entities in Dande
Local authorities at the ward and village levels
Selected local opinion leaders

9 transects
Documentary analysis
All households which had stayed in the selected villages
at least since 1990
Sampled from questionnaire respondents - based on the
strength of their input in the questionnaire survey
6 individuals from each of the 3 villages dividing between
the well-off, the average, and the worst-off wealth
categories with 2 individuals making each category
Willingness of respondents to provide intimate details of
their lives

With randomly selected community members and key
informants
3.5. Data analysis
Information collected through qualitative and quantitative means was analysed
separately, after which the whole data were grouped into qualitative and quantitative
data sets. The perspectives and insights from the interpretation of both quantitative and
qualitative data were then integrated in answering research questions.
Data collected qualitatively (i.e. through documentary analysis, life histories, key
informant
interviews,
focus
group
discussions,
informal
conversations,
and
observations) was analysed thematically. Thematic analysis focuses on identifiable
themes and patterns from information collected through various techniques towards
addressing research objectives. In this case therefore, information obtained from
different techniques was neatly arranged and data addressing similar concerns and
activities was ‘extracted’ and organized into specific themes as guided by research
83
questions. The themes and sub themes were examined and explored to capture finer
nuances. It is important to note, however, that qualitative data analysis was on-going
right through the fieldwork process. Information would be arranged, summarised and
interpreted at different stages whilst in the field so as to search for emerging patterns,
themes and consistency in ideas. Manual analysis of qualitative data was preferred to
computer programs designed for managing and processing qualitative data as it enabled
me to continually and creatively search for associations between different aspects of
resilience, adaptive capacity, livelihoods and vulnerability towards adequately
answering research questions and fulfilling the overall research aim. As Terre Blanche
and Kelly (1999) articulate, computer programs are limiting in that they do not allow
that flexibility in the processing and analysis of qualitative data, and they also cannot
formulate and reformulate research questions for us.
For quantitative data, most of the responses on the questionnaire were pre-coded;
however, a few were open-ended. These were re-organised and then coded later. All the
responses were then fed into a computer using SPSS software (version 16). The analysis
and presentations involved descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and
averages.
3.6. Research ethics
An awareness of ethical issues with respect to research conduct is an important element
of methodology. The rights of participants to informed consent, privacy, safety and
confidentiality were therefore observed. Firstly, the full details of the research and its
intended purposes were explained to the respondents. It was made clear that respondents
were requested to willingly share their insights and (individual, household and
community) experiences on their practices, realities and observations regarding
livelihoods, vulnerabilities and responses to livelihood challenges and constraints over
the years. It was also made clear at the outset that no monetary benefits were involved,
and that people had nothing tangible to gain nor did they have anything to lose in taking
part in the research.
They were informed that the findings were primarily for PhD study purposes, but could
also be used in the publication of journal articles and other related academic material.
Participants were also informed of their rights to seek clarifications on any questions or
issues raised during the course of interviews and discussions as well as their rights to
refuse to respond to some or all questions that were to be asked, and/or to withdraw
84
from the research at any point for any reason without explanation. Consent of
respondents was then obtained by word of mouth after this process, before starting any
interviews or discussions.
Pseudonyms and codes were used throughout the whole fieldwork exercise and in the
writing up of the thesis, so as to protect the privacy and identification of respondents.
Participants whose identities were difficult to anonymise (particularly key informants in
positions of authority or working in some key government and non-governmental
entities in the area), were clearly informed of that fact before they were interviewed so
that they could decide on whether to continue or not given that position. Particular data
collection exercises (e.g. FGDs, key informant interviews and life histories) as well as
personal information relating to names (of people, study sites and organisations) were
therefore coded so as to avoid participants being identified by third parties (e.g. see
Table 3.3).
Table 3.3. Examples of code names used during the fieldwork exercise
Study site/organization
Data collection exercise
Name
Codes
Ward 12
NSGW
Nyambudzi B village
NYBV
Kapunzambiya village
KPV
Bwazi village
BWV
Lower Guruve Development Association
GA
Sub national key informant
SNI
Local community key informant
LCI
Focus group discussion – Nyambudzi B village
FGD-NYBV
Focus group discussion – Kapunzambiya village
FGD-KPV
Focus group discussion – Bwazi village
FGD-BWV
Life history
LH
I also continually asked for the permission of respondents to take photographs and to
use an audio recorder before each interview. During and after the research, all data was
and has been stored with security safeguards against loss, unauthorised use,
modification or disclosure in personal password-protected computers.
85
3.7. Research timing and timeline
The fieldwork exercise was conducted from October 2010 to May 2011. Whilst the
study was primarily concerned with tracing livelihood processes and dynamics over a
long period of time (i.e. over 1990 to 2010) as opposed to investigating them at a
particular moment in time; the timing of the fieldwork was tailored to coincide with and
capture ‘livelihoods in action’ at various critical points in the year. This involved
observing the whole farming season cycle (from planting in both upland and riverbank
fields commencing in November; weeding mainly from December to February; then the
harvesting period from March to May). These farming activities enabled me to get, for
example, an overview of crop production in the area and to witness labour allocation
around various livelihood activities, as well as the problem and effects of labour
bottlenecks vis-à-vis tasks in some households during this busy period of the year.
The timing also enabled me to observe particular challenging periods in the year for
most households, their effects and how people deal with them (e.g. the food-gap period
between November and February; the wildlife problem on crops – especially elephants
and quelea birds in upland fields and hippopotamuses in riverbank fields; and the
malaria problem – peaking in the months of October to February due to hot and wet
weather conditions prevailing). I was also able to witness certain sub national
institutional processes in the area important for resiliency analysis which only take
place within months covered in the fieldwork exercise during the course of the year,
such as contract farming with cotton companies (over the farming season) and food aid
distribution by Christian Care and certain local churches (over the food-gap period).
Besides overcoming seasonal biases associated with conducting fieldwork at particular
points in time, the timing therefore allowed me to have a vivid picture of, and closely
relate with the many vulnerability and livelihood issues that were being raised in
interviews and discussions.
Much documentary analysis of secondary data obtained from the National Archives;
IES and CASS at the University of Zimbabwe; and from government and nongovernmental organizations in Harare, was done during the whole month of October. It
was also during this month that I made initial contact with relevant authorities in Dande
(i.e. RDC officials, the local chief and the police) to negotiate entry into the field. Initial
in-depth interviews with key informants at the sub national level in Dande were
conducted in the month of November. Selection of the study ward and villages for in-
86
depth focus as well as initial contact with the ward councillor and village heads of the
three selected villages was also done in the month of November.
The selection of households for participation in the survey was carried out in December.
I also conducted a pre-test of my research instruments during this month; did wealth
ranking exercises with the help of village heads and selected community elders as
earlier noted; and conducted in-depth interviews with key informants at the local
community level.
The six focus group discussions including the participatory methods were carried out in
January. Besides enabling me to explore local key issues with villagers and create
rapport, focus group discussions enabled me to refine issues included in the
questionnaire. The survey then followed in the whole month of February, continuing
into the second week of March. Though I had a research assistant, I personally
administered all the 71 questionnaires so as to be able to be as ‘close’ to the respondents
and elicit as much rich data as possible. Life histories of the 18 respondents (sampled
from the 71 survey participants as earlier noted), were collected from mid-March. MidApril to mid-May was then set aside for the nine transect walks, as well as gap-filling
(with both key informants and villagers) on issues lacking consistency and requiring
clarity, emanating from the initial interpretation of data gathered.
Though these fieldwork stages appear separate in principle, they were intimately linked
in practice. The distinction here therefore only aims at enhancing clarity on how the
research developed, and the methods and techniques used in the study.
3.8. Methodological challenges
There were two major challenges experienced during the fieldwork process. The first
one was the issue of household and community expectations, particularly during the
initial phases of the fieldwork. This might have arisen from the nature of the research
and the focus of the study on people’s vulnerabilities and responses to livelihood
challenges and constraints. It was apparent from earlier interactions that respondents
thought I was probably doing some preparatory work for a future food-aid or relief
programme. This would show, for example, in some respondents’ exaggeration of their
poverty, especially the small number of livestock owned and the amount of produce
obtained from fields over the years. Discrepancies on numbers would come up through
deeper probing and repeating questions with answers which I thought were not clear,
whereupon some interviewees would then go on to admit that they feared being left out
87
of food and other assistance programmes. Projecting misery was thus thought of as a
means of increasing a household’s chances of being assisted. This compelled me to
continually explain to respondents that I was simply a student carrying out academic
research for the purposes of writing a thesis and that it had nothing to do with availing
any food or material assistance. They would then open up more honestly after this.
A second challenge was on the use of the audio tape-recorder especially in the initial
phases of the fieldwork exercise again. Most respondents were clearly not comfortable
about being recorded as they were still suspicious of my identity even after explaining
to them that I was merely a student carrying out academic research. For example, after
one interview in Bwazi village during my first four days there, one elderly woman took
my research assistant aside and I overheard her asking in vernacular, “karadio
kavainako ako hakasi kekuzotitapa mazwi tichizodzoka tonzi tirimaMDC here?”
translated as, “isn’t that small radio for the purposes of recording us then come back
later to accuse us of supporting the MDC?28” This was understandable given the general
political atmosphere in rural Zimbabwe where a pervasive feeling of suspicion and fear
of being identified with a ‘wrong’ political party prevails. Thus whilst some thought
that I was an NGO worker coming into their area to assess those who would deserve to
be assisted in some forthcoming programme, others thought that I could be a secret state
agent from the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) trying to gauge the political
mood in that part of the country under the cover of research29. I therefore had to suspend
using the tape-recorder in the initial fieldwork phases until such a time when I had
developed rapport with my respondents and they were convinced that I was a student
carrying out academic research. This meant that interviews in those initial phases
became much longer as I had to engage in meticulous manual note-taking throughout.
My long stay in the area (seven months) meant that as time progressed, people accepted
that I was a student and opened up more honestly.
28
The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party is a former major opposition political party in Zimbabwe
(which, at the time of the research, was now part of a power-sharing government with the former sole ruling ZANU
PF party). Dande, as most rural communities in Zimbabwe, is considered a ZANU PF stronghold therefore any
support or perceived support for any other political party (especially the MDC) is generally considered unacceptable,
and intolerable at worst, and people cannot openly confirm support of any other party except ZANU PF in fear of
(often violent) reprisals.
29
Central Intelligence Officers are the most feared (secret) state agents in Zimbabwe and they have been accused of
working closely with the ZANU PF party to hunt down and victimise perceived and real supporters of other political
parties since the 1980s.
88
3.9. Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the methodological design and techniques used in the study.
It outlined how the choices of the case study approach used; the predominantly
qualitative tools used; and the actual numbers of units (i.e. villages and ward) for indepth focus, were driven by a need to fully capture aspects important in the
operationalisation of the resiliency perspective advanced in this thesis. These aspects
include, for example, a focus more on institutional and temporal scales rather than
geographical/spatial scale in analysis; a need to capture livelihood processes, including
vulnerability and response-opportunity dynamics in detail and over a relatively long
period of time; and the highly context-specific nature of resiliency processes. The use of
mixed-methods – combining qualitative and quantitative techniques in gathering
different but complementary data – helped in triangulating findings; ensuring rigour;
and adequately capturing the various complexities inherent in a livelihoods study of this
kind. Though some difficulties were experienced especially in the initial phases of the
fieldwork exercise, the data collected was comprehensive and accurate enough to meet
the aim and objectives of the study.
89
CHAPTER FOUR. THE ZIMBABWE AND DANDE CONTEXTS
4.1. Introduction
This chapter presents a brief national, and detailed local context for the study. The
intention is to provide a clear historical, social, economic and political background to
the study. This is important in so far as it justifies the operationalisation of the resiliency
perspective under conditions in both the broader Zimbabwe, and most importantly, the
local Dande context over the reference study period. The chapter is divided into two
main sections. The first focuses on the national context and traces key historical, socioeconomic and political developments from 1980, when the country gained its
independence from white minority rule, to 2010. Discussions in this section reveal
heavily deteriorating national conditions over the years, justifying the selection of the
Zimbabwe context in applying a resiliency perspective towards understanding
livelihoods in highly dynamic vulnerability environments. The second section examines
local historical, political, social, environmental and ecological background of Dande
Communal Area and the Mid-Zambezi Valley region, as well as providing a brief
contextual picture of ward 12 (i.e. the ward selected for in-depth focus). Issues around
the geographical and agro-ecological location of the area; authority structures; ethnic
composition; as well as natural resource endowments are discussed in this section.
Significant developmental projects and events that have taken place in Dande over the
years are also explored – which include discussions on the tsetse-fly eradication
exercise in the area; the emergence of cotton as a major cash crop; the Mid-Zambezi
Valley Rural Development Project (MZRDP) and the CAMPFIRE initiative. The
section therefore provides a detailed understanding of the local background within
which the resiliency perspective was operationalised.
4.2. National context – A brief review of key developments in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, formerly Southern Rhodesia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa of
approximately 12 million people (ZIMSTAT, 2010), bordering Mozambique to the east;
South Africa to the south; Zambia (and a tip of Namibia) to the northwest; and
Botswana to the southwest. The country attained its independence from Britain in 1980
following an armed struggle which commenced in the early 1970s against white
minority rule. Following the first democratic elections in independent Zimbabwe in
1980, President Robert Mugabe’s political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union
– Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), assumed power and had an uninterrupted rule until a
90
coalition government with the then main opposition political party, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), was formed in February 2009 after the heavily disputed
general elections of 2008.
Following independence in 1980, Zimbabwe experienced significant positive social
gains in such areas as health (e.g. general access to health care, immunisation coverage,
malaria control and contraceptive prevalence) and education (e.g. access to education
and adult literacy) mainly through socialist-oriented government policy characterised by
free primary education and free primary health care. Most of these gains were, however,
eroded due to a combination of the effects of HIV/AIDS (whose first case in Zimbabwe
was reported in 1985) and the implementation of market-oriented Economic Structural
Adjustment Programmes (ESAPs) in 1991 at the behest of the Bretton Woods
institutions, with cuts and user-fees being introduced in all social services resulting in
the majority of people being unable to access basic health and education services due to
rising costs. The effects of these factors were quite apparent, with for example, life
expectancy at birth – which averaged 56 in the 1980s and rising to 60 in 1990, falling to
40 by 2000 and 33 by 2008 (Nyazema, 2010; UNICEF, 2009). In the same vein, infant
mortality which had decreased from 86 to 49 per 1000 live births between 1980 and
1990, rose to 53 per 1000 live births in 1994 and had reached 67 per 1000 live birth by
2009 (Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, 2010). This situation was
exacerbated by the massive flight in health professionals over the 1990s and the 2000s
decades due to deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions30. Whilst the
country has managed to maintain some of the highest literacy levels in Africa (of
approximately 90%) over the years, the brain drain experienced in the health sector was
also heavily experienced in the education sector; with lecturers and teachers leaving for
better salary and working conditions in the region and abroad particularly from the year
2000 onward (Murisa, 2010).
On the economic front, Zimbabwe at independence inherited a diversified modern
economy comprising thriving manufacturing, tourism and mining industries alongside
an agricultural sector that was, however, skewed in favour of a white racial minority.
The imbalances in land ownership at independence (where roughly 1% of the
population owned 45% of agricultural land – 75% of which was in high rainfall areas of
30
For example, Nyazema (2010) notes that as of December 2007, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare was
operating with only 19% of its approved establishment of doctors, specialists and senior nurses across the country
with most having left for ‘greener pastures’ in the (Southern African) sub-region and abroad.
91
the country), were partly responsible for triggering a chain of highly negative political
and economic events from the late 1990s into the 2000s primarily due to the haphazard
fast track mode of redistribution chosen by the then ZANU PF government to correct
these imbalances31. Zimbabwe’s economic story is one of growth in the 1980s, before
entering into decline in the 1990s and (almost) collapse in the 2000s. Real gross
domestic product (GDP) growth rates between 1980 and 1990, for example, averaged 3
to 4% per annum, reaching a peak of 7% in 1990, before entering into the period of
decline – averaging 1.5% per annum between 1991 and 1995 (GoZ, 2010). Further
declines in GDP followed, from 0.0% in 1998 to -7.4% in 2000, then an approximate
50% shrink of the economy in real terms between 2000 and 2008 (FAO/WFP Report,
2009; GoZ, 2010).
The dramatic economic decline experienced, especially from the late 1990s onward, has
been attributed to a number of reasons, chief among them being the chaotic land
redistribution exercise beginning February 2000 and the reactions to it – particularly
isolation by western countries, (which had ripple effects on such sectors as tourism, as
the country was immediately labelled a high risk destination by such countries as the
United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and most EU nations which previously
provided the highest number of tourists to the country). The chaos in the agricultural
sector also had effects on manufacturing as there were no raw materials due to the
stalling of production on farms during the hasty land redistribution exercise – hence
value chains between commercial agriculture and industry were broken.
Other reasons often attributed to the massive economic decline of the 2000s include
other erratic major government policies in the form of, firstly, the unbudgeted-for lump
sum one-off pension disbursements to veterans of the country’s independence struggle
in 1997, draining the fiscus and resulting in the immediate crash of the Zimbabwean
dollar – where the local currency lost more than 70% of its value overnight on what
became known as ‘Black Friday’ on 14 November 1997 (Nyathi, 2004). Then the
equally unbudgeted-for military intervention in the Congo in that same year (1997), to
assist the armies of the then DRC president Laurent Kabila, who was facing a civil war
in his country.
31
The fast track land reform programme saw a transfer of massive tracts of fertile lands from white commercial
farmers to black Zimbabweans in a rather chaotic, unplanned and often violent manner between 2000 and 2003.
92
Effects of natural events in the country over the 1990s and 2000s, particularly droughts
(notably 1991/92, 94/95, 97/98, 2001/2002, 02/03, 04/05 and 06/07) and unprecedented
cyclones (Cyclones Eline in 2000 and Japhet in 2003), are also often mentioned as
having significantly contributed to the economic decline. Statistics and trends are hardly
able to capture the resultant economic and social consequences of these events, which
included extremely high levels of inflation rates – from 15% in 1990 to 500 billion
percent by December 2008 (FAO/WFP Report, 2009); rising poverty levels – from 30%
in 1990 to 80% by 2008 (UNICEF, 2009); rising unemployment – from 15% in 1990 to
94% by December 2008 (FAO/WFP Report, 2009); and a massive brain drain – with
more than 800 000 highly skilled nationals being estimated to having left for better
working and salary conditions in the Southern African region and abroad by 2007
(Tevera, 2008).
On the political front, as the economy declined, a strong and widespread feeling of
discontent was building up against the ruling ZANU PF government. This led to the
formation of a formidable labour, civil-society and student backed opposition political
party (the MDC) in September 1999, which broke the political hegemony of ZANU PF,
and set the stage for a fierce and violent struggle for the political control of the country
in the 2000s. The five general elections conducted between 2000 and 2008 (i.e.
parliamentary elections 2000; presidential elections 2002; parliamentary and senatorial
2005; harmonised presidential and parliamentary/senatorial March 2008; and
presidential run-off June 2008) were, for example, characterised by intimidation of
opponents through systematic killings, beatings and property destruction. This political
conflict also often led to the banning of non-governmental organizations (especially
those involved in food aid and civic organization) by the ZANU PF government during
each election year in this period, on allegations of campaigning and canvassing support
for the MDC party thereby disadvantaging beneficiaries most of whom were dwellers in
marginal rural areas.
In the March 2008 parliamentary and presidential harmonised elections, ZANU PF lost
to the MDC; however, the former refused to cede power on the pretext that the MDC’s
presidential candidate had failed to obtain the requisite percentage threshold to assume
power. This led to the extremely violent and internationally discredited presidential runoff election of June 2008, boycotted by the MDC party and subsequently ‘won’ by
President Robert Mugabe. After negotiations facilitated by the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU), a coalition government
93
comprising the two parties (and a third smaller one) was formed in February 2009. The
coalition government has overseen the recovery of the economy since then – with the
main highlight being the cementing of the adoption of multiple currencies in the
economy.
4.3. Local context – Dande Communal Area and the Mid-Zambezi Valley
Dande Communal Area, also known as Lower Guruve or simply Mbire District, is a
semi-arid area situated in the Mid-Zambezi Valley region, Mashonaland Central
Province in the northern part of Zimbabwe. The Mid-Zambezi Valley is part of the
Zimbabwean lowveld and it particularly refers to lands lying north of the Zambezi
escarpment and bordered by Mozambique to the north and east, and Zambia to the
north-west (Mupangwa et al, 2006). It consists of an extensive undulating plain
averaging 450m above sea level, descending to 350m above sea level to the north
towards the Zambezi River (Pwiti, 1996a). Most of the Mid-Zambezi Valley area is
listed in the country’s agro-ecological zones IV and V characterised by high
temperatures of up to 40o C during the summer and very low and increasingly irregular
and unpredictable rainfalls averaging 450-650mm annually. There are two clearly
defined seasons in much of the Valley though; a rainy season from December to March
and a long dry season from April to November (Baudron et al, 2011).
Dande Communal Area or Mbire District forms the major part of the low lying (middle)
Zambezi Valley and it is specifically located 30o 2511 E and 16 o 3011S encompassing an
area of 2700 square kilometres (Osborne and Parker, 2002). The area stretches from
ward 1 (Chapoto) at the Zambezi River right on the border with Zambia and
Mozambique in the north to ward 15 (Mahuwe) at the district entry point from the
escarpment in the south; and from ward 11 (Masoka) in the west to ward 5 (Chidodo) in
the east (refer to Map 3.1). Mbire (the district) was formed in 2007, and prior to that the
area had always been known as Dande Communal Area or Lower Guruve, being part of
Guruve district. The district is comprised of 17 wards and had a total population of 115
952 persons at the last formal census by LGDA (LGDA Mbire Baseline Survey,
2008)32. The Mbire Rural District Council (administering Dande Communal Area) is
located at Mushumbi Business Centre which effectively is the centre of the district both
geographically and administratively – as that is where big social structures such as
major schools, clinic, cotton company depots and most government services (including
32
LGDA is a local non-governmental organization based in the area.
94
AGRITEX, the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the Department of
Veterinary Services, the Tsetse Control Division) are located.
4.3.1. A historical overview: the pre-independence period
Exploring pre-independence historical developments was important in understanding
the changing nature as well as the perpetuation of certain livelihood practices,
vulnerability patterns and opportunities for adequate responses to challenges in the area
over the years. Operationalising such resiliency aspects as the nurturing of social
learning processes, and grasping some ingrained local notions on ‘well being’ and
‘sustainability’ also became much easier through tracing and understanding these
historical developments.
Archaeological research in Dande reveals that farming communities were present there
by the middle of the first millennium AD (around the 5th to the 11th century AD) with
their settlement patterning seemingly being influenced by the availability of water
supplies and suitable agricultural soils on alluvial flood plains along rivers and stream
valleys (Pwiti, 1996a). Direct evidence for subsistence economy seems to show that this
farming was not only restricted to crop production alone but also livestock herding as
evidenced by excavations of a wide range of faunal remains which included cattle,
sheep and goats traced back to those dates (ibid). Hunting may also have been a big part
of these early communities as the main species represented in the excavations along the
settlement sites were those of buffalo and impala. Economic changes appeared to have
taken place around the area towards the end of the first Millennium AD as cattle herds
seem to have increased and as exotic goods found their way into the interior from the
Indian Ocean (Pwiti, 1996b). Different stone-walled sites in the area and various
Portuguese documents suggest that from around the 14th century, the area became part
of an expanding Mutapa state (ibid). From then on until around the 18th century, Dande
residents (as part of the Mutapa empire) derived their wealth and livelihoods from three
main sources which included cattle herding on the plateau, crop production along the
banks of the main rivers as well as distant trade in ivory and gold (Chizarura, 2002)33.
The Zambezi Valley in general and Dande area in particular therefore became an
avenue for trade and contact among the peoples of what are now termed Mozambique,
Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi (Derman, 1996). From the colonization of the area now
known as Zimbabwe in 1890 up to around 1920, the Rhodesian colonial authorities
33
Ivory and gold were exchanged for cloth and beards coming from India.
95
never made their presence felt in the Valley; with the main outside contacts of the
Valley residents being the Portuguese traders. It was only from the early 1920s that the
Rhodesian state began rearranging chieftaincies promoting and entrenching the
positions of those who supported them and demoting those who opposed them, as well
as imposing taxation in the Valley, that contact with Portuguese traders began lessening.
Young men then started trooping up the plateau in increasing numbers to look for work
in farms and mines for regular income (Chizarura, 2002).
The colonial government then sought to make Dande area part of the solution to the
perceived overpopulation in highland plateau areas under the 1951 Land Husbandry Act
and, as Dande Special Native Area, a receiver zone of all those who were being cleared
from European designated zones in nearby areas (Derman, 1996). With the beginning
and intensification of the country’s liberation war from the early 1970s onward, the
Valley became a serious war zone between the Rhodesian forces on one side and
ZANLA and ZIPRA forces on the other34. This was because of the long borders that
Dande shares with Mozambique and Zambia (see Map 3.1), where ZANLA and ZIPRA
forces were being trained and partly penetrating the country from. A lot of Dande
residents therefore moved from the area to avoid the heavy fighting, with some going to
cities and towns whilst others crossed into Mozambique and Zambia to seek refuge.
Others were moved by the Rhodesian authorities into ‘protected villages’ or ‘keeps’
which were located at Angwa (ward 2), Mushumbi (ward 9) and Mahuwe (ward 15) to
block them from assisting liberation war fighters. In short, the liberation war appeared
to have caused a remarkable reduction in the Dande population (Derman, 1996). With
the country’s attainment of independence in 1980, the significance of the Valley to the
liberation struggle committed the new government to institute development initiatives
especially in the 1980s (discussed in section 4.3.3). These are some of the important
historical and pre-independence developments which may arguably be said to have
helped shape the socio-economic outlook of the Mid-Zambezi Valley in general and of
Dande Communal Area in particular over the years.
34
ZANLA is an acronym for Zimbabwe National Liberation Army – the armed wing of one of the two revolutionary
parties (Zimbabwe African National Union) fighting for the liberation of the country from white minority rule; whilst
ZIPRA stood for Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army – the armed wing of the other revolutionary party
(Zimbabwe African People’s Union).
96
4.3.2. Authority structures in the area
Local government and traditional authority structures in Dande form an important part
of a hierarchy of decision-makers at the local community and sub national institutional
scales. These include RDC officials and traditional leaders such as chiefs, headmen,
village heads and spirit mediums. These authorities are central in the allocation of
important livelihood resources such as land, and they oversee the management of other
key community resources in the area such as water, forests, wildlife and the main road.
They therefore occupy an important role in understanding resilience and adaptive
capacity processes in the area as the heads and overseers of community physical and
natural resource management systems.
Discussion in this section first looks at local government authorities, who in the context
of this study are part of the sub national institutional scale since their powers originate
mainly from the national level. The traditional leadership is discussed next. Traditional
leaders are part of the local community institutional scale in the study since their
authority primarily originates from that local level through custom, (though an Act of
Parliament was crafted for chiefs, headmen and village heads after independence to
support and regulate their activities).
Local government authorities
For administrative purposes, Zimbabwe is divided into provinces; and provinces into
districts; districts into wards; and the wards further divided into villages. As highlighted
earlier in this chapter, and indicated in Map 3.1, Dande is also known as Mbire District.
It is situated in Mashonaland Central Province and has 17 wards, with the selected study
ward having 15 villages. Local government authorities covered within the scope of the
study included those found at the district, ward and village levels. Mbire Rural District
(just as all other districts in rural Zimbabwe), is run by a district council consisting of
elected ward councillors – one from each of the 17 wards. The council is chaired by a
council chairperson elected among the ward councillors. The council also has two other
administrative appointments important in the governance of the district. The first is the
CEO, appointed by the council itself and responsible for running its day to day affairs.
The second is the District Administrator (DA) appointed by the Minister of Local
Government, whose main responsibility is the chairing of various Rural District
Development Committees (such as land, and government food distribution committees).
Mbire RDC (as all other RDCs in the country) has wide-ranging powers, duties and
97
responsibilities as laid out in the Rural District Councils Act (1988) which, as already
noted, include the regulation of district physical and natural resources such as roads,
land, water, forests and wildlife. These powers and responsibilities should, however, be
legalised through the formulation of by-laws.
At the ward level, the elected ward councillors head Ward Development Committees
(WADCOs), which are responsible for planning and co-ordinating all development
activity at that level. The WADCO draws its members from leaders of its constituent
villages (i.e. village heads and secretaries of village development committees/VIDCOs).
The last layer in local governance (i.e. villages) thus also has its own development
committees, the VIDCOs, chaired by village heads and consisting of at least six elected
members from among the villagers. A WADCO therefore receives development plans
from its constituent VIDCOs and consolidates them into a ward plan, which is then
forwarded to the RDC to be consolidated among various other ward plans into district
annual and five year plans.
Traditional authorities
Traditional authority in Dande, (as in other rural Zimbabwean communities), is vested
in appointed individuals who comprise a prescribed hierarchy consisting of chiefs
(madzishe), headmen (masadunhu) and village heads (masabhuku). Their authority runs
parallel to, and in some instances, in conjunction with local government authorities.
Their duties involve the regulation and management of natural resources, as well as the
settling of minor social disputes in areas under their jurisdiction. The appointment of
chiefs, headmen and village heads is governed by hereditary rather than elective
democratic principles (Matyszak, n.d).
Chiefdom boundaries are normally determined along settlements of people of the same
historical and ancestral origin and chieftainship is inherited in families of the royal
descendants of the area. Dande is nested into four chiefdoms (Chapoto, Chisunga,
Chitsungo and Chiriwo). Headmen report to their respective chiefs and they have a
smaller jurisdiction than that of the chief – which in many respects is similar to ward
coverage. Below the headmen are the village heads who report to their respective
headmen and chiefs, and whose jurisdiction is the village. The powers of chiefs,
headmen and village heads have been formally regularised under the Traditional
Leaders Act (1998).
98
Chiefs, headmen and village heads work hand-in-glove with spirit mediums, known in
Dande as ‘homwe dzavanasekuru’ or ‘masvikiro’35. These are primarily responsible for
communicating and relaying messages from the spirits of the departed royal ancestors
who are believed to be the real owners of the area or ‘varidzi venzvimbo’ in vernacular.
In Dande, as in rural Zimbabwe in general, it is believed that when chiefs die – going
back to the earliest rulers of the past, their spirits enter into lions (known as mhondoro
(singular) when the lion carries the royal spirit). These mhondoro (plural) are believed
to continue to look after the territories they once ruled after they die and, as noted, they
are considered the ultimate owners of the land (Spierenburg, 2004). Spirit mediums
therefore maintain communication between these mhondoro and the living which is why
they work closely with local chiefs, headmen and village heads in providing advice and
guidance on various socio-economic and political issues. The spirits are believed to be
the providers of rain and fertility of the land as well as general protection of people
against various social ills. Because of that, spirit mediums are consulted in times of such
vulnerabilities as droughts, intense problems with wildlife and locusts or other
unexplained plague threatening crops and/or livestock. They may also be consulted in
periods of epidemic diseases threatening large groups of people as well as before major
development initiatives to seek their (read the spirits’) opinion, blessing and/or
guidance on the undertaking of such initiatives. Spierenburg (2004), for example,
details the politics around spirit medium opinion on the MZRDP in the area in the late
1980s to the mid-1990s.
4.3.3. Ethnic composition and Natural resources
As discussed in chapter two, ethnicity as part of social identity is among key factors
influencing the capacity to respond to livelihood challenges in most rural SSA
communities, especially in such areas as Dande that, as will be shown, have experienced
notable in-migration flows from the pre- to the post-independence era. Discussion on
ethnic composition in the area (and the history around it) therefore provides a clear
background for understanding some of the important social factors shaping resiliency in
the area over the years. On the other hand, natural resources form a community’s natural
capital which is an essential part of a livelihood system’s asset package facilitating
35
The term homwe dzavanasekuru may be loosely translated as ‘the spirits’ pockets/containers’, whilst masvikiro
may be translated as ‘where someone arrives at’, only emphasising the point that they (i.e. spirit mediums), are only
vessels of spirits and whatever they communicate would not be coming from them as human beings, but directly from
the spirits whom they represent and are therefore ultimately not accountable for whatever proclamations or
instructions they make.
99
and/or constraining resilience and adaptive capacity in rural SSA communities. This
section therefore expands on these two aspects in Dande.
Ethnic composition
Dande Communal Area consists of a number of ethnic groups, the dominant of which is
the VaKorekore group. The VaKorekore are thought to have invaded the area under the
leadership of Mutota around the 15th century originating from the Great Lakes Region,
also known as Guruuswa in vernacular, then overrunning the local people and firmly
establishing their presence in the area (Mberengwa, 2000). There are also the
VaChikunda people – an ethnic group believed to have been formed from the
descendants of slaves and soldiers from the Portuguese colonial enterprise in
Mozambique (Derman, 1995), and these are mainly concentrated in the Chapoto area
(ward 1) along the Zambian border; then the VaTawara, who originated from
Mozambique and who (from oral history) are said to have occupied Dande well before
the Korekore invasion. There are also the VaDema (commonly referred to as VaDoma
or Mvura people) mainly found closer to forest areas in ward 1 (Chapoto) and ward 11
(Masoka) – who again are said to have originated from Mozambique around the Songo
Hills near Cabora Bassa, and are the descendants of the VaTawara people (Mberengwa,
2000).
There are the VaKaranga people in the area as well – who migrated from Masvingo
Province (south-central of the country) – mainly during the early years of the country’s
independence in search of better farming opportunities in the wake of tsetse-fly
eradication and the ‘cotton-boom’ which characterised the Valley due to extensive
government support then (to be discussed later in this chapter). A notable last group of
people in the area are those of Malawian and Zambian origin, whose numbers steadily
increased following the chaotic fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) in the
country in the early 2000s. Most of these are former farm-workers who used to work in
the now seized former white-owned commercial farms in surrounding areas (such as
Guruve, Mvurwi, Centenary and Mazowe) up the escarpment and who now came down
the Valley to look for somewhere to stay having left their countries of origin many years
before.
Such a diverse ethnic composition is interesting, especially in light of the sharp
population increase which has characterised the Valley since the mid to late 1980s (a
point which will be discussed further in later sections). As discussed in chapter two, this
100
scenario usually triggers issues of claims of access and rights to key livelihood
resources particularly land, based on the ethnic identity factor which, as noted earlier, is
significant vis-à-vis capturing social issues influencing livelihood resilience and
adaptive capacity in such areas. A list of the different ethnic groups in the area by
majority composition would therefore reflect as in Box 4.1, with the VaKorekore on
top:
Box 4.1. Different ethnic groups in Dande
1.
VaKorekore
2.
VaChikunda
3.
VaTawara
4.
VaKaranga
5.
VaDema
6.
Malawian and Zambian origin
Sources: Derman, 1995; Mberengwa, 2000; LGDA Mbire Baseline Survey, 2008; SNI.1
Natural resources
Dande is characterised by high ecosystem, plant and animal diversity (Mupangwa et al,
2006). Among these are different soil types, various water bodies (rivers and streams),
wildlife and non-timber forest products (NTFP) – all of which feature positively and/or
negatively in one way or the other in as far as people’s livelihoods in various parts of
the area are concerned.
Soils
Three main types of soils are found in Dande. These include deep sandy loam soils
close to rivers locally known as ‘bandate’; loamy sand soils in the interfluves locally
called ‘shapa’; and lastly shallow sandy clay soils locally known as ‘mutapo’. Most
upland fields consist of the ‘mutapo’ soils whilst the ‘bandate’ are considered the most
productive in the area.
Water
There are a number of rivers and streams in the area. The major rivers include the
mighty Zambezi (at the border with Zambia in ward 1), Manyame, Mwanzamutanda,
Angwa, Dande, Kadzi, Mururuzi, Musengezi and Shange. Many other small rivers and
streams are dotted around the district but these are seasonal and they mainly have water
during the rainy season. These water sources provide not only freshwater for people and
101
livestock but also the most productive areas for crops, especially maize and vegetables
on the riverbanks which have deep fertile alluvial soils that are easy to till manually and
that hold receding moisture during the dry season. People also obtain fish from these
rivers as well as wild fruits, particularly the masau fruits (Ziziphus mauritiana), which
grow in riverbank areas.
Vegetation and non-timber forest products
The natural land cover in much of Dande is deciduous dry savannah dominated by
mopane trees (Colophospermum mopane) (Baudron et al, 2011). Vegetation along the
main rivers is, however, tall, well-developed riparian woodland dominated by acacia
species, often modified by human and animal activity (Mupangwa et al, 2006). Nontimber forest products (NTFP) may be defined as all forest and/or tree products other
than timber extracted from natural forests, trees on fallow lands and scattered trees in
crop fields either for direct consumption and/or personal income generation (Gakou et
al, 1994). In the Mid-Zambezi Valley and in Dande in particular, NTFP are important as
they are, for example, known to be important fallback resources in drought and/or
critical periods of the year. Popular NTFP in the area include masau (Ziziphus
mauritiana), mawuyu (Adansonia digitata), chenje (Diospyros mespiliformis),
manyanya (Boscia angustifolia), tsvanzva (Ximenia caffra), nhunguru (Dovyalis caffra),
tsubvu (Vitex payos) and matohwe (Azanza garckeana). Masau fruits in particular are
important sources of income for some households who sell these either by the roadside
at the main Mushumbi Business Centre or to the many bulk traders who come and hoard
the fruit for reselling in major cities and towns such as Bindura (the provincial capital)
and Harare (the capital city).
Wildlife
Wildlife forms one of the most important natural features in Dande. These include
elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards, hyenas, wild pigs as well as crocodiles and
hippopotamuses in all major rivers in the area.
102
Figure 4.1. Wildlife movements in and around Dande
DANDE
Source: AFW (2010)
The area is home to three safari areas: Dande Safari Area situated between wards 1 and
2 (arrows marked 1 and 2 in Fig. 4.1); Chewore Safari Area covering the fringes of the
district along the north and the south-west belt (arrows marked 3 and 4 Fig. 4.1); and
Doma Safari Area which lies to the south of ward 11 (arrow marked 5 Fig. 4.1). A
number of safari operators have therefore carried out commercial hunting activities in
these safari areas over the years36, immensely benefitting particularly the RDC which
derives around 90% of its (day-to-day) operational funds from this source (SNI.1).
There is also heavy wildlife presence and movement in almost all wards in the area,
with notable high numbers in wards 1, 2 and 11 (considered ‘wildlife producing wards’
in the district). Other wildlife movements originate from Mozambique (arrows marked
7 and 8 Fig. 4.1) and from the Mavuradonha Wilderness Area in the south-eastern side
of the area (arrow marked 6 in Fig. 4.1). This has many a time created human-wildlife
conflicts around crop destruction, illegal hunting, and threats to both livestock and
human life.
4.3.4. Key development programmes in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley
Background knowledge on key development programmes that have occurred in Dande
was important as it shed light on notable long-term sub national institutional
interventions in livelihoods in the area. This section also introduces some of the
36
There were two safari operators in the area during the fieldwork period – Ingwe Safari Operators and Swainsons
Safari Operators
103
enduring vulnerabilities (e.g. tsetse-fly, wildlife, population increase, unfavourable
climate) that people in the area have had to put up with and how interventions from
external institutions have helped solve, or in some cases, compounded some of these
vulnerabilities. This section therefore provides background information towards an
understanding of many cross-institutional issues raised in following chapters.
Tsetse-fly and tsetse-fly eradication in the Valley
Tsetse-fly (Glossina morsitans and Glossina palidipise) and trypanosomiasis are among
the most enduring livelihood challenges in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley. A
consistent component of both colonial and post-colonial government programmes
throughout the Valley’s history therefore has been tsetse-fly and trypanosomiasis
eradication (Derman, 1996). Among some of the major government tsetse eradication
programmes in the area since the 1920s included the killing of game, movement of
people, barring of cattle from infected areas, the erection of game and cattle fences, the
development and use of trypanomicides, cattle dips and more recently the erection of
target traps to attract and kill the flies (ibid)37.
With the advent of the new government in 1980, efforts towards tsetse eradication in the
Valley were intensified as the new government saw the Valley as a potential area for the
expansion of the frontiers of viable communal farming and relieving population
pressure in other parts of the country38. To that end, the government sought the
assistance of the then European Economic Community (EEC) which then funded the
establishment of a Regional Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Control Programme (RTTCP)
in 1986, responsible for the facilitation and co-ordination of activities of tsetse control
and elimination of the fly belt not only in Zimbabwe, but also in Zambia, Malawi and
Mozambique. The RTTCP was also responsible for providing scientific and technical
assistance to national operators and spearheading and promoting development initiatives
in the cleared areas (CIRAD Biodiversity Report, 1999). Under this intensive
programme, aerial and ground spraying of insecticides were undertaken across the
Zambezi Valley from 1986 ending in 1988 to be replaced by the more environmental
friendly methods of deploying target traps.
37
Target traps are cloth screen impregnated with persistent insecticide such as deltamethrin and made attractive to
tsetse-fly by their colour, shape and odour bait (Baudron et al, 2011)
38
Substantial areas in the more marginal, tsetse-infested parts of Zimbabwe including the Zambezi Valley were
viewed by the new government as under-populated, under-exploited and capable of supporting viable peasant
agriculture in the country (Barret, 1989)
104
From the 1990s going forward, the activities of the Tsetse Control Division, (which is
under the government Department of Veterinary Services) over the years enabled the
pushing of the tsetse-boundary in Dande to the southern part of the Manyame River in
ward 10 (Chitsungo) right along the belt cutting across the district to the Mozambican
border in ward 3 (Neshangwe) (refer to map 3.1). The rearing of cattle beyond this
tsetse-boundary was prohibited by the government, meaning communities in and around
wards 1 (Chapoto), 2 (Angwa) and 11 (Masoka) are not allowed to keep cattle. It is,
however, important to note that the continued decline of government financial allocation
towards tsetse control due to economic problems and the collapse of donor support due
to the souring of relations with the European Union after the year 2000 (particularly
because of the FTLRP), led to the re-invasion of tsetse-fly in the cleared areas seriously
reversing the gains of the 1980s and the 1990s (Taylor and Murphree, 2007).
Cotton-farming in Dande and the Mid-Zambezi Valley
Given the low moisture and dry weather conditions characteristic of the Valley, the
colonial Rhodesian authorities had always pushed for the hugely drought-resistant
cotton crop farming in the area since the 1930s without much success (Derman, 1996).
It was not until around the 1960s, with the establishment of two cotton estates – one at
Mushumbi Business Centre and the other one at Muzarabani, east of Mushumbi, under
the auspices of the Tribal Development Corporation (TILCOR) – that cotton farming
really began to be taken seriously in the Valley (ibid)39. There were continuities with
respect to colonial and post-colonial government policies on cotton-farming in the
Valley, as the new government in 1980 continued envisioning cotton as the primary
income generating crop there.
As cotton is an input-intensive crop, during the early years of independence the
government through the then Cotton Marketing Board (now the Cotton Company of
Zimbabwe/COTTCO) and the then Agricultural Finance Corporation (now Agricultural
Development Bank/ADB) undertook to support cotton farmers in the Valley by
providing them with input credit support and advance input loans. A number of private
cotton merchants also set up depots within the Valley conducting contract farming with
Valley residents. The government through the District Development Fund (DDF) and in
conjunction with non-governmental organizations such as the then Lutheran World
39
These two estates continued running after the country’s independence in 1980 under the Agricultural Development
Authority (ARDA) until around 2007/08 when they closed down due to operational and viability constraints having
been affected by the country’s economic meltdown.
105
Federation (now LGDA) also provided mechanised tillage services to cotton farmers
throughout the 1980s so as to ease the draught power shortage as cattle could not be
reared in the area then due to tsetse-fly (Chizarura, 2002). The tillage prices were quite
affordable as the financial input credit schemes also covered tillage service charges
thereby accommodating even the most poorest of farmers (ibid). This effectively
boosted cotton production and increased cash proceeds from cotton sales enabling many
households in the area to purchase assets. This ‘cotton-boom’, coupled with the clearing
of about three quarters of Dande of tsetse-fly, also attracted a lot of migrants from other
marginal and overcrowded parts of the country especially upper Guruve and Masvingo
to the Zambezi Valley particularly from the mid to the late 1980s.
The Mid-Zambezi Valley Rural Development Programme (MZRDP)
This was a significant development project which took place in the area beginning July
1987 until around 1997. Undertaken by the Zimbabwean government in collaboration
with the African Development Bank (ADB), the programme was designed to bring
development to what was conceptualised as an underdeveloped and remote rural area.
The project was formulated around three main objectives. The first objective involved
setting up a programme of planned settlement which involved resettling about 4600
families estimated to be already present in the Valley, alongside the settlement of 3000
other families from (other) overcrowded communal areas in the country (Derman,
2003). This move was structured around assigning a 12 acre area for cultivation and a
one acre residential stand in a re-organised village for all those who were being resettled
(Spierenburg, 2005). A second objective was to provide essential social structures and
amenities such as boreholes, schools, clinics and roads to project inhabitants (Derman,
2003). Lastly, there was provision of some clearing of fields with enough cotton seed,
fertilizer and pesticides for one acre for those resettled under this programme. An
overall objective of the MZRDP, however, was to control the conditions of the arrival
of immigrants into the Valley following the eradication of tsetse-fly and the ‘cotton
boom’ in the early to mid-1980s.
Baudron et al (2011) and Spierenburg (2005), however, point out a number of
shortcomings which characterised the formulation and implementation of this
programme (especially the resettlement component), which then actually resulted in an
increased spontaneous migration and settlement of many people into the Valley. These
shortcomings included the under-estimation of the original resident population in the
106
Valley; financial difficulties within the AGRITEX planning branch which was directing
operations on the ground; failure to fully convince and sell the resettlement idea to
original inhabitants; and an initial sidelining of local traditional authorities in the whole
exercise.
The CAMPFIRE initiative
In 1989, Dande (then under Guruve district and still known as Lower Guruve) was
granted appropriate authority under the Parks and Wildlife Act (1975 as amended) to
manage and benefit from wildlife under the Communal Areas Management Programme
for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE). Under CAMPFIRE, the Department of
National Parks sets the hunting quotas and trophy fees in each communal area while
local authorities and communities, with support from the Department, bear the
responsibility for wildlife protection and management (Mberengwa, 2000). The
programme intended to promote ‘sustainable’ and commercial utilization of wild
animals as tools for development and conservation (CIRAD Biodiversity Report, 1999),
and ward 11 (Masoka) particularly became one of the first communities in the country
to embrace the CAMPFIRE philosophy and is often cited as one example of successful
community based natural resources management in Zimbabwe. One of the major
objectives of CAMPFIRE therefore was to initiate a programme for the long-term
development, management and utilization of natural resources in communal areas by
placing the custody and responsibility of these resources in the hands of local
communities as well as allowing the communities to benefit directly from the
exploitation of these resources. Communities would gain from funds realised through
such activities as hunting concessions, trophy hunting, safari operations, ivory culling,
craft and other tourism activities as well as employment, direct income and even meat
from killed animals (ZELA, 2002).
As
Derman (1996)
writes,
Dande
(as
Lower Guruve) experienced much
experimentation, training, job creation and income generation through the expansion of
wildlife generated activities and the CAMPFIRE initiative. As will be shown in later
discussions however, benefits of CAMPFIRE remained largely visible in the so-called
three ‘wildlife producing wards’ which share boundaries with safari areas. It was
expected that benefits of this programme to the other 14 ‘non-wildlife producing wards’
(including ward 12) would be channelled through the RDC through, for example,
compensating victims of destroyed fields, attacked livestock, injuries or loss to human
107
life since wildlife is a fugitive resource not necessarily bound to stay within its
immediate habitat. This has, however, largely not been the case according to interviews
and discussions with villagers during the fieldwork, and it emerged that some of the
major contestations and vulnerabilities in such ‘non-wildlife producing’ wards as ward
12 have revolved around the costs and benefits of wildlife presence in the area.
4.3.5. An overview of the Ward 12 context40
The area now known as ward 12 (see Map 3.2) was part of another ward, (ward 3),
before it was made a separate ward in 2007 at the formation of Mbire District and
during the ward boundary delineation exercise in preparations for the March 2008
general elections. The ward borders Mozambique to the north, ward 4 to the east, wards
9 and 17 to the south and ward 3 (from which it was split) to the west (see Maps 3.1 and
3.2). It is a 36 kilometre stretch from villages south-east of (and near) Mushumbi
Business Centre (at the centre of the district), to the north at the Chikafa Border Post
with Mozambique. The ward had a population of 7 532 with 1 616 households as at
October 2008 (LGDA Mbire Survey Report, 2008), and a total of 15 villages as noted
earlier.
Social services, infrastructure and amenities
The ward is serviced by three health centres (though one of these – Mushumbi Clinic –
is situated at Mushumbi Business Centre which is in ward 9). The other two health
centres are Nyambudzi Health Centre built in 1994 in Nyambudzi B village, and
Chikafa Health Centre at the border with Mozambique. The latter was constructed in the
early 1980s just after the country’s independence.
There are two primary schools in the ward – Nyambudzi Primary School near the clinic
in Nyambudzi B village and Chikafa Primary School near Chikafa Border Post. For
those villages which are near Mushumbi Business Centre, there is also Mushumbi
Primary School where a sizeable number of children from the ward attend. There is one
secondary school in the ward – Chikafa Secondary School again situated near Chikafa
Border Post. Most villagers, however, prefer to send their children to Mushumbi High
School which is near the main business centre in ward 9, as they view it as far wellstaffed and resourced than Chikafa Secondary School. This results in a lot of secondary
40
See also Appendix 1
108
school children in the ward walking very long distances, as long as 10 kilometres or
more, from those villages which are far from Mushumbi to attend school there.
There is only one cattle dip-tank in the ward, which is clearly inadequate to cater for the
growing numbers of cattle in the ward41. The recommended practice in the area over the
years was that cattle should dip once every month, however, because of lack of
chemicals in recent years, villagers noted that their cattle can take up to three months
without going for dip and therefore they end up buying the chemicals on an individual
basis so as to prevent their cattle from succumbing to various diseases.
Ward 12 residents mostly purchase their food stuffs and other goods and groceries at
Mushumbi Business Centre; however, there are two small business centres in the ward –
Nyambudzi Business Centre (near Nyambudzi Primary School) and Chikafa Business
Centre (at the border) whose operations are seasonal. These mainly operate during the
(cotton) harvesting period between April and August when most villagers have more
disposable income after which they close during the other months of the year as it will
not be viable to operate the businesses then.
The main (gravel) road from Mushumbi Business Centre, (where most buses and other
public transport end their journeys into the district), passing through the ward to
Chikafa Border Post is in a poor state having last been repaired by the local authority in
2007. Though it is generally accessible during the dry season and some public transport
use the road in this period, it becomes virtually unusable during the rainy season and
those at the far-end of the ward have to walk very long distances to Mushumbi to look
for transport.
Water resources and pasture land
One major river, Manyame, flows along the western side of the ward, forming the
boundary with ward 3 and entering into the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Manyame
River is a perennial flowing river though it sometimes contains very low levels of water
during dry seasons. Most households in ward 12 (just as in all other wards in the area)
maintain riverbank fields where close to 80% of maize in the area is farmed and
vegetable production is undertaken (SNI.4). Given the rich alluvial soils which
characterise the riverbanks, they have high agricultural potential and are viewed by the
villagers as the most productive farming areas in Dande. There are two other rivers in
41
There were 1561 cattle in the ward as at 2008 (LGDA Mbire Survey Report, 2008) and these continue to increase
109
the ward – Chingo River which flows along the eastern side, before entering into
another river called Bwazi on the north-eastern side – which then pours into Manyame
near the Mozambican border at Chikafa. However, like many other small rivers and
streams in Dande, Chingo and Bwazi rivers are seasonal as they only contain water
during the rainy season and completely dry up during the dry season.
There are a total of 15 functional boreholes in the ward which means there is an average
of one borehole per village. One borehole in ward 12 specifically services an average of
490 persons, effectively superseding the acceptable number of persons per borehole
which, according to the Government of Zimbabwe Water and Sanitation Master Plan,
should (at maximum) be 250 persons or 25 families per borehole (LGDA Mbire Survey
Report, 2008). This state of affairs generally mirrors the situation across Dande in as far
as access to clean and safe water (especially for domestic use) is concerned.
There are no specified pasture areas in ward 12; however, during the main farming
season (September to April), cattle, sheep and goats are carefully herded around lands
near village homesteads. Livestock water points during the summer are plenty due to
the rains, and many seasonal streams and rivers flowing are used for this purpose.
During the winter/dry season, livestock are released to graze alone around homesteads,
in mountains and along roads to be collected or left to come back alone at the end of the
day. Their movements along the Manyame River (which is the only major livestock
water point remaining during that period) are, however, closely monitored so that they
do not enter riverbank fields and destroy crops grown there during that period as well as
to guide them away from known points where crocodiles frequent and reside. Towards
the end of the dry season and just before the first summer rains, good pastures become
patchy and are found mostly along the Manyame River hence livestock start to be
carefully herded again along the riverbanks for the same reasons indicated before.
4.4. Conclusion
This chapter has presented the national and local contextual background within which
the research was carried out. It provides preliminary insights into the various
opportunities and constraints towards the formulation of adaptive strategies in the area
over time; many of the issues expanded upon in following chapters. Pre- and postindependence developments in the case study area are also explored, which lays the
platform for analysing continuities, adjustments and discontinuities of resilient and
adaptive strategies to livelihood challenges and constraints in the area. Overall, the
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chapter reveals an increasingly difficult national socio-economic context, and a local
context characterised by declining social services, highly diversified ethnic composition
and a growing population as well as re-emerging tsetse-fly problems – changing
vulnerability patterns which are fully discussed in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER FIVE. LIVELIHOOD AND VULNERABILITY TRENDS IN DANDE
5.1. Introduction
This chapter examines livelihood activities and vulnerability trends in Dande
particularly over the 1990 to 2010 study period. The chapter focuses on the first
research question, and its main purpose is to provide a deep understanding of the
livelihoods and vulnerability background against which resiliency analysis is
undertaken. The chapter is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on
livelihood activity trends in the case study community, classifying these into
agricultural and non-agricultural and analysing them as such. The second documents the
myriad livelihood challenges and constraints in the area over the years. The section
explores the various localised and national-related social, economic, natural and
political challenges experienced and how they have interacted to create dynamic
vulnerability conditions in the area. A full understanding of these conditions laid the
basis for grasping the relevance and utility of different livelihood adaptive strategies
engaged by local residents as analysed in subsequent chapters.
5.2. Livelihoods structure and dynamics in Dande
5.2.1. Agricultural livelihood asset and activity trends
Agricultural activities form the main sources of livelihoods in Dande. Discussion here
touches on both on-farm and off-farm agricultural activity and includes analysis on
activities around crop production, livestock production, local casual agricultural work
(maricho) and commercial farm-working.
Crop production
There are two main crop production systems in Dande. The first is the upland crop
production system consisting of upland fields (minda yekunze) held by all households
and averaging 7 to 12 acres per household. The second is the riverbank crop production
system consisting of fields on the banks of major rivers, (Manyame River in the case of
the study ward), locally referred to as minda yekugova, where the majority of villagers
hold plots averaging 1 to 5 acres per household (either personal or borrowed).
Autochthonous residents (defined in the context of this work in the mould of Weiner
(1983) as non-immigrant residents, most of whom are of the Korekore ethnic group)
make up the majority owners of riverbank fields, with non-autochthonous residents
(referring here to immigrant residents, the majority of whom are non-Korekore)
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accessing these plots through borrowing from close neighbours, friends and kin who
own them.
Upland crop production
Upland fields consist mainly of shallow sandy clay soils (mutapo), and are used for
dryland crop production involving mainly cotton, sorghum and groundnut farming
though a variety of other crops particularly cowpea, sunflower and millet are also grown
there. As discussed in chapter four, the central government was once at the centre of
upland field allocation in the area during the MZRDP from the late 1980s into the
1990s. Ironically this triggered the spontaneous settlement of people and a disorderly
clearing of lands; with local traditional authorities (particularly headmen and village
heads) running a parallel allocation programme as contrasted with the planned central
government-led resettlements, and with most autochthonous residents resisting moving
onto new ‘pegged’ areas for various reasons (see Spierenburg, 2004). As the population
grew over the years (see Table 5.4), most households abandoned the MZRDP pegged
fields, which they said had become not only too close to growing villages and
households thereby causing conflicts around crop destruction by livestock, but were
also losing fertility and had become increasingly prone to in-season flooding. Most
families therefore moved their upland fields further away from homesteads, though they
first had to get the approval of their respective village heads before clearing the lands.
The case of Mazvita Murongoti from Nyambudzi B village below provides an example
of upland-field shifts and the reasons thereof42:
Mazvita Murongoti was allocated a 12 acre field in 1989 situated just 50 metres from his homestead during the
MZRDP. From his estimates, there were not more than 30 households in their village then. He planted cotton and
maize in his first season after being helped clear the land using DDF tractors under the MZRDP as he had no cattle
for traction. From 1990 up to 1998, he farmed this piece of land with varying degrees of success mostly depending on
the rains. As their village grew, with more people building homesteads closer to and around his fields, he started
having problems with fellow villagers whose cattle and goats would stray into his field and destroy crops during
farming seasons. He recounted that, for example, during the 1996/97 season, he had to use the little money he had
obtained from cotton sales to buy maize and sorghum for family consumption after the whole portion he had planted
maize was destroyed by his neighbour’s cattle. The following season, (upon the village head’s approval) he then
decided to move, and he shifted his upland field further away to the east where he cleared a 6 acre plot primarily to
avoid these conflicts with other villagers. He has expanded his field each season since then and it now stands at 11
acres where he now farms cotton and sorghum – ‘without conflict with anyone’ – he says. The area where his 12 acre
field once stood is now a grazing area where people’s livestock roam and feed during both the wet and the dry
season.
Upland field allocation is now the sole preserve of village heads though in principle this
is supposed to be done in consultation with Village Development Committees
(VIDCOs) and/or the ward councillor and an agricultural extension officer to avoid
42
This was collected as life history LH3-NYBV (see codes in Table 3.3 and Appendix 3)
113
favouritism and an arbitrary land allocation exercise based on one person discretion
(SNI.1).
From the 1980s up to the early 2000s, respondents pointed out that cotton was the major
crop in the uplands; with over 85% of farmland in these fields under cotton then (SNI.4;
SNI.5). Maize took the greater part of the remaining portion. Evidence from my survey
also corroborates this as cotton came up as the crop occupying the largest average
acreage of crops grown per household in upland fields in the 1990s (see Table 6.1).
With returns from cotton fluctuating and getting increasingly unpredictable and erratic
due to inflation and hyperinflation over the years (see Table 6.2), coupled with
increasing rainfall variability trends (see Figure 5.1) which were not auguring well with
continued extensive maize production in the uplands, residents were under increasing
pressure to find alternatives to deal with an increasingly deteriorating food security
situation.
Around 2003, the LGDA introduced the short-season macia sorghum seed variety in the
area. Dande residents had always grown the long-season sorghum variety type locally
known as ‘nyajena’ or ‘machibuku’ in small portions in the uplands which, however,
many a time succumbed to the hot weather conditions in the area (just like maize). The
macia sorghum variety therefore seemed to be the answer in supplementing the drop in
cotton returns and replacing an increasingly untenable maize production in the uplands.
Since its introduction, the macia sorghum crop is steadily becoming the most popular
crop in Dande as evidenced by the large acreage that it is now being given by most
households in upland fields. The variety is appealing as it has high drought resistance
and good disease tolerance which makes it the right crop for conditions in Dande
(SNI.4).
Upland crop activity begins with the clearing of fields and preparations for planting in
the months of September and/or October just before and continuing after the falling of
the first rains. It becomes intensive from November to March with the planting and
weeding periods and the protecting of crops from wild animals, birds and other pests,
before the commencing of harvesting from end of March/beginning of April onward
(see Table 5.1). With the exception of cotton which is exclusively for selling on the
cotton market, most upland crops are for subsistence purposes i.e. family consumption,
barter trade for accessing other foodstuffs and essential services such as health,
transport and education for children.
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Riverbank crop production
Riverbanks form the most arable lands in the area and the major crop grown on them is
maize. Small gardens of green vegetables, tomatoes and onions are also found in these
fields. Discussions in the previous chapter have revealed that Dande has a long history
of riverbank cultivation going back to 5th century farming communities. This is
therefore an old practice carried over and evolving through generations. Riverbank
fields are characterised by rich alluvial soils which store residual moisture from the
rainy season into the dry season, hence villagers are able to conduct farming there the
whole year round – planting crops around October/November and harvesting
March/April then planting again around May and harvesting September/October. The
latter crop depends on the amount of moisture held in the riverbank soils after the rainy
season. Riverbank fields are inherited and passed on from generation to generation,
treated very much as private properties with even the village heads having very little or
no say. Kinship and lineage are therefore very important factors in the ownership of
these fields. As earlier noted, the majority owners of these fields are autochthonous
residents, with others gaining usufruct rights mainly based on close neighbourhood,
friendship or kinship.
The major limiting factor for riverbank crop production was found to be labour
availability to work both the upland fields and the riverbank fields at the same time,
particularly during the main farming season (October to April). Most households during
this period therefore tend to put more effort in the uplands where the main cash crop
(cotton) and the increasingly important macia sorghum crop are farmed. These seasonal
labour bottlenecks and trade-offs, influenced by various factors which include (but not
limited to) the type of technology employed and household size, are very much
characteristic of semi-arid areas and can influence the level of agricultural activity of a
household throughout the rest of the year (FAO, 1995).
In times or seasons when it rains heavily in the area or upstream, the main (Manyame)
river often floods, many a time resulting in the washing away of the October/November
crop on the riverbanks. The October/November riverbank maize crop is therefore
considered more of a gamble (‘injuga’ – as noted by one respondent in vernacular), as it
may or may not thrive depending on whether the rivers flood during the course of the
season or not. Residents are, however, always sure of the fact that once the Manyame
River floods during the rainy season (and washes away the October/November crop),
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then they are guaranteed of a good harvest for the May to September crop as moisture
retention in the riverbanks would be high. Riverbank fields also come with an added
advantage of the popular masau fruit trees which are dotted in and around many of the
fields, and once a masau fruit tree grows in one’s field it becomes their private property.
Even when one lends the field to a neighbour, relative or friend, the original owner
retains the sole rights to the fruit43.
Residents also spoke of clashes with authorities from the 1990s to as late as 2007, as
they had been continuously told to stop their farming practices in these fields due to a
national stream-bank cultivation regulation policy which makes it illegal to cultivate
land ‘within thirty metres of the naturally defined banks of a public stream’ (GoZ,
1991). As will be discussed in detail in later sections, they strongly resisted being
moved from these fields arguing that these had been their forefathers’ fields from time
immemorial and that the fields were central in as far as food availability and well being
in their homes was concerned. From group discussions with villagers and key informant
interviews (and as shall be fully discussed in following chapters), a mutual agreement
was later reached, with villagers being allowed to continue farming in these areas
provided they do not use ox-drawn ploughs to avoid the extensive loosening of soil and
the subsequent erosion and gully formation. Table 5.1 summarizes both upland and
riverbank crop production activities in the area as discussed.
Table 5.1. Timetable of crop-production activities
43
These fruits are important fall-back sources of food in critical times, especially during drought periods. They can
be dried and/or pounded to make thick porridge. They are also sold both locally and to outsiders who come and hoard
them for reselling in major towns and cities.
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Livestock production
Livestock acts as a stock of wealth, a buffer against critical times and is indicative of
different production orientations in the area. Livestock raised in the area include cattle,
goats, sheep, pigs and poultry (chicken and ducks). Livestock in the area is important as
a source of draught power, meat, milk, manure and essential in other important social
processes (e.g. paying bride-price, settling serious societal conflicts, and payment of
fines in traditional courts). As in many other rural communities in SSA, cattle are the
most highly ranked form of livestock and the more cattle a household owns, the
wealthier and/or financially stable they are (perceived to be). The number of cattle one
has also determines the area that can be planted in upland fields and how fast this can be
done, which is important given the fact that timely planting is a major factor in crop
success in these marginal areas (Nyamudeza, 1999). It is also a local source of moneymaking business (e.g. ploughing other villagers’ fields for cash and transporting other
people’s commodities to the market), as well as spreading social networks since owning
more cattle in the area generally means more social recognition and being ‘culturally
anchored’.
Cattle were therefore usually the first defining variable for locals when asked to
distinguish the distribution of important livelihood sources for a household in the area.
Notwithstanding this value attached to cattle, it is, however, small stock (in the form of
goats, chicken, ducks and to a lesser extent sheep and pigs) that are widely regarded as
more saleable, exchangeable and convertible in the area than cattle. Macro-economic
challenges in the country over the years (as manifesting especially in hyperinflation,
scarcity of the local currency as well as shortages of basic commodities in shops in the
whole country particularly in the 2000s – see later) resulted in the high rate of small
animal marketing and the rise in value of small stock.
Respondents, for example, noted that during the inflation and hyperinflation periods in
the country between 2003 and 2009, small stock became extremely important sources of
income, investment and insurance as selling cattle would mean one would be left with
useless wads of notes or bank savings that rapidly depreciated. It was also pointed out
that small stock has a ready market and could be sold anywhere at any time. According
to respondents, cattle sales are therefore rare and are only done in times of critical need
or as distress sales during serious drought periods when it is better to sell than watch an
animal die. Livestock, especially small stock, are also used for barter trade in exchange
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for cereals, payment of health, transport and education services and exchange for other
livestock (e.g. it was noted that one cow may be exchanged for six to eight goats or
sheep on average, and one goat for three to four chickens on average depending on
negotiations between individuals).
All households which participated in the survey had had some form of small stock at
some point over the reference study period – with poultry and goats being the highest,
as, for example, 89% of households possessed chickens whilst 72% owned goats during
the fieldwork period. Both villagers and key informants, however, pointed out that
livestock asset holding at household level has not been improving over the years with
small-stock holding actually appearing to be on the decline, whilst there has also not
been any marked improvement in cattle ownership since the years of tsetse-fly
eradication in the area. This was confirmed during the survey when comparisons of
numbers of different livestock owned by sampled households at the time of the research
and average approximate numbers of the same stock in the 1990s were made. For
example, the average approximate number of goats possessed per owning household
1995/96 was 10 whilst it stood at 6 at the time of the research, whilst for chickens the
average approximate number in the 1990s was 24 and 9 at the time of the research.
There was no significant difference on the average numbers of cattle owned per
household 1995/96 and during the period of the research, (with an average approximate
number of 4 in the 1990s and 3 at the time of the research).
During discussions and interviews, this scenario was mainly attributed to the inflation
and hyperinflation period (of 2003 to 2009) where many households were forced by the
prevailing circumstances to dispose of their livestock; as well as fluctuating and erratic
cotton producer prices since the late 1990s (refer to Table 6.1), which meant less cash to
purchase livestock for most households as this had been one of the most important
sources of cash for livestock purchases. Table 5.2 summarizes the actual numbers of
different livestock in the study ward and in Dande as a whole, as well as the numbers of
owning households as presented at the last general ward count during the 2008 LGDA
Mbire district survey, revealing big numbers in small stock (particularly poultry and
goats).
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Table. 5.2. Total number of livestock and owning households as at 2008
Type of
Livestock
Number of Owning
Households
Proportional % of owning
households against overall
number of households*
Actual stock-type population
Ward 12
Dande as a whole
Ward 12
Dande as a whole
Ward 12
Dande as a whole
Cattle
266
6609
16.46
30.73
1561
26265
Goats
729
7165
45.11
33.31
2296
29176
Poultry
1122
15077
69.43
70.09
4508
85548
Pigs
66
499
4.08
2.32
100
1280
Sheep
66
901
4.08
4.19
265
3198
Source: LGDA Mbire Baseline Survey, 2008
* The total number households in ward 12 and the whole of Dande at the last LGDA count were 1 616 and 21 510
respectively
Local casual agricultural work (maricho)
This involves working in other villagers’ fields for payment in cash or in kind. Most of
this work revolves around the pre-harvest activities of land preparation, planting and
weeding, the actual harvesting, and post-harvest activities of threshing, winnowing and
packing. Local casual agricultural work was, however, largely dismissed by respondents
as a waste of time and at worst demeaning. For instance, although 69% of survey
respondents noted that they or a member of their family are engaged in local casual
agricultural work from time to time, all of them were quick to point out that it was
largely out of desperation than for profit, done when all other livelihood activities have
failed as the returns they get are very low and also not commensurate with the jobs they
do. It was noted, for example, that the average payment rate for weeding is US$1 per
five lines weeded (i.e. one line of the cotton/sorghum/maize/groundnut crop stretching
approximately 65 to 70 metres long), or a bucket (i.e. 20kgs) of maize or sorghum for
every 25 to 30 lines weeded. Apart from the low rates of pay, respondents also
maintained that doing casual agricultural labour keeps them away from their own fields
at a time when the fields need attention most, thereby depressing productivity.
Commercial farm-working
This used to be one of the most popular sources of livelihoods in the area before and
after independence in 1980 up until the early 2000s in the wake of the FTLRP. All
households during the survey reported one or more of their members as having worked
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in the former white-owned commercial farms at some point as casual workers or as
permanent employees who would reside at those farms. What necessitated a big number
of people from the Valley to get involved in farm-working was the proximity of the area
to quite a number of these commercial farms in upper Guruve, Mvurwi, Centenary,
Bindura and Mazowe (SNI.1). During the 1991/92 drought for example, (considered to
be the worst in living memory), respondents told stories of these commercial farms
being critical sources of survival as workers would be given food rations in the form of
maize-meal, small kapenta fish (matemba) and beans from the white farm-owners which
they would then take back to Dande to share with families. Others temporarily took
their families with them to these farms until the end of the drought period. (These
stories are reflected in some of the life-histories presented in chapter seven).
Villagers ranked commercial farm-working as one of the two major sources bringing
cash in the home in the 1990s more than any other source of livelihood, (the other being
cotton sales), showing how important it was in the livelihoods of most people in the
area. All this, however, disappeared in the early 2000s with the invasion of the
commercial farms by ZANU PF supporters during the FTLRP. It would be a fair
assessment therefore to note, (as will be discussed later), that the disturbances in the
commercial farms under the chaotic FTLRP forms one of the major shocks to
livelihoods experienced by residents in Dande.
5.2.2. Non-agricultural activity trends
Dande residents have also had
non-agricultural activities contributing to their
livelihoods in one way or the other over the years, and these include fishing (for both
subsistence and commercial purposes), trading in goods and services, regular (casual
and permanent) employment, remittances and CAMPFIRE dividends. The last source of
livelihood is exclusive to wards 1, 2 and 11 – considered wildlife-producing wards
(living closer to safari areas relative to other wards in Dande), thereby directly
benefitting from proceeds from various safari activities. Discussion on CAMPFIRE
dividends is therefore not included here as they do not cover the selected study ward.
Fishing
There are two main kinds of fishing as livelihood activity in the area. One involves
fishing in local rivers and the many streams which appear during the rainy season for
household consumption during both the wet and the dry seasons. The second type
involves those who fish for commercial purposes at points along the Zambezi River. For
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ward 12 residents, this would either be in the Bawa area of Mozambique (situated
approximately 50 kilometres from the ward border with Mozambique) or along the
country border with Zambia in ward 1.
The first kind of fishing activity is carried out by almost all households with adult men
and women mostly being involved. Fishing in local rivers provides households with
meat as well as a commodity to trade in with other residents, especially during the
‘food-gap’ period of November to March when most families exhaust their food stocks
and a need for cereals (particularly maize or sorghum) arises. Due to high fishing
activity in major rivers in Dande (e.g. Manyame in ward 12), the RDC together with the
traditional leadership have since sought to regulate this activity by particularly banning
fishing with nets.
According to respondents, commercial fishing in the area is normally undertaken by
young men especially after the April to July crop harvesting period, though it was noted
that an increasing number of women also began to join in around 2007/08 at the peak of
the economic crisis in the country when hyperinflation, basic food shortages coupled
with low rainfalls and the subsequent crop failure in the area pushed many households
into desperation. People are drawn by the big size of fish as well as the increased
number of catches per day in the Zambezi. There are also fewer restrictions on fishing
in the Zambezi, as people can use nets especially in the Bawa area, though one should
have a permit to be able to use nets along the Zambezi fishing points in ward 1. Fish
caught in the Zambezi are mainly traded for cash and/or other commodities (mainly
groceries or buckets of maize and sorghum) in Mozambique, Zambia and in other wards
in Dande that are furthest away from the Zambezi.
Trading in goods and services
A few households are also involved in running their own businesses either at the local
Nyambudzi and Chikafa Business Centres (in the ward), or at the main Mushumbi
Business Centre. The small businesses at the local business centres in the ward are
seasonal and they mainly thrive during the cotton harvesting period when most people
have substantial disposable income. Outside that period they close down. From the
survey, only 7 out of the 71 respondents (9.9%) reported running their own businesses
during the fieldwork period. Two of these rented small grocery shops and one a bottle
store at the two small business centres in the ward. The other one owned a grinding mill
which he runs at his home whilst the remaining three mentioned that they erect small
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stalls at the two small business centres in the ward during the cotton harvesting period,
where they sell a variety of wares (e.g. clothes, agricultural equipment, bicycles etc)
hoarded either from Harare (the capital city) or Bindura (the provincial capital).
Regular employment and remittances
From group discussions, and as confirmed in the survey, regular employment seemed to
significantly contribute to livelihoods for a sizeable number of households in the 1990s,
(for example as stated by 55% of the 71 respondents in the survey), before taking a
plunge in recent years (with, for example, only 10% of the same 71 respondents
confirming its importance as a source of livelihood for their households in the last five
to ten years preceding the research). This may be attributed to the macro-economic
changes which took place in the country over the 1990s and after, whereby a lot of
people lost their jobs following the introduction of ESAPs in the early 1990s, with
further misery being experienced in the formal employment sector during the economic
meltdown of the 2000s as more industries, mines, farms and businesses closed down
due to viability problems.
Evidence from the study indicates that remittances have not been an important part of
most families’ livelihoods in the area. 82% of survey respondents, for example, stated
that they never considered it as an important source of livelihood even in the 1990s.
Only 31% attached various degrees of importance (moderate/high) to remittances in the
five to ten year period preceding the research. This was corroborated in group
discussions with villagers noting that even at points when they have received
remittances from family members and relatives, the amounts have not been significant
enough to make impacts on their livelihoods.
5.2.3. Summarising livelihood asset and activity trends
By addressing the separate livelihood activities and asset structure in detail as presented,
we may begin to lose the general direction and an integrated picture of livelihood trends
in the area. It is therefore necessary to make a recollection and present an integrated
summary of the discussed livelihood assets and activities. Firstly, major sources of
livelihoods in the area over the years have revolved around agricultural activities in
general and cotton and maize production in particular, with sorghum steadily becoming
a popular crop in recent years after the introduction of the macia sorghum variety by the
LGDA in 2003, thereby virtually overtaking maize as the other major crop in the
uplands. Livestock, especially small stock, has been shown to be a critical source of
122
financial capital in the area particularly as local currency (i.e. then Zimbabwean dollar)
increasingly lost value over the late 1990s and in the 2000s, though, as in most rural
African communities, cattle retains its position as the most highly ranked form of
livestock in terms of wealth.
Secondly, apart from fishing, most non-agricultural activities are not of much
importance to the majority of households, either due to the low numbers of people
involved in them or because of the returns attached to these activities. What this means
then is that most resilience and adaptive capacity decisions and actions in the majority
of households, as will be discussed in following chapters, have tended to centre around
re-shaping and transforming processes within and around the agricultural system more
than exploring non-agricultural activities.
The next section explores the nature of the changing patterns of vulnerability in the
area. It is important to re-state, as noted in chapter two, that a resiliency perspective as
advanced in this thesis advocated for a holistic evaluation of all the major vulnerability
factors in the area over the selected 1990 to 2010 reference study period.
5.3. Characterising the vulnerability context in Dande
The major sources of vulnerability in the area over the years were linked to (a)
increasing poverty levels (b) low rainfalls and increasing drought cycles (c) wildlife and
tsetse-fly (d) demographic changes (e) macro-economic challenges and poor national
government policies (f) poor markets and infrastructure and (g) health challenges
particularly malaria and HIV/AIDS. Whilst most of these livelihood constraints are
stresses (pressures which are typically continuous and cumulative and therefore to some
extent predictable), some of them such as serious droughts and some macro-economic
challenges and poor government policies manifesting in such experiences as
hyperinflation and the chaotic FTLRP, are definitely shocks (challenges which are
typically sudden, unpredictable and traumatic). These vulnerabilities are explored in
detail in the following discussions.
5.3.1. Increasing poverty levels
Discussions in chapter two show poverty to be a driver of ‘internal’ vulnerability.
Fieldwork evidence revealed increasingly high levels of poverty in the area over the
years – contributing to the determinants and consequences of dynamic vulnerability
changes in the area in significant ways. As explained in chapter two, poverty is
multidimensional; encompassing not only an income aspect but also the deprivation of
123
livelihood resources, capabilities, choices and power for the engagement of adequate
standards of living. The income aspect actually proved difficult to trace in the selected
study period (1990-2010) due to two major reasons. Firstly, inflation and later
hyperinflation in the 2000s (see Appendix 5) meant tracing and working out the rapidly
changing Zimbabwean dollar monetary income values became next to impossible.
Besides, as shall be discussed in detail in the next chapters, there was widespread
informal utilization of various currencies in the country from the year 2000 onward
which, in the case of Dande, witnessed the Zimbabwean dollar being used side by side
with the Zambian kwacha, the Mozambican metical, the US dollar, and a serious
engagement in barter and non-monetary transactions in accessing various goods and
services. Secondly, attempting to obtain income figures from the various livelihood
activities that participants were engaged in during years of relative economic stability
covered in the study period (i.e. 1990-1999) also proved futile given the long recall
period involved, which meant most people could not remember or heavily distorted
income figures obtained then.
Selected household and community physical and financial asset-based proxies were
therefore used to determine poverty levels in the area over the years, and these included
tracing the trends in average household numbers of major livestock (cattle, goats and
chicken) as well as comparing average cotton yields (i.e. the main cash crop in the area)
over the years. The highest level of education attained by any family member for those
involved in the survey, and the education levels of survey respondents themselves (85%
of whom were household heads), also assisted in determining poverty levels of
households in the area as these (levels of education) were taken to provide possible exit
routes out of poverty through the provision of skills and opportunities to engage into
reasonably paying employment and other sources of livelihoods such as remittances.
Lastly, the ‘geographic’ capital of the area – representing its remoteness, marginality
and levels of physical and social infrastructural development (Hulme et al, 2001), were
also taken into consideration given that these (community physical and social
infrastructure) provide support and opportunities for improving household and
community livelihoods and for adequately responding to livelihood challenges and
constraints. Table 5.3 shows trends of financial proxies used to determine household
poverty comparing the mid-1990s and the fieldwork period.
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Table 5.3 Livestock and cotton yield trends across the three study villages
Average numbers of selected
livestock
held
(per
household) 1995/96
Average numbers of selected livestock
held (per household) during the period of
research (2010/11)
Cattle
Cattle
Goats
Chicken
3
6
9
4
Goats
10
Chicken
24
Average cotton
yields
per
household
1995/96
Average
cotton
yields
per
household during
the period of the
research (2009/10
season)
12.9 bales
6.5 bales
The table shows declining trends in all household-level financial proxies presented and
hence increasing poverty levels over the years. This is corroborated by wealth ranking
exercises conducted across the three study villages, which also factored in the types of
homesteads respondents live in and the total household land area under cultivation;
showing almost 75% of the survey respondents in the combined poor and very poor
categories during the fieldwork period (see Table 7.1).
On levels of education, the highest number of respondents during the survey (37%) had
only attained ‘some’ primary education, with a significant number (27%) having no
formal education at all. The highest education level attained by any family member for
the highest number of households in the survey was ‘completed’ basic (form four)
secondary education (42% of the households), and only one household had a member
with university education. It was apparent during informal conversations and other
interactions that there seemed to be a generally low appreciation of formal education in
the area – an attitude possibly resulting from a combination of the ‘bad neighbourhood
effect’44, and a serious fall in formal and well-rewarding employment opportunities in
the country in general since the 1990s following ESAPs and the serious economic crisis
of the 2000s. It was therefore not uncommon to hear parents querying why they should
continue encouraging their children to further their education when the majority of local
young boys and girls who had completed their basic secondary education had either
proceeded into full-time local cotton farming, or had left for neighbouring countries
(mostly Zambia and South Africa) to look for casual employment in farms, mines and
cities – jobs which do not require higher educational qualifications. The general picture
in the area therefore was one of low levels and appreciation of formal education.
44
See section 2.8.2 for the definition of the ‘bad neighbourhood effect’.
125
Poor geographic capital
As fully discussed in chapter two, concentration of severe, persistent and
multidimensional poverty is also largely a function of both ‘first nature’ and ‘second
nature’ community geographic characteristics. As for the ‘first-nature’ characteristics;
as highlighted in chapter four, (to be further explored in succeeding sections in this
chapter), Dande is a semi-arid marginal area, with communities listed in low
agricultural potential regions IV and V and beset by various adverse climatic and
topographic challenges. During drought seasons, which occur after every three to five
years, all wards in Dande record grain deficits (LGDA Mbire Survey, 2008); hence the
food security situation is almost always dire. In addition, and as discussed earlier, a
third of Dande is not suitable for cattle production due to tsetse-fly and for those wards
suitable for cattle rearing, just about a third of the households own cattle, with the
commonly owned livestock being chickens (see Table 5.2). As discussed in chapter
four, most upland fields in the area are also characterised by the less productive shallow
sandy clay soils (mutapo), with the most productive (riverbank) lands being owned by a
few.
As for ‘second-nature’ geographic characteristics; there appeared to be general policy
failure in Dande just as in most semi-arid rural SSA communities (cf. Davis and Place,
2003; Mongi et al, 2010). This was reflected in the low and deteriorating levels of
economic and infrastructural development in the area. Findings from the survey on
perceptions of respondents on the changing state of community physical infrastructure
and social services (e.g. roads, transport services, extension services, cotton credit
facilities and health services) over the years revealed a picture of poor and declining
conditions (see Appendix 3). As will be discussed in succeeding sections of this chapter,
these geographic capital characteristics in the area have immensely contributed in
constraining residents’ access to basic community services important for livelihoods
such as adequate agricultural extension services and transport and communication
services, and at the same time increased costs of accessing basic household (food and
other) commodities resulting in the erosion of incomes and subsequently pushing
poverty levels up.
126
5.3.2. Low rainfalls and increasing drought cycles
Rains and rainfall patterns are central to people’s livelihoods in the area vis-à-vis upland
and riverbank crop production, livestock production and fishing. Upland crop
production is exclusively dependent on the rains. Good rains ensure the availability of
water in major rivers for continued moisture around the riverbanks important for easier
all-year round maize (and other crop) farming in the riverbank fields. Livestock water
points and grazing lands in the villages also thrive on rainwater, and fishing is much
easier and profitable when there are more rivers and streams with water and when there
are large volumes of water in the main rivers. Rains and rainfall patterns therefore play
a crucial role in people’s livelihoods in the area.
Being a semi-arid zone, the area is characterised by low and highly variable rainfalls
(450-650mm on average annually). Inter-seasonal dry spells are also common. In the
listing of a livelihoods constraints hierarchy during focus group discussions, low
rainfalls and increased drought cycles came out as livelihood challenge number one.
Respondents noted that rains are generally unreliable every year and rainfall patterns are
increasingly becoming erratic in recent decades. A normal rainy season in the area
begins late November and ends in March. It was also noted that there is a lull in
rainfalls in the month of January almost every year, though this took place in February
during the fieldwork period, which led to crop stress at the critical tasseling stage.
Locals refer to the wilting condition which crops undergo during this rainfall lull period
as the ‘burning of crops’ (see Photo 5.1). The ‘burning’ or ‘kutsva kwezvirimwa’ in
vernacular, is caused by the heat of the sun though there is no actual burning as such. A
season may therefore receive normal rainfall amounts, however, these in-season lull
periods coming at a time when crops are at a critical stage of growth have many a time
led to reduced quantity and quality of crop yields.
Photo 5.1. Wilting maize crop at the tasseling stage in an upland field
127
Analysis of rainfall data covering two decades (i.e. from 1988 to 2010) collected from
AGRITEX offices at Mushumbi and the district meteorological station in ward 1
indicated that rainfall is highly variable in Dande with as many as five seasons
experiencing rainfall 75% below the expected average rainfall of the area (Figure 5.1)
Figure 5.1. Seasonal rainfall variability in Dande between 1988 and 2010
Source: AGRITEX Mushumbi; Kanyemba Meteorological Office
Respondents stated that droughts, (defined here in a broad sense as the deficiency of
precipitation, or water deficit over an extended period of time resulting in serious
adverse effects on water supplies and agricultural production), occur in the area every 3
to 5 years – a trend in Zimbabwe’s drylands also noted in works by scholars such as
Illiffe (1990) and Bird and Shepherd (2003)45. This leads to total crop failure (especially
upland crops), the drying up of rivers and boreholes and livestock deaths.
Though people in the area do not have local names for different types of droughts,
respondents were able to distinguish between ‘a heavy/serious drought’ and a
‘small/manageable drought’ that they have experienced over a twenty-eight year period
(1980-2008) during historical timeline exercises. This distinction was created together
with respondents during focus group discussions so as to gauge the extent of the
seriousness of the droughts experienced in different years. The distinguishing factors
between the two types of droughts centred on their effects – particularly the extent of
crop failure, livestock deaths, and water levels in the main Manyame River. Table 5.4
summarizes the results of what came out of these exercises.
45
The thesis largely considers drought in an agricultural and socio-economic sense – i.e. as perceived by local people
as being years when crops failed. Meteorological data for the area is, however, provided to ascertain rainfall
variability in the whole of Dande area as well as to check for consistencies with the ‘perceived’ droughts highlighted
by respondents in the case study villages.
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Table 5.4. Identification and characterization of drought years
Drought years
Type of drought
Distinguishing factors
1981 – 1982
Small/Manageable

Mainly widespread crop failure
1982 – 1983
Heavy/Serious


Total crop failure – harvested very little maize from
riverbank fields
Manyame River left with very little amounts of water
1986 – 1987
Small/Manageable

Upland crop failure
1991 – 1992
Heavy/Serious

The most severe in as far as respondents could
remember
Total crop failure
Livestock deaths (most people noted that these are
the years they were also beginning to rear cattle and
they either killed the cattle, sold them at very low
prices or the cattle simply died on their own)
The first (& probably the only) time they have ever
witnessed Manyame River dry up



1994 – 1995
Heavy/Serious



Total crop failure
Remarkably low levels of water in Manyame River
Livestock deaths in some areas
1997 – 1998
Small/Manageable

Widespread crop failure
2000 – 2001
Made Heavy
/Serious by Cyclone
Eline

Crop destruction by Cyclone Eline induced storms
2001 – 2002
Small/Manageable

Upland crop failure
2003 – 2004
Small/Manageable
but complicated by
Cyclone Japhet

Upland crop failure – exacerbated by Cyclone Japhet
induced storms
2006 – 2007
Small/Manageable

Upland crop failure
Source: Historical timeline exercises, 2011
From these exercises, it appears whilst the area experienced ‘manageable’ droughts in
the 2000s as opposed to the heavy droughts of the 1990s, the 2000s droughts were more
frequent. The effects of two droughts in the 2000s had also been compounded by
unprecedented cyclones, thereby making the situation more complex.
5.3.3. Demographic changes
Demographic changes also featured among the most prominent sources of vulnerability
in the area. There has been a dramatic population increase in Dande over the years
which appeared to have had far reaching impacts on livelihoods. As noted in chapter
four, ward 12 was part of another ward, (ward 3), until 2007. Table 5.5 shows
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population trends from 1992 to 2008 in the study ward (incorporating ward 3), and
across the whole Dande area.
Table 5.5. Population trends (1992-2008)
Area
Dande
Ward 12
(incorpo
rating
ward 3)
Populati
on 1992
Populati
on 2002
Population
2008
Population
% increase
1992-2008
No. of
households
1992
No. of
households
2002
No. of
households
2008
% increase
of
households
1992-2008
36 074
71 096
115 952
221. 4
10 142
14 509
21 510
112. 1
7 762
10 581
14 473
86. 4
1 679
2 213
3 024
80. 1
Sources: CSO, 1992; 2002 and LGDA Mbire District Survey, 2008
As shown in the table, there were massive 221.4 and 112.1 population and household
percentage increases respectively in the whole of Dande between 1992 and 2008 and
also high household and population percentage increases in the ward 12 area over the
same period. Derman (1996) and Chizarura (2002) maintain that the increasing human
population in the area is a phenomenon of the post-war (1980) years (and not before) as
the area had a small population at independence largely settled along the main rivers.
Spierenburg (2004), however, tends to differ; arguing instead that the influx of migrants
after independence in 1980 was not a new phenomenon as in-migration seems to have
been a continuous and important feature of life in Dande, only being interrupted by the
liberation war in the 1970s. Whichever the explanation, it is apparent that population
increase took an accelerated pace post-independence which rearranged the demographic
outlook of Dande.
Looking at events which took place in the Dande area after the country’s independence
in 1980, it can be argued that this population increase was a result first and foremost of
migrants who came to the Valley from other congested parts of the country following
the ‘cotton boom’ in the area and the revenues accruing from cotton sales after
extensive government support for cotton-farming there just after independence. The
intensive clearing of tsetse-fly from the late 1980s to the early 1990s which rid three
quarters of Dande of the fly – making most hitherto uninhabitable areas habitable and
suitable for farming, as well as the haphazardly planned and executed MZRDP, also
seem to have contributed to this population increase (see previous chapter). There was
also the chaotic FTLRP of the early 2000s which displaced a lot of farm-workers (most
130
of whom were of foreign origin) in nearby farms up the escarpment who then came
down the Valley looking for somewhere to stay. A last factor explaining the surge in the
Dande population over the years may be that of children of autochthonous residents
growing and setting up their own homesteads.
This increase in population has had a number of consequences in as far as livelihoods in
the area are concerned. A first consequence has been a squeeze on and subsequently
scarcity of natural resources. These resources include arable lands (particularly upland
fields), where these demographic changes have subsequently seen people clearing and
opening up more woodland and forest areas so as to create space for more farming areas
thereby causing deforestation. In addition, the increase in population has meant the need
for more fuel-wood to cover the increased households leading again to depletion of
forests. As Derman (1996) wrote; since the mid-1980s, the Mid-Zambezi Valley was
being transformed from a verdant to a deforested, dust-filled zone with thousands of
new farms. This is typical of most semi-arid communities in Africa where land
clearance for agriculture and fuel-wood have become the primary causes of
deforestation, claiming 70 000 to 100 000 hectares a year seriously trading-off and
compromising most ecosystem services such as water quality, biodiversity and cultural
services for food production (Bird et al, 2002; Khanya-AICDD Report, 2008)
Another consequence of the increase in population has been a subsequent increase in
livestock, thus the growth of livestock population has had parallels to the human one.
There were, for example, just over 700 cattle in 1994 in the area around ward 12 and
ward 3 but as households increased in the same area, the cattle numbers had ballooned
to 2927 by 2008 (Derman, 1996; LGDA, 2008). This has inevitably led to overgrazing
as livestock converge on the few pasture lands in the area.
Respondents also talked of increasing conflicts as the numbers of households and
people increased in the villages. Some of these conflicts were triggered by the noted
correspondingly increasing livestock straying into fellow villagers’ upland and
riverbank fields in search of pastures thereby destroying crops (as highlighted earlier in
this chapter).
5.3.4. Wildlife and pests
Wildlife in this work refers to all pests and undomesticated animals posing threats to
livelihoods in the area. These include elephants, lions, buffalos, bush-pigs, hyenas,
hippopotamuses, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, quelea birds, locusts and tsetse-fly.
131
Figure 4.2 has shown the various wildlife routes and movements in Dande, (which,
however, exclude aquatic ones like crocodiles and hippopotamuses and small ones like
quelea birds, locusts and tsetse-fly), revealing a heavy wildlife presence in the whole
area though intensity increases in wards 1, 2 and 11 which share immediate boundaries
with safari areas and are therefore considered wildlife producing wards as explained in
the previous chapter. As mentioned earlier on, Dande Communal Area was deemed a
CAMPFIRE district due to this heavy wildlife presence though the programme is active
and directly benefits mostly people in the three wildlife producing wards. The following
sub-sections discuss the effects of wildlife on various livelihood aspects in the study
community.
Wildlife and crop destruction
The most common problem animals and pests mentioned in interviews and discussions
as destroying crops in upland fields were elephants; locusts – locally known as
‘mamunye’ or ‘magomba’; and quelea birds in that order, then hippopotamuses in
riverbank fields. All respondents involved in the survey mentioned having had their
upland crop destroyed by elephants at one point or the other, especially in recent years.
It was noted that elephants are active mostly from around early February when crop
(particularly cotton or sorghum) begins to mature right up to the harvesting period.
Elephants are said to move in groups of five to seven and they raid fields mostly at
night. Besides trampling crops, it was noted that one group of elephants can clear a
whole field within one to two hours if not scared away quickly.
Villagers pointed out that although crop damage by elephants was as bad in the 1990s as
in recent years, the situation in the 1990s was better due to the quick reaction and the
active role of the local Parks and Wildlife Management Authority then than in the 2000s
in bringing the situation under control. Besides the quick response to calls for help by
villagers in driving away the elephants during those years, Parks officers would also
ensure that the animals were pushed very long distances away from the villages as well
as actively assist towards fair compensation of victims (by the RDC under the
CAMPFIRE quota allocation set for that purpose). Villagers, however, noted that the
local Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is no longer as active as it used to be.
From discussions with the head of the local Parks and Wildlife office, he concurred with
villagers that their operations had indeed scaled down in recent years. He noted that due
to reduced government support especially post-2000, the Department had experienced
132
shortages in critical resources such as guns and ammunition to scare animals away;
vehicles and fuel to patrol the area; and human resources due to high staff turnover
primarily because of low remuneration over the years thereby seriously compromising
operations. These dynamics are further discussed in chapter six.
The Parks officer, however, emphasised that despite their own resource handicaps, it
seemed the increase in recent elephant problems was also being exacerbated by
population increases in the villages (discussed earlier on) as people continue clearing
hitherto animal habitats and encroaching into animal concentrated areas in a bid to
expand their fields. It was also pointed out that due to population growth and the
subsequent growing numbers of fields being destroyed by the elephants, the
CAMPFIRE quota set for victim compensation purposes could no longer sustain the
increased population; hence the (then Guruve) RDC had stopped it altogether in 2001
(SNI.1; SNI.3).
Locusts (mamunye/magomba) – mentioned as the second most problematic under
wildlife in upland fields – were noted to be able to wipe away a whole sorghum or
maize field in a matter of days if not dealt with quickly. Respondents emphasised that
these can actually be more difficult to deal with at times than big animals such as
elephants which one can scare and chase away, as they should continuously purchase
pesticides to spray the locusts to death – with the majority, however, noting that they
cannot afford this continuous purchasing of pesticide due to high prices. Locusts usually
attack as the crops start germinating from January onward and can destroy the crop at
that very early stage.
Red-billed quelea birds were ranked as the third most difficult animals on wildlife
constraints to crop production. These were mentioned to be a problem particularly on
the sorghum crop and especially towards the harvesting period. According to one
elderly woman during a focus group discussion, if these birds invade one’s field and
they fail to decisively deal with them there and then, then that means a ‘harvest of
hunger’ or ‘unenge warima nzara’ (as she put it in vernacular), for that particular
household that season. The birds move in very large numbers and they establish a base
in the area just before the harvesting period ready to attack. They are mainly active from
dawn (around 4 in the morning) into the whole day. The difficult part in dealing with
the birds therefore is that they require a lot of labour in shooing them off, with many
people required to shout, whistle and make all sorts of noises with objects such as metal
133
cups and pots from all corners of a field the whole day to be able to drive them off
successfully.
There was actually an observed trend during the fieldwork period where most primary
and secondary school children were withdrawn from school by parents for a sizeable
number of days during the first school term of the year (covering the period January to
March) to cover this labour gap – a trade-off revealing how this (labour) factor is
critical for the carrying out of various activities in the home particularly during the peak
period of the farming season for most households in the area. Other less problematic
animals mentioned as invading upland fields include bush-pigs, baboons and monkeys.
These are easily dealt with through shouting, throwing stones and using catapults.
In riverbank fields, the hippopotamus emerged as the major problem-animal on maize
fields there. As different from other animals however, respondents noted that hippos
move over a long stretch of an area destroying small portions of crop in one field and
spreading its grazing area, thus it really does not completely wipe away a single field,
though it can cause considerable crop damage by trampling the fields as it traverses
from one field to the other. Hippos are also difficult to deal with as they are active
during the night.
Wildlife and livestock
Wildlife is the major constraint to livestock production in the area as listed by
respondents. Animals mentioned as the major threats include lions, hyenas and
crocodiles. Lions are the most dangerous according to respondents as they attack bigger
livestock particularly cattle, and when they go for small stock such as goats and sheep
they kill these in quite large numbers. The most difficult part in dealing with lions,
according to respondents, is that they attack mostly during the night and it would be
very dangerous to go out and save the livestock as that would be placing oneself at risk
of being attacked as well. The only solution therefore is to wait until dawn when they
can then go and make a report to Parks and Wildlife officials who then track the
animals. According to the local Veterinary office, a total of 43 cattle were reportedly
attacked and killed by lions in the ward 12 area alone between August 2009 and August
2010, whilst an unspecified number of goats and sheep also fell prey over the same
period.
134
Crocodiles are the other major wildlife threat to livestock. This is due to the fact that the
main livestock water points in the area, especially during the dry season, are found
along major rivers where these reptiles reside, whilst the riverbanks also form the
richest grazing areas. Most cattle, goats and sheep are therefore dragged away as they
consume water in these rivers or as they graze along the banks of the Manyame River.
Hyenas are mainly a problem in as far as goats and sheep are concerned. Very few
hyena attacks on cattle have been witnessed and reported according to informants.
Hyenas, just as most other wild animals discussed, also mainly attack during the night.
The tsetse-fly problem
The intensive tsetse-eradication programmes in Dande in the 1980s (see chapter 4), and
the subsequent setting up of a local tsetse control division at Mushumbi Business
Centre had greatly helped clear large swathes of Dande of the fly and people immensely
benefitted as many began to rear cattle in the cleared areas during the 1990s (SNI.6).
With the cessation of assistance from western donors (who had helped with resources to
purchase target traps and imported chemicals) from the late 1990s into the early 2000s,
coupled with very little support from central government, tsetse-fly began reinvading
the area. According to the local DVS office, ward 12 – with a cattle population of just
over 1500, had had at least 10 cattle deaths and 130 beasts diagnosed with positive
trypanosomiasis over the 2008 December to 2009 December period alone. The reemergence of the tsetse problem was therefore mainly linked to poor government
policies and the subsequent shortage of resources.
Wildlife as a threat to human life
Wild animals are also a threat to human life in the area as injury and fatality cases
involving mostly elephant, buffalo and crocodile attacks on people in different parts of
Dande had been reported over the years (SNI.1; SNI.6). Discussions and interviews
with villagers, however, revealed that though this remains a significant problem, it is
not ranked amongst their major concerns with wildlife when juxtaposed against other
discussed wildlife problems.
5.3.5. Poor markets and infrastructure
Dande is an area where input, output and labour markets and infrastructure have either
not been adequately developed or have deteriorated over the years thereby heavily
constraining livelihoods. The following discussions examine the dynamics around
135
different forms of markets in the area, and how they have become part of an
increasingly complex web of both idiosyncratic and covariant vulnerability factors over
the years.
Input markets
Input markets refer to places where people access commodities, inputs and/or services
that facilitate or enable the smooth carrying out of their livelihood activities. Given the
livelihood activities carried out in the study ward as discussed, the major inputs that
are/would be critical include seed (for crops grown there), fertilizers, agrochemicals and
pesticides, cattle dip, agricultural implements (such as hoes and ploughs), extension
advice and credit. The main centre where the majority of respondents mentioned
accessing these inputs is Mushumbi Business Centre. A few (better-off) ones and those
with relatives or friends in major centres such as upper Guruve, Bindura and Harare also
mentioned sending for inputs from time to time or intermittently going there to purchase
some of the mentioned inputs at relatively lower prices. A comparison of prices of some
critical inputs at Mushumbi and in Harare revealed significant disparities as seen in
Table 5.6.
Table 5.6. Comparison of selected input prices at Mushumbi and in Harare
(2010/11)
Commodity/Input
Hoe
Harare price (USD)
$12-00
Mushumbi price (USD)
$17-00 (though this can be obtained at a lower
price from local ironsmiths in the villages)
Wheelbarrow
$40-00
$80-00
Fertilizer (50kg bag)
$29-00
$46-00
Maize seed (5kg bag)
$18-00
$28-00
Cotton seed (5kg bag)
$5-00
$10-00
Cotton pesticide (100ml bottle)
$5-00
$11-00
The Mushumbi prices are high and for the majority of the poor residents in the area
quite unaffordable, thereby compromising essential livelihood activities for most people
in the area. Inputs for cotton (the major cash crop), however, appeared easily accessible
from the various cotton companies based at Mushumbi which are involved in contract
farming with people in the area. Details around contract farming in the area will be
discussed further in the next chapter; suffice it to say it basically involves a cotton
136
farmer signing a contract with a cotton company whereby the farmer is given inputs (i.e.
seed, fertilizer, chemicals and technical advice) at the beginning of and during the
farming season and then he/she is expected to sell all of his/her produce at harvesting to
the particular company which would have availed him/her with inputs in the season.
Money for the availed inputs is then subtracted from that paid on the sold produce.
Though inputs appear easily accessible in this case as earlier stated, a close review of
the relationship between local farmers and cotton companies revealed deep-seated
tensions, suspicions and mistrust between the two parties mostly centred around what
villagers called the perennial under-pricing of produce and the unilateral adjustment of
input prices, whilst cotton company officials accused most villagers of double-dealing
(with more than one company) against agreements signed on contracts thereby
compromising profits.
Another input related constraint in the area is lack of general extension advice for both
livestock and crop production (save for cotton)46. There are, for example, only three
officers available to provide animal health services and four senior agricultural
extension officers covering all 17 wards of Dande. The local heads of both the
AGRITEX and Veterinary departments pointed out that resources from central
government (which include motor-cycles and fuel to access all wards in the area as well
as proper remuneration to be able to retain staff) had not been forthcoming particularly
since the early 2000s with the beginning of the country’s economic meltdown. They
noted that the situation was different in the 1990s when these resources were available
which made their work much easier. Respondents in focus group discussions pointed
out that the practice of demonstration plots in the villages, which used to greatly assist
them in gaining practical farming knowledge in past decades, had long stopped and the
only major activity initiated by AGRITEX officers now were the annual field days.
Output markets
Respondents mentioned four major output markets they have always relied on in the
area. These include Mushumbi Business Centre; traders coming from Bindura (the
provincial capital) and Harare (the capital city); foreign markets in Mozambique and
Zambia; and lastly the local villages (which include the two small business centres
therein). Three major constraining factors were raised in as far as these output markets
are concerned. The first concerned the distance to some of the most profitable markets
46
All cotton companies have their own extension officers who, (as part of the agreed terms of contract-farming),
offer extension advice to their members on best cotton farming practices throughout the season.
137
(e.g. foreign markets); the second related to poor or non-existent transport and
communication infrastructure; and the last factor concerned the lack of organization,
skills and experience to negotiate for fair prices (especially when dealing with foreign
traders).
Mushumbi Business Centre was mentioned as the major and most common output
market in the area being the central business place in Dande. All agricultural produce is
sold there including cotton, sorghum, groundnuts, livestock and even the masau fruit.
Villagers in group discussions and survey interviews maintained that they lack
bargaining power many a time when they have to sell their commodities at Mushumbi
primarily because the market will be flooded as everyone (from most parts in the Dande
area) comes there almost at the same time. As explained by one woman during a focus
group discussion, when they have to sell vegetables for example, it is always at the
same time; the same with livestock as people always dispose of their stock during the
same months (i.e. mostly during the ‘food-gap’ period from around January to the
harvesting period of March/April when people will be desperate for cash), thus the
situation is mostly ‘leave-it or take-it’ from the buyers due to many people selling the
same commodity at the same time.
Others noted the distance factor as hampering their connection with this main market.
For example, villagers from Bwazi – situated at least 26 kilometres from Mushumbi –
pointed out that many a time they have to walk the long distance carrying their produce
by head (save for a few who own scotch-carts), and they are therefore forced by these
circumstances to dispose of the products at any cost since it will be more costly and
difficult to carry the produce back home if they refuse the offered prices at the market.
The situation is exacerbated by the poor state of the major road passing through the
ward connecting Mushumbi Business Centre and Chikafa Border Post on the other end
of the ward, which is in such a bad state that during the rainy season it becomes
impassable and no public transport uses that route.
There was, however, unanimity amongst all respondents in various research interactions
that the cotton market is relatively easily accessible as it is decentralised from
Mushumbi Business Centre during the cotton-selling period, with small transit depots
being set up at the two small business centres in the ward where the weighing, grading
and payment is conducted by officials from the various cotton companies. The only
disappointment among villagers, however, was on the prices generally set on the cotton
138
produce, especially in the 2000s when the situation got worse due to inflationary
conditions in the country. From around 2003 onward, for example, two local currency
market regimes (relative to the $US) in the country firmly came into existence – an
official market rate and a parallel or ‘black’ market rate. Villagers noted that whilst
cotton input prices tended to follow the parallel market rates (which were higher),
producer prices on their cotton followed the official market rates which were very low.
This meant villagers were selling their produce at very low prices and buying inputs
being given as credit at very high prices so much that respondents noted that by 2008,
cotton farming had virtually become untenable. General macro-economic changes in
this case therefore heavily compromised (cotton) output markets.
A second output market mentioned, as noted, are the Harare and Bindura traders.
According to respondents, in the 1990s these would come to hoard mainly the masau
fruit, however, the most sought-after products by this group in recent years shifted to
livestock (especially cattle and goats) as well as sorghum. These products are
exchanged with cash, bags of maize, clothes or even farming implements. The major
limiting factor in their dealings with these traders is lack of accurate and timely
information on the pricing of commodities that they will be exchanging to be able to
negotiate with the traders from a reliably informed angle due to poor communication
infrastructure47. Villagers are therefore easily manipulated by the ‘sophisticated’ traders
who many a time end up determining the prices themselves.
Third output market sources noted were Mozambique and Zambia. These were never
popular market destinations for most Dande residents (except for people staying in ward
1), given the long distances involved to reach the areas, until the era of commodity
shortages and hyperinflation in the country. The closest border communities of Bawa in
Mozambique and Feira in Zambia became common trading places as people would go
to sell their various crops (especially sorghum) and small stock (goats and chicken) in
exchange for either cash or basic groceries (such as soap, salt and sugar) which could no
longer be found locally. Due to these close connections with the two areas, the Zambian
kwacha and the Mozambican metical became acceptable tender among Dande residents
(when transacting amongst themselves), long before the introduction of the use of multicurrencies in the country in early 2009.
47
There is no television transmission in Dande and there are no telephony networks in the ward 12 area (as in any
other ward in Dande except in ward 1 which thrives on Zambian mobile phone boosters). Radio transmission is very
poor and unavailable most of the times.
139
The last output markets in the study area are (in) the local villages, and these include inward transactions among the villagers themselves as well as at the two small business
centres in the ward. According to respondents, transactions amongst the villagers have
always been part of their lives. This involves exchanging various commodities either in
cash or in kind. In this case, respondents noted that they have always exchanged crops
for livestock (especially small-stock) or vice-versa; crops for crops (e.g. sorghum for
maize or groundnuts for maize) as well as livestock for livestock (e.g. a number of goats
or sheep for cattle). The main constraint in as far as local village markets are concerned
is that they are not as paying as outside markets, as the majority of the villagers are poor
and of more or less the same status, thus not much profit is gained in transacting with
fellow villagers. It was noted, however, that this market forms a ready market with no
transport or travelling constraints and a quick fall-back in times of emergency or crisis
in the home.
Labour markets
A labour market is a nominal market in which workers find paying work, employers
find willing workers and wage rates are determined (Business Dictionary, 2011).
Discussion in this section therefore focuses on trends of profitable labour opportunities
in Dande as viewed by respondents. According to respondents in various interactions,
there are virtually no profitable labour opportunities in the area in recent years given
that the only readily available labour opportunity is to undertake the (discussed) local
casual agricultural labour in fellow villagers’ fields/‘maricho’ which, as already
mentioned, is deemed by many in the area as poorly paid and at worst demeaning.
It was noted that there used to be two profitable labour markets around the area from the
1980s which all folded in the 2000s. The first one was ARDA Mushumbi. This was a
large government cotton estate run by the Agricultural Rural Development Authority
and located approximately five kilometres from Mushumbi Business Centre to the
south. During focus group discussions, it was noted that a majority of people in the area
sought employment there to supplement their food and earnings as work was available
at the estate the whole year round. The work was casual agricultural labour involving
land preparation, planting, weeding, cotton harvesting and packing cotton bales.
According to villagers, one could buy a sizeable amount of commodities from proceeds
though the payments were considered low. ARDA Mushumbi estate closed down
around 2007 due to viability costs and deterioration of equipment.
140
Another profitable labour market as noted by respondents (and as discussed earlier on)
was the nearby former white-owned commercial farms. A discussion on how essential
this market was to households in the area has been done in the livelihood activities
section of this chapter; suffice it to say all of the nearby commercial farms were affected
by the chaos which characterised the FTLRP thereby closing off a critical source of
employment for most people in the area. A summary of ratings of labour/employment
opportunities during the period of the research (2010/11); in the early 2000s (2000 to
2005); and in the 1990s as conducted with respondents during the survey is presented in
Table 5.7 (N=71)
Table 5.7. Labour/employment ratings in the area
Ratings
During the research period (2010/11)
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
% of people
rating
No. of people
rating
% of
people
rating
No. of
people
rating
% of
people
rating
Excellent
0
0
0
0
1
1.4
Very Good
0
0
1
1.4
27
38.0
Average
0
0
17
23.9
26
36.6
Poor
28
39.4
33
46.5
10
14.1
Non-Existent
43
60.6
20
28.2
7
9.9
Total
71
100%
71
100%
71
100
The table clearly shows unanimity on respondents’ perceptions of labour markets as
poor or non-existent in the area at the time of the research whilst the 1990s are depicted
as the best years in as far as labour markets in the area were concerned. It is therefore
apparent from discussions presented that markets in the area have mainly been
compromised not only by macro-economic challenges and changing economic policies
at the national level but also by poor/non-existent infrastructure particularly transport
and communication networks at the local level.
5.3.6. Macro-economic challenges, policies and governance issues
Livelihoods in Dande, (just as in any other rural community), are linked to the national
economy through the pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, provision of
government services (e.g. extension services, infrastructural development, health and
education), as well as employment in national labour markets. For Dande residents,
cotton production actually links them further with international markets. Government
141
policy on all these factors both at the local and national levels therefore inevitably
impacts on livelihoods in one way or the other. A re-examination of some of the
positive and negative (previously discussed) government initiatives in the area from the
1980s into the 2000s clearly brings out this point. The poorly planned and executed
MZRDP initiated by the government, for instance, accelerated the haphazard and
spontaneous immigration of people from other parts of the country leading to
population growth and the discussed attendant problems. In the same vein, the extensive
government support for cotton farming in the area in the early 1980s through the
provision of mechanised tillage at highly subsidised rates, at a time people in the area
had no cattle for traction due to tsetse-fly greatly assisted people to intensify the
production of this cash-crop.
ESAP of the early 1990s (which included liberalization of markets, government
reduction in public spending, and the removal of subsidies among other measures), as
well as the FTLRP of the early 2000s are some national level policies which had direct
(mostly negative) impacts on livelihoods in Dande according to respondents. Whilst the
liberalization of cotton marketing (from the sole monopoly of the then Cotton
Marketing Board, to the entry of other new players) created competition and boosted
producer payments in the area especially in the initial years; reduction in public
spending meant villagers started paying education and health user fees which had
hitherto been free. The removal of price controls also signalled the upward spiralling of
agricultural input prices. As discussed earlier, the chaos which characterised the
government-sponsored FTLRP resulted in the loss of employment opportunities and a
critical source of livelihood for most households in the area as well as population
increase.
There was also the hyperinflation and acute shortages of products and commodities
(from around the year 2005) – arguably direct ripple effects of the FTLRP and
responses to it from various stakeholders (Chimhowu, 2009). This (as discussed earlier)
had huge effects not only on input availability and input and output pricing but also on
government service delivery affecting such services as agricultural extension,
infrastructural development (such as road maintenance) and erratic health and education
delivery due to low payment of staff salaries and subsequently serious staff turnover,
leading to a virtual stalling of those services (particularly education and extension
services) in the area. All this had serious impacts on livelihood activities as discussed in
detail in preceding sections of this chapter.
142
5.3.7. Health constraints
Two major health constraints stood out in the area and these are malaria and HIV/AIDS.
It is, however, important to note that statistics showing trends in both malaria and
HIV/AIDS in the area, which would have strengthened arguments made in this subsection, could not be obtained due to the current strictness in the release of health data
in Zimbabwe. This section therefore depends solely on (and discusses) information
obtained from focus group discussions with villagers, some fluid key-informant
information from selected senior and long-serving health workers in the area, and
informal conversations.
The Zambezi Valley in general and Dande Communal Area in particular is classified
under Zimbabwe’s high malaria zones or ‘hot-spots’ (see Map 5.1). Malaria is therefore
part of Dande residents’ lives and it is mainly driven by the climatic conditions in the
area. The hot temperatures and the low-lying geographical positioning characteristic of
the area are conducive for high malaria transmission and outbreaks especially during
rainy seasons.
Respondents noted that from the 1980s up until the early 2000s, Ministry of Health
workers would conduct indoor residual spraying in every household in the area, as well
as hand out insecticide-treated bed-nets for every household member at the beginning of
every rainy season. This stopped around 2004 however, and ever since they have had to
rely on NGOs particularly World Vision for the provision of bed-nets. A discussion
with a local health worker who has worked at Mushumbi Clinic since the mid-1980s
revealed that there was one serious outbreak of malaria in the whole Mid-Zambezi
Valley area (including Dande) in 1989 when close to 200 people died and more than 15
000 clinical cases were recorded. She noted that this had been preceded by the first
cases of chloroquine resistant infections in the area two years before48. The aggressive
response by the government then (which involved extensive awareness campaigns, bednet distribution and the previously mentioned home-spraying) ensured that the situation
was quickly brought under control.
The nurse-in-charge at Mushumbi Clinic noted that malaria cases increase sharply
during the rainy season as exacerbated by local residents’ movement to stay in their
48
Chloroquine is the first-line drug against malaria in the country before fansidar and then quinine as a final resort.
143
field homes where they will be conducting their farming from 49. Most of these field
homes are not properly built to protect against mosquito (as they are constructed using
pole and dagga being considered as temporary homes) (see Photo 6.1) yet people spend
close to eight months staying there. Discussions with villagers revealed that it is very
normal for at least one member in every household in the area to be attacked by malaria
every (rainy) season. This has negative consequences for livelihoods in most
households as human capital is compromised due to loss of labour in both the ill person
and the carer(s) at critical periods when household labour is needed most (to work the
fields and other tasks).
49
As will be fully discussed in chapter six, Dande residents maintain a two-home system whereby they have one
home in the upland fields, which they call their ‘temporary’ home but where they (ironically) stay at most eight
months (from October to May) covering the whole farming season; then village homes where they spend just about
four months (June to September) on average, during the dry season.
144
Map 5.1 Malaria stratification in Zimbabwe
Source: Malaria Consortium RBM Needs Assessment Report, 2008
145
The HIV/AIDS challenge is a serious concern in Dande partly because of the area’s
positioning along the country’s borders (with Mozambique and Zambia) thereby
increasing opportunities for high infection rates as people of the three different countries
constantly interact for various reasons, and partly because of seasons of high disposable
incomes amongst local residents during cotton harvesting periods and the situation
which usually obtains then. According to SAFAIDS (2008), HIV/AIDS prevalence rates
in border communities are twice as high as national averages. Respondents during focus
group discussions also pointed out that the harsh economic environment in the 2000s
pushed most local young women and girls to cross borders into nearby Mozambique
and Zambia to engage in commercial sex-work with a considerable number of them
coming back ill in recent years.
During the cotton harvesting period (April to July), it was noted that Dande is usually
invaded by commercial sex-workers from as far afield as upper Guruve, Mozambique
and Zambia who actually camp and set bases particularly at Mushumbi Business Centre
to take advantage of the high cash flows during those periods which again (according to
local health workers) has fuelled HIV/AIDS rates in the area. HIV/AIDS significantly
impacts on the household and the community through loss of labour (in the home);
diversion of household financial resources that might have been invested in other
livelihood assets and/or activities; loss of experience and institutional memory; and loss
of networks and partnerships, among other negative impacts. The well being of four to
five other people mostly but not exclusively in the same household is negatively
affected for every individual infected by the virus (Khanya-AICDD Report, 2008).
During the course of the fieldwork, an increase in funerals involving young adults
(between 20 and 40 years of age) became apparent. Though it would be impossible to
absolutely attribute the deaths to HIV/AIDS, it was clear that the majority of the deaths
were associated with HIV/AIDS related illnesses.
5.3.8.
Patterns
and
negative
exposures
resulting
from
interconnected
vulnerabilities in Dande
Whilst vulnerability has been shown to emanate from a range of different political,
social, economic, environmental and natural factors; one of the aims of resiliency
analysis as highlighted in chapters one and two, is to demonstrate the interconnected
nature of these factors and the resultant negative exposures. This is important as it helps
us grasp the utility of the evolving, current and future adaptive strategies and capacities
in the area, to be discussed in following chapters. This section presents this
146
interconnected nature between the vulnerability factors discussed, and the three main
negative exposures resulting from the dynamic and complex vulnerability patterns in the
area. The different arrows in Figure 5.2 show the interrelationships and reinforcing
nature of the effects of the discussed vulnerability factors in the area.
Figure 5.2. Complex patterns of the interrelated and reinforcing nature of
vulnerability factors in Dande
Source: Author
The three main negative exposures emanating from this complex scenario are financial
insecurity, food insecurity and labour limitations50. It is important to emphasise,
however, that though livelihoods in the area are exposed to these conditions,
sensitivities differ from household to household and from locality to locality depending
on various factors as shall be discussed in chapter seven.
Financial insecurity
Financial insecurity at both the household and community levels is directly linked to all
the vulnerability factors discussed. This is because each of the factors has led either to a
limitation of accumulation or an erosion of incomes in various ways indicated in the
detailed analyses of these factors. Financial insecurity also strongly reinforces food
insecurity and labour limitation exposures as, for example, low financial resources limit
residents’ ability to procure food in seasons of drought and crop failure, as well as
50
These exposures are adapted from Westerhof and Smit’s (2009) analysis of vulnerability in rural Ghana
147
adequate investments in agricultural resources in the home. It also limits a household’s
ability to hire labour to help out in various tasks (in times of labour shortages).
Food insecurity
This term is used here in consistency with that of FAO (2001), referring to the condition
of lacking adequate “physical, social and economic access to sufficient…food at all
times…” As shown in discussions on livelihood activities earlier in the chapter, food
sources in the area are derived principally from agricultural activities, supplemented in
the majority of households by fishing. Both local biophysical and infrastructural factors
and national-related socio-economic processes have combined to make the area one of
the top food-insecure districts in the country over the years (ZIMVAC, 2010). High
poverty levels, low rainfalls and droughts, population increase and pressure on
resources, poor markets and infrastructure, hyperinflation, the FTLRP, wildlife and
tsetse-fly problems have all had direct negative effects on food security in the area. This
exposure is therefore a clear reflection of the consequences of multiple and reinforcing
stresses and shocks.
Labour limitations
Labour is at the centre of livelihoods in the area mainly because agricultural activities
are the major sources of livelihoods over the years. The main crop for most households
in the area – cotton – is labour-intensive. The ability to conduct both riverbank and
upland crop production all-year round is also dependent on adequate labour in the
home. As will be discussed in detail in chapter seven, labour also became increasingly
important in accessing distant foreign (Mozambican and Zambian) markets particularly
in the 2000s in the wake of the collapse of local markets mainly due to hyperinflation.
Health challenges and high poverty levels in the area as discussed in this chapter,
directly lead to labour limitations, and consequently food and financial insecurity – as
affected households inevitably slow down in carrying out various livelihood activities.
Food and financial insecurity conversely lead to labour limitations as the noted labour
intensive work characterising the main sources of livelihoods in the area require access
to adequate and nutritious food. In the same vein, and as highlighted before, financial
insecurity limits the hiring of adequate labour to help out in the home in times of labour
shortages.
148
Table 5.8. Negative exposures and corresponding vulnerability factors
Exposure
Direct corresponding vulnerabilities




Financial insecurity



Food insecurity
High poverty levels
Poor markets and infrastructure
Low rainfalls and increased drought cycles
Macro-economic challenges and governance
failure
Health challenges
Wildlife and tsetse-fly
Demographic changes
Same as in financial insecurity category




Labour limitations
Health challenges
High poverty levels
Financial insecurity
Food insecurity
Source: Author
5.4. Conclusion
This chapter has explored the various livelihood activities and vulnerability patterns and
trends in the case study area. Agricultural activities (i.e. crop and livestock production,
commercial farm-working before the 2000s and maricho) alongside fishing, are shown
to be at the centre of livelihoods in the area, with only a few people engaging in nonagricultural activities. A detailed discussion of different vulnerability factors and how
their effects have interacted to create a difficult context characterised by three main
exposures (i.e. financial insecurity, food insecurity and labour limitation), is also
presented. Analysis in this chapter builds on discussions of wider historical, political,
economic and ecological features and developments in the Zimbabwe and Dande
contexts as presented in chapter four, to examining the changing vulnerability dynamics
that livelihoods in the study area have experienced as emanating from fieldwork
evidence. An analysis of vulnerability in the area from a resiliency perspective revealed
linkages between various stresses and shocks over the years and the full effects on
livelihoods. This allowed for clear discussions and analysis on how people in the area
have responded to these dynamics – from a resilience and adaptive capacity lens –
which is the focus of the next two chapters.
149
CHAPTER SIX. ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES IN DANDE
6.1. Introduction
This chapter commences the empirical analysis of how people in the study community
responded to the various vulnerability changes discussed in chapter five; examining
these responses from a resiliency lens. The focus is on adaptive strategies over 1990 to
2010, and people’s adaptive strategies across the three case study villages were traced
and analysed on the three institutional scales identified in chapter one – i.e. the
household, the local community and the sub national scales. This chapter addresses the
second research question, and develops an understanding of the institutional scale and
adaptive strategies that have enabled people to live with change and uncertainty; nurture
social learning processes; promote self-organization and ultimately maintain and
improve their (subjective levels of) well being and local sustainability more, in the face
of dynamic vulnerability changes in the area. The chapter brings to the fore the
insightful aspects of institutional and temporal dimensions vis-à-vis understanding
livelihoods in the context of highly dynamic vulnerabilities as advocated for in the
resiliency perspective advanced in this thesis. The chapter is organised into four main
sections. The first three explore the evolving nature and patterns of adaptive strategies
emanating from the household, the local community and the sub national institutional
scales respectively. The last section summarises emerging observations and findings
about the utility of resiliency aspects as used in the chapter in understanding and
analysing livelihoods under dynamic vulnerability changes.
6.2. Adaptive strategies at the household scale
From fieldwork evidence, adaptive strategies at the household scale have revolved
mainly around diversification; different forms of migration and remittances; and
changing crop cultivation practices, particularly involving agricultural intensification
and extensification. These strategies are explored below.
6.2.1. Living with change and uncertainty through diversification
Diversification is one of the sub-components of the resiliency surrogate of the ability to
live with change and uncertainty (refer to section 1.5.1). In livelihoods, it refers to the
process by which households construct a diverse portfolio of activities and social
support capabilities in their struggle against stresses and shocks as well as to improve
their standards of living (Ellis, 1998). Whilst diversification in rural contexts is more
often invoked to imply diversification away from farming, it is applied here in its broad
150
meaning to include diversification of crops and livestock, diversification of income
activities (to include agricultural and non-agricultural activities) and diversification of
markets. It is important to note, however, that from fieldwork evidence, only
diversification of crops and livestock and diversification of markets appeared available
in contributing to effective adaptive strategies in the context of intensifying
vulnerabilities particularly post-2000. As discussed in the previous chapter, people in
the area have been involved in a number of off-farm income-earning activities such as
local casual agricultural labour (maricho), trading in goods and services, regular
employment and commercial fishing. However, the very low returns from maricho as
reported by respondents, and the small numbers of people involved in the other three
activities (see chapter five), meant these activities have not been of much assistance for
the majority of residents as effective strategies in responding to an increasingly difficult
and changing vulnerability context. Since the closing-off of farm-working opportunities
in nearby formerly white-owned commercial farms due to the chaotic FTLRP after
2000, respondents pointed out that there have not been profitable off-farm income
activities to replace commercial farm-working. Discussions in this section therefore
concentrate on crop and livestock diversification as well as market diversification,
(though the position of some off-farm income activities vis-à-vis responding to
livelihood challenges is addressed in the sub-section on migration and remittances).
Diversifying crop and livestock mix and shifting to drought tolerant crops
Respondents reported that diversification of crops and livestock is a strategy undertaken
primarily against food and financial insecurity emanating mainly from droughts
(including increasingly low rainfalls) and market challenges in the area. Households
were observed to engage in the production of a mix of crops with the majority
concentrating on the cultivation of mainly cotton and sorghum in upland fields and
maize and vegetables in riverbank fields. The survey (n=71) also found households
across the three study villages who reported growing groundnuts (64.8%), cowpea
(62%), millet (12.7%) and sunflower (4.2%) in their upland fields thereby reducing the
risk of total crop failure in this drought-prone area. An examination of general trends in
upland crop production over the years showed a shift towards diversification into the
drought-tolerant sorghum, particularly from maize. Table 6.1 makes comparisons of
approximate average acreages accorded to the four major crops in the area at household
level in the 1990s (1995/96) and during the 2009/10 season (just before the fieldwork
exercise) from figures obtained from sampled households across the three villages of
151
study during the survey. The trend reveals a clear shift from maize being the dominant
crop (alongside cotton) in the 1990s, to the more drought tolerant sorghum in 2009/10
in all the three villages.
Table 6.1. Comparison of average acreage (per household) accorded to major
crops in upland fields in the 1990s (95/96) and in the 2009/10 season
Cotton
1995/95
Maize
2009/10
1995/96
2009/10
Sorghum
1995/96
2009/10
Nyambudzi B
4.6 acres
2.3 acres
2.6 acres
1.3 acres
0.4 acres
2.1 acres
Kapunzambiya
3.2 acres
2.5 acres
2.2 acres
1.4 acres
0.5 acres
1.9 acres
Bwazi
3.5 acres
2.4 acres
2.0 acres
1.4 acres
0.3 acres
1.7 acres
There are two issues to crop diversification in the study area therefore: mixing a variety
of crops in general, and diversifying more into a specific (drought tolerant sorghum)
major crop over the years.
People in the area have also been engaged in livestock diversification – mixing either
cattle and small stock (mostly poultry and goats), or having a mix of small stock on
their own especially for those households in the poor and very poor categories. For
example, results from the survey indicated that only 11 out of the 71 respondents across
the three study villages had no livestock at all during the period of the research, and of
the 60 with livestock, 49 (81.7%) had a mixture of varying numbers of cattle and small
stock whilst the remaining 11 (18.3%) had a mixture of small stock (mostly poultry and
goats). Respondents in focus group discussions stated that a conscious move to
diversifying livestock was necessitated mostly by macro-economic challenges
especially at the turn of the Millennium when small stock particularly became a major
form of financial capital as barter trade (to be discussed later) took root due to inflation
and hyperinflation. It was noted that in the 1990s just after tsetse-fly eradication in the
area, most people would, for example, aim at purchasing mainly cattle from every little
savings they could make. This changed in the 2000s as small stock became extremely
important especially in conducting everyday transactions such as purchasing groceries
in local shops, paying heath/clinic fees, and even school fees for children as will be
discussed later – transactions which could not be done using cattle, thus they had to
diversify into small stock due to circumstances prevailing. Small stock in such a context
therefore became real ‘bank accounts on legs’ (cf. Wymann von Dach et al, 2007),
which could be converted to cash at any time, as well as providing a guarantee for
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creditworthiness. Cattle, however, remained and still remain an integral source of
wealth, traction and other uses.
Growing importance of Mozambican and Zambian input and output markets
Input and output market diversification was a direct response to the deterioration of
local markets due mainly to hyperinflation and the worthlessness of the local
(Zimbabwean dollar) currency as well as a serious shortage of commodities in local
markets from the turn of the Millennium. Though local residents had always been
intermittently involved in markets at the nearby Bawa business centre in Mozambique
and the Feira centre in Zambia, respondents noted that these markets’ importance grew
as their main markets at Mushumbi and Bindura (the provincial capital) deteriorated.
From the early 2000s therefore, most households were mainly purchasing their basic
agricultural inputs, groceries and other essential household commodities in
Mozambique and Zambia. Respondents in group discussions and informal
conversations also talked of more profitably selling their agricultural produce,
particularly sorghum and groundnuts, as well as small stock in these markets. Of
interest also was the fact that the Zambian kwacha and the Mozambican metical became
acceptable tender on all transactions in the area from around the year 2004 long before
the formal adoption of the use of multiple currencies in the country in February 2009,
thereby easing transaction problems brought by hyperinflation during that period.
6.2.2. Nurturing social learning processes and living with change and uncertainty
through migration and remittances
Households in the area have also had experience with both temporary and permanent
migration in one form or the other in response to livelihood challenges and/or as driven
by a need to improve their livelihoods over the years. Three forms of migration
associated with households in the area were identified: (a) rural-rural in-migration into
Dande – involving households which migrated from other rural parts of the country and
from commercial farms (b) temporary out-migration to commercial farms and/or urban
areas for employment and (c) temporary out-migration beyond the country’s borders
mainly to nearby Zambia and Mozambique. These different forms of migration
exhibited local residents’ endeavours in nurturing social learning processes (i.e. within
migration types (a) and (c)), as well as to live with change and uncertainty (i.e. by
seeking to diversify incomes through temporary out-migration to commercial farms
and/or urban areas for employment. These issues are explored below:
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Rural-rural in-migration into Dande
This refers to migration by those from other rural communities mainly during the
MZRDP from the late 1980s (as discussed in chapter four), and those displaced from
commercial farms post-2000. Of the 18 life-history households for example, there were
7 who had migrated from different rural areas around the country in the mid to late
1980s during the MZRDP years. What was interesting to note during discussions with
these immigrant respondents was that many a time they would refer to how they had
blended experiences from their original home areas into responses to various livelihood
challenges they have faced in Dande thereby effectively tapping into social memory and
utilising useful strategies learnt during periods of previous crises. For example, one
respondent who migrated in 1989 from the Zaka area of Masvingo (south-central of the
country), which is also as drought-prone as Dande, noted that he never attempted maize
production in upland fields in the 1990s as other villagers were doing since he knew,
from his former home-area experience, that this would be of minimal success. Instead,
he resorted to planting a traditional type of sorghum variety that he had brought from
Zaka which enabled him to harvest meaningful grain yield year in year out51. Another
respondent who moved in 1987 from the Kariba area (in the north-west of the country
but still along the Zambezi Valley) – also considered a high malaria zone as Dande –
talked of introducing a certain wild tree root called ‘kapunganyunyu’ popularly used to
deal with mosquitoes in his former home-area to fellow villagers in Dande, which then
also went on to become a popular means of dealing with mosquito in the area as
confirmed by other residents52. It was therefore observed that some incomers had helped
build into community processes of learning and adapting vis-à-vis dealing with specific
livelihood constraints in the area as based on lessons and experiences from their areas of
origin.
Temporary out-migration to commercial farms and urban areas for employment
From discussions with respondents, this type of migration was popular throughout the
1990s before various macro-economic and political challenges – ranging from the
effects of ESAPs in the 1990s to the virtual collapse of activity in commercial farms in
the 2000s – largely closed-off employment opportunities in these areas. This type of
51
This was part of life-history LH6-NYBV (see Appendix 3)
52
The ‘kapunganyunyu’ wild root acts a repellent, which when burnt emits offensive smoke which repels mosquitoes.
This information was part of life-history LH4-BWV
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migration, especially that involving commercial farm-working, had been very important
to households in the area so much that all households selected for the survey, for
example, had at least one household member who had migrated to commercial farms at
one point or the other in the 1990s for employment and to supplement household
income and food supplies53. As highlighted in chapter five, respondents also mentioned
that whole families at some points during very tough periods, (particularly during the
serious 1992 drought period), would leave to temporarily settle with those household
members in commercial farms and/or those employed in urban areas. This type of
migration, particularly to the farms, was therefore among the most valued livelihood
diversification activities in the area and appeared to be an essential part of living with
change and uncertainty in the pre-2000 period. The dissolution of most nearby
commercial farms thus represented the closure of an important adaptation mechanism
from household portfolios.
Temporary out-migration beyond the country’s borders
The main destinations for this kind of migration were nearby Mozambique and Zambia.
As noted during focus group discussions, this mainly involved households usually with
young adult members ‘with the energy’ to look for employment opportunities in these
countries, mainly as casual agricultural labourers. According to respondents, this form
of migration became popular at the peak of the country’s economic meltdown around
2007/2008 as households became desperate not only for cash, but also for basic food
stuffs and other commodities which were in critically short supply in the country, and
which the locals could only easily access in these neighbouring countries. It was noted,
however, that this type of migration has always been part of the study community’s
interaction with neighbouring communities in these countries during difficult periods.
For example, during the days of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the 1970s, locals
would temporarily seek refuge in these two countries as the war intensified; then during
the days of Mozambique’s own civil war throughout the 1980s, residents of nearby
communities in that country would cross over into Dande as hostilities intensified. This
type of migration may therefore be said to be a long-created strategy during periods of
previous crises and therefore a product of local people’s nurturing of social learning
processes, modified according to the type and intensity of crisis being faced.
53
Besides being paid in cash, most of those who had been employed in formerly white-owned commercial farms
talked of being provided with food rations (particularly maize-meal, beans, kapenta/dried fish etc) which they would
then normally share with those back in the village (especially during periods of drought or general lack).
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The question on remittances was mainly attached to inquiries on the migration of
household members to settle and/or work in urban areas as well as migration beyond the
country’s borders. Effort was, however, also made to probe households’ reliance on
remittances outside the migratory behaviour of its members, such as regular or
consistent remittances from relatives in urban areas and/or other countries – especially
as received during periods of household stress and/or critical livelihood pressures. In
that broad context, it appeared remittances were not considered important by the
majority of households in the area. During the survey for example, out of the 71
respondents/households involved, only 22 (31%) mentioned remittances as contributing
to their sources of livelihoods at the time of the research and even then, 16 (of these 22)
or 73% of remittance receivers noted that they only ‘occasionally’ received these
remittances as opposed to having them ‘regularly’ or ‘all the time’. All the same, it
appeared for the few who have had the opportunity of having these remittances as an
important part of their livelihood incomes, they did make quite a significant difference
(as opposed to those who have not had them) vis-à-vis responding to various livelihood
challenges as shall be shown in chapter seven.
6.2.3. Living with change and uncertainty through changing crop cultivation
practices (extensification of fields and intensification of crop production)
Agricultural extensification refers to the process of developing a more extensive
production system in which one utilises and expands into large areas of land, whilst
agricultural intensification is the approach of increasing crop production by using
already exploited agricultural land (Mirovitskaya and Ascher, 2001). These processes
are essentially part of local residents’ rapid feedback mechanisms in responding to
particular livelihood constraints (and opportunities), and therefore ultimately exhibiting
their ability to live with change and uncertainty. From fieldwork evidence, it was
apparent that whilst most households engaged in agricultural extensification from the
late 1980s into the late 1990s mainly in a bid to maximise on cotton production returns
and the easy access to inputs necessitated by the opening up of cotton marketing to
many cotton companies following ESAP as well as the ability of most households to
expand into more usable lands after tsetse-eradication; the trend seemed pointed
towards agricultural intensification in recent years. This change was attributed to
population increase and the dwindling of proper agricultural land to expand into, with
most people now actually having pushed into wildlife frontiers (see previous chapter).
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It is important to note that most of the agricultural practices in the area show that the
intensification undertaken by most households is more ‘labour-led’ than ‘capital-led’
intensification. Capital-led intensification alludes to a substantial use of capital broadly
including non-labour variable inputs that enhance soil fertility such as inorganic
fertilizers and other chemical inputs, and quasi-fixed capital that protects the land such
as terraces; whilst labour-led intensification is one that makes little or no use of capital –
involving little or no use of inorganic fertilizers or other chemicals, and an
unaugmented adding of labour on given units of land (Reardon et al, 1998). The
prevalence of labour-led intensification in the area is definitely linked to the inability of
most households to purchase adequate inputs and implements for use in their fields, as
most are poor as reflected in the survey where, for example, 74.7% of the 71
respondents were classified in the combined ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ wealth ranks during
the fieldwork period (see Table 7.1)
From observations in the uplands, it was clear that inorganic fertilizer and other
chemicals were mainly applied on cotton fields only, as cotton inputs could be easily
accessed on credit under contract farming from cotton companies in the area; whilst the
main tool for most households remained the hoe – as it was largely those in the middle
and better-off wealth ranks who had the adequate draught power and utilised other
implements and machinery having the capital to purchase these. Extensification and
intensification have thus been used in different periods in the area in response to
emerging livelihood opportunities (in the case of the former) and shortage of land due to
population increase (in the case of the latter).
6.3. Adaptive strategies from the local community scale
As highlighted in chapter one, aspects relevant for resilience and adaptive capacity
analysis at this institutional scale were discerned at the ward and villages units of study.
This involved examining relevant activities of specific structures at that scale such as
the traditional leadership and local (Christian) churches, as well as processes around
inter-household linkages through various agreed ways of doing things (outside the
already indicated community structures) such as the barter system; neighbourly
connections; marriages; and funerals. The role of indigenous knowledge in responding
to vulnerability in the area over the years is also discussed in this section as these
(knowledge systems) primarily emanate from and are reproduced at this scale.
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Beginning with the last, discussions on these factors are presented in the following subsections.
6.3.1. Nurturing social learning processes and living with change and uncertainty
through the increasing centrality of indigenous knowledge
Indigenous knowledge is knowledge of a community accumulated over generations of
living in a particular environment and it covers all forms of knowledge – technologies,
know-how, skills, practices and beliefs that enable people to achieve stable livelihoods
in their environment (Mwaura, 2008). It is part of a community’s institutional memory
and in Dande, it involves social, intellectual, technological, and ecological knowledge
extending from dealing with and/or predicting rainfall patterns, seasonal variability and
droughts, wildlife problems, crop production and dealing with periods of hunger in the
home particularly in drought years and during the November to February ‘food-gap’
period for most households.
The utilisation of indigenous knowledge exhibited a degree of households and the
community’s ability to live with change and uncertainty as well as to nurture social
learning processes within livelihood systems in the area, as besides being based on
community members tapping into social memory, it also comprised of specific
strategies meant to provide rapid feedback to particular livelihood challenges. From
research evidence, the position of indigenous knowledge in various activities assumed
greater importance and role as the vulnerability context became more intense especially
in the 2000s, and as sub national institutions weakened or collapsed. This is explained
further in the following discussions.
The two-home system
Virtually all households in the area maintain what is referred to here as the two-home
system. This is a system whereby a household maintains two homesteads – the village
homestead, ordinarily considered the ‘actual’ homestead or ‘kumba’, securely built with
brick-walls and nicely thatched and/or roofed with iron sheets or asbestos; and the other
homestead right in upland fields considered ‘temporary’ shelter or ‘kutsaka’, the main
structures of which are built watch-tower style with wooden planks and grass thatch
(see Photo 6.1).
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Photo 6.1. Typical two homes for one household in the area
A typical village home/‘kumba’
A typical field home/‘kutsaka’
Interestingly, the village homestead is considered the permanent homestead yet people
spend only about four months there (i.e. June to September), whilst spending the other
eight months, i.e. the whole farming season from planting to harvesting, in the
‘temporary’ homesteads. According to elders during group discussions, this system
evolved initially from a practice whereby their forefathers used to build temporary
structures in both their upland and riverbank fields to guard crops against wildlife
(including birds) particularly during harvesting periods. The system was then
transformed over the years to make these initial crop-guarding structures into actual
homesteads where people now effectively spend the whole farming season staying
whilst working their fields. As upland fields shifted further away from near village
homesteads due to the consequences of population increase (as discussed in chapter
five), people found it convenient to transform the upland field structures to proper
homesteads rather than merely using them as temporary crop-guarding structures thus
maximising time spend on upland crop production where people avoid having to
continuously walk the distances to and from the villages to work in the uplands most of
which are now situated quite far away – an average of 3 to 10 kilometre distances.
It also still remains the most common strategy for dealing with crop destruction by wild
animals – especially elephants, baboons and monkeys; more so as this wildlife problem
has been worsening in recent years due to the encroachment of most of these upland
fields into hitherto wildlife habitats (see chapter 5). The system, however, comes with
its own problems; the main one of which is that these field homes are not properly built
to be able to prevent against mosquitoes thereby exposing people to malaria more at a
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period the deadly insect is most active due to the hot and wet weather conditions in the
farming season (SNI.10).
Indigenous seasonal early warning systems
This relates to the prediction of rainfall and seasonal trends, which then assists in
building rapid feedback capacity in activating appropriate responses to low rainfalls and
drought periods which are part of the enduring stresses in the area. The system involves
social learning processes of recalling signs of previous years as told by others (normally
elders and/or autochthonous residents) or as experienced by oneself, to predict the
future. Respondents mentioned three main ways through which these indigenous early
warning systems are manifest. These include (a) observing the appearance of a
particular ‘nyamatsatse’ star (b) observing weather trends and (c) observing the
behaviour of certain wild insects and the blooming cycle of particular wild trees. Each
of these is briefly presented as follows:
Observing the appearance of the ‘nyamatsatse’ star: Respondents mentioned that the
emergence of a particular star from the east locally known as ‘nyamatsatse’ around the
beginning of November signified good rains that season; and each time it has not
appeared, the seasons had gone on to be characterised by erratic rains.
Observing weather trends: This involves observing mainly winds direction and
temperature trends. Respondents noted that fast-blowing wind from the east at the
beginning of the summer season (i.e. early September) represents heavy and good rains
whilst that from the west signifies imminent dry conditions and a bad farming season. In
the same vein, extremely hot temperatures beginning mid-August right into the middle
of summer (i.e. October/November) without any intermittent showers in-between
generally points to a dry and bad season.
Observing insect behaviour and particular wild trees blooming cycle: The abundance of
butterflies (danaus plexippus) at the beginning of and during the farming season has
always locally signified good and continuing rains in the season. At the same time, the
failure of particular local wild trees (e.g. the muhurongwa and the musiga trees) to
bloom, signal drought and a bad season according to informants.
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Respondents noted that these indigenous early warning signs assist them in planning,
for example, around when to plant, which crops to concentrate on (and which ones to
leave out during a particular season), and in making labour-allocation decisions in the
home especially with respect to the uptake of off-farm activities. These early warning
signs have therefore been integral for living with change and uncertainty.
Indigenous crop farming activities
Some indigenous knowledge based crop farming activities have also been employed as
useful strategies in responding particularly to the challenge of low rainfalls in the area.
These mainly came up in five areas namely (a) the riverbank farming practice (b)
innovative riverbank farming techniques (c) intercropping (d) crop-processing activities
and (e) seed preservation.
The riverbank farming practice: As discussed in chapter five, this practice is undertaken
so as to maximise maize and vegetable production in the rich alluvial riverbank soils
long identified as the most fertile lands in this drought-prone area. According to
respondents, this farming practice was inherited from forefathers such that the actual
fields themselves are passed on through lineage and kinship lines as noted in the
previous chapter. Whilst this is a long-established strategy of people in the area to live
with drought and low rainfall challenges, it also exhibits the nurturing of social learning
processes as the practice is inherited and passed over generations.
Innovative riverbank farming techniques: Innovative crop farming techniques
exclusively practiced in riverbank fields have also been based mainly on indigenous
knowledge. For example, such farming techniques (which have been passed on from
generation to generation in these areas) include the digging of holes for maize planting
purposes approximately 50cm deep varying according to the distance from the
riverbank so as to reach more moisture and maximum fertile soils. In addition, more
than one (maize) seed, (i.e. between 2 and 10), are then placed in the hole so as to
maximise chances of the crop making it to the ground given the sometimes
unpredictable nature of the riverbank area where it can flood without warning and some
of the planted seed then getting washed away.
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Photo 6.2. Innovative agricultural techniques in the riverbanks based on
indigenous knowledge
Deep holes for maize planting in the riverbanks
Maize crop in the riverbanks
Intercropping: Households in the area also practice intercropping in both riverbank and
upland fields – filling remaining spaces within cotton, sorghum and maize fields with
indigenous crops such as the pumpkin (manhanga) – which not only provides a special
kind of nutritious vegetable (muboora) before and after it fully produces the actual
pumpkin, but also a vegetation canopy within these fields thereby protecting the soil as
well as controlling weed growth (see Photo 6.3). Other indigenous crops filling the
remaining spaces between major crops in the fields and revered for their nutritious value
in the area include wild okra (derere renyenje), spider flower (nyevhe), black nightshade
(musungusungu) and pigweed (mowa).
Photo 6.3. Examples of intercropping in the area
Intercropping in the area – showing the popular pumpkin (muboora) crop in maize fields
162
Indigenous crop processing activities: These are undertaken immediately after
harvesting so as to preserve particular crops for future use and consumption especially
during the food-gap period. Indigenous crop processing include such activities as sundrying (locally known as kufusha) mostly indigenous vegetables such as muboora and
nyevhe as well as cow-pea leaves (munyemba). Groundnuts are also sun-dried and
sometimes roasted, winnowed and then pounded to be kept as peanut butter or are just
preserved dried (without being roasted and pounded).
Seed preservation: Seed for crops such as maize, groundnuts, pumpkin and cow-pea are
dried and preserved for future planting, known as mbeu yemudura when preserved for
such purposes. According to respondents, the preservation of seed has always been an
important way of sustaining traditional crops and fostering independence from
commercial seed sources over the years. Seed preservation actually became extremely
helpful as seed for such crops as maize either became very expensive to purchase in
shops or was simply out of stock many times in the 2000s during the country’s
economic meltdown.
Indigenous techniques in dealing with wildlife challenges
Households in the area have also depended mainly on indigenous knowledge techniques
in dealing with wildlife threats on both crops and livestock. Besides the watchtowerstyle structures forming field homes – an idea said to have been inherited from
forefathers as discussed; other major techniques in dealing with wildlife in the area have
also emanated from indigenous knowledge as presented in Box 6.1.
Box 6.1. Indigenous techniques to deal with wildlife on crops and livestock
 Burning elephant dung mixed with dry chillies to emit offensive smoke lasting up to
approximately four hours so as to irritate elephants
 Making small fires around fields to scare away elephants
 Beating tins and drums to scare away elephants and quelea birds
 Throwing smouldering pieces of wood at charging elephants to scare them away
 Surrounding livestock kraals with acacia thorns to prevent lion and hyena attacks
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According to respondents, these innovative indigenous techniques effectively assisted
cover for the scaling down of Parks and Wildlife Authority activity (to be discussed
later) vis-à-vis assisting in protecting villagers’ fields mostly against elephant attacks
and lion and hyena attacks on livestock especially in the 2000s.
Indigenous responses to hunger periods in the home
Indigenous knowledge in wild vegetation and plants has also enabled villagers to pick
fruits, berries, vegetables, roots and tubers from the wild (i.e. surrounding forests) as
substitutes and supplements for cereals and other usual foods during the food-gap in the
year and during drought periods over the years. Examples of these wild fruits, tubers
and plants include mawuyu, maroro, nhengeni, tsvanzva, mhande, katunguru,
manyanya, and pfumvudza.
Photo 6.4. Examples of edible wild plants in the area
Mhande –pounded into porridge
Katunguru fruit
According to village elders in informal conversations, the last three types mentioned –
ordinarily eaten by wild pigs and potentially dangerous to humans – actually require
extensive knowledge of careful preparation; mostly long hours of boiling and re-boiling
before they can be consumed. It was noted, for example, that there were a lot of cases of
people falling ill after having consumed these wild fruits without adequately preparing
them – with most of those affected having swollen legs and stomachs. Nevertheless,
respondents in group discussions maintained that during particularly the years 1992 and
2008 – the former a very serious drought year and the latter a year famously known for
shortages of all food commodities and serious economic hardships; knowledge and
consumption of these edible wild fruits, vegetables and berries became extremely
important for food security in the home. It was therefore clear from fieldwork evidence
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that indigenous knowledge systems in their various forms have played a crucial role in
households’ responses to various livelihood pressures and challenges over the years.
6.3.2. Traditional leadership role in adaptive strategies and ‘self-organising’ for
resiliency
As discussed in chapter four, traditional leaders in the area include the local chief,
headmen, village heads and spirit mediums. It is, however, the last two sets of leaders
who closely interact with local people on a day to day basis and whose activities are
intimately felt and strongly linked with local adaptive strategies. These (last two) are
therefore going to be the foci of analysis in this section though they ultimately work
hand in glove with the local headman and the chief54.
Village heads
Activities of village heads directly linking with livelihoods (and resiliency) in the area
over the years include upland field allocation as well as the self-organisation processes
of setting up and ensuring the enforcement of natural resource regulations involving
particularly forests, land, wildlife and water rules thereby protecting the resource-base
from which most livelihoods in the area are derived. Notable natural resource rules and
regulations mentioned across the three study villages include those highlighted in Box
6.2:
Box 6.2. Natural resource regulations

prohibition of the indiscriminate cutting down of trees

prohibition of veldt fires

prohibition of fishing with nets in all local rivers

prohibition of selling farm-land (although one may sell his/her residential stand).

prohibition of unlicensed hunting of wildlife
Penalties for those who break these rules include fines ranging from small stock or the
equivalent cash (or in-kind commodity) amounts to big stock such as cattle depending
on the gravity of the case. If a regulation is broken, say a veldt fire breaks out and no
culprit is identified, each household in the vicinity is made to contribute to the imposed
54
The chief and the headman are ex-situ and they depend on the village heads in local leadership along the traditional
line.
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fine. One village head during an interview, however, noted that whilst these regulations
could be easily enforced with fewer households and a low population particularly in the
1980s, regulation enforcement was becoming extremely difficult in recent years with
the increased numbers of people and households in the villages, whose interests
appeared increasingly shifting towards individualism rather than communal in
conserving natural resources due mainly to increased competition in the use and the
subsequent dwindling of the shared resources (LCI.2).
He noted that whereas in the past they had, for example, mostly depended on
community members to report offenders and assist in enforcing the set-rules – helping
the few village policemen – in recent years people were becoming increasingly silent on
those breaking the rules, especially on the indiscriminate cutting down of trees for fuelwood and fishing with nets in rivers, as there seemed to have now developed a
mentality in the villages that ‘everyone was doing it’ and could not report the next
person. Villagers in group discussions concurred with the village head, noting that as
the population increased in the villages they had been left with no choice but to consider
one’s family first in as far as shared resources are concerned.
From these discussions, it appeared there is a long-standing organised natural resources
management regime in the villages which, according to respondents, had helped in
natural resources management and conservation over the years. The management
system was, however, being severely compromised particularly by demographic
changes and was in danger of being lost as the population increased. This was, as a
result, negatively affecting the livelihoods resource-base in the area due to
deforestation, leading also to the dwindling of other critical fall-back resources such as
edible wild fruits and plants.
Spirit mediums
Spirit or mhondoro mediums are intimately involved in explaining and providing
solutions to some of the serious vulnerabilities faced by people in the area in so far as
traditional belief there is concerned since, as noted in chapter four, they are consulted in
periods of drought, problems with wildlife, and other plagues affecting large numbers of
people such as crop attacks by locusts. They have also partly assisted in natural
resources conservation over the years through the protection of certain forests,
woodland areas and particular points regarded as sacred habitats of the mhondoro along
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the main Manyame River where disturbing nature there or sometimes simply
trespassing is prohibited, thereby inculcating a conservation ethic in people. It was not
surprising therefore that most explanations from a local spirit medium interviewed
during the research on issues around the increasing occurrence of droughts, low rainfalls
and other challenges in the area revolved around the extensive clearing of forests in
recent years. The spirit medium, for example, had the following to say when asked on
his opinion on increasingly low rains in recent years in the area:
“...it is because the spirits are angry. That entire place you find fields in the east there were sacred places and people
actually experienced mysterious incidences during the first years they were trying to clear those lands. For example,
many got stung by mysterious bees from nowhere whilst others encountered a lot of dangerous snakes which were
clear messages from the spirits for them to stop, yet they refused to listen even when we told them. When people kept
pushing, especially these ‘vauyi’ (referring to immigrants/newcomers), the spirits had made their point and now they
are being punished through these increased drought spells, low rains, and even crop destruction by wildlife. The
spirits are not happy at all and a ceremony should be conducted to appease them and ask for forgiveness...” – (LC1.4)
Spirit mediums in the area have also strongly encouraged a sense of community,
primarily around the following of societal rules – most of which are centred on
observing traditional community resting days known locally as ‘chisi’, and moral values
such as the prohibition of incest, theft, murder and witchcraft – failure (to observe these
rules and values) which is also often attributed to be the reasons behind such challenges
as droughts, locust attacks on crops and wildlife attacks on livestock. Elders in group
discussions, for example, mentioned of being alerted to the breaking of such societal
rules and values by community members each time they consulted spirit mediums
seeking explanations and solutions to some of the mentioned challenges. Central to the
resiliency concern within spirit medium activity is also just the aspect of people’s belief
that change and uncertainty in the area and in their lives are not regulated by the mortal,
but by the spirits of their dead ancestors (vadzimu), which keeps them mentally and
psychologically prepared in facing and continuously finding ways of solving the various
vulnerabilities.
6.3.3. Christian churches role in adaptive strategies and living with change and
uncertainty in the area
Christian churches have played major roles towards cushioning and strengthening
livelihoods under difficult environments in many rural SSA communities since the late
19th century. In Dande, the most notable church just after independence in the 1980s
actively involved in local livelihoods and other development activities was the Lutheran
Church. Through its Lutheran World Federation, it was, for example, involved in input
provision – especially sourcing and hiring out tractors to villagers for mechanised
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farming at very low rates at a time when there were no cattle in the area due to tsetsefly; crop transportation; and the provision of technical expertise in farm management
during those early years of independence. The Lutheran World Federation was later
transformed to become the LGDA in 1991, evolving since then to become one of the
most popular NGOs in local livelihoods. Its activities will therefore be fully reviewed in
the next section on adaptive strategies from the sub national scale.
Churches of note in the area include the Roman Catholic, Anglican, ZAOGA, AFM,
Seventh Day Adventist, and a host of indigenous apostolic sects. The activities and
influence of these religious institutions vis-à-vis adaptive strategies to livelihood
challenges may be traced to the Christian values upon which they base their beliefs.
These values include such aspects as loving one another, generosity, mutual assistance
and helping each other out in times of need. From fieldwork evidence, it appeared
churches in the area have become arenas where people of different lineages, ethnicities
and wealth categories find common ground for assisting each other during periods of
livelihood pressures and challenges, as well as generally assisting fellow members to
strengthen their livelihoods and live with change and uncertainties in the area. It was
therefore not uncommon to hear respondents during interviews and conversations
saying they had assisted or received assistance from a fellow villager, for example, with
animals for traction, or pieces of riverbank plots, on the basis of being members of the
same church (see Box 6.3).
Another activity within local churches vis-à-vis responses to livelihood challenges
particularly in recent years is food-aid. This notably applied to ZAOGA and AFM
churches, who since the early 2000s have mobilised food packs which include maizemeal, salt, cooking oil, beans and peas from their privileged members and from other
external sources for distribution to the disadvantaged (e.g. the aged, the disabled and
orphans) among their congregants particularly during drought periods and the food-gap
every year. In this regard, these churches have therefore assisted in organizing
community members (who are part of their congregations) into cushioning the
disadvantaged among them during periods of shocks and stresses as well as
complementing the work of NGOs involved in food-aid activities in the area. Box 6.3
records some of the roles of the Church in the area as told by selected respondents.
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Box 6.3. Christian church role as told by respondents
“In our church, we teach that the gospel of love, mercy and carrying each other’s burden should be
put into practice and the majority of our members have strived to do that over the years” (LCI.5)
“When we go to church, we find time to share problems and solutions before and after services. That
is how a fellow church member offered me a riverbank field portion two years ago..” Mrs Madiro,
Bwazi village
“The Thursdays sessions exclusively for us women (which we call ‘kuchina’) have become a platform
for sharing ideas on self-help projects and how best to carry out livelihood activities in the home...”
Mrs Mangwanya, ZAOGA church member
“We rotate house-group sessions every Tuesdays; visiting and conducting prayers in each other’s
homes every week for members in our village and that has really made us connect very strongly as
church members and help each other at very personal levels” Mr Gwamure, Kapunzambiya village
“It is the church which stood by me during and after my husband’s death last year. Having been
overlooked in the Christian Care food aid programme this year, I also received some maize-meal and
cooking oil from the church assistance programme which greatly helped me and my two kids” Ms
Chizunza, Nyambudzi B village
Sources: Key informant interviews; Informal conversations
6.3.4. Other institutionalised local community adaptive strategies
These include the barter system, which, as the following discussions will show, is a
strategy developed over years, and therefore part of social learning processes in
responding to crisis; then marriages, neighbourly bonds and co-operation around funeral
ceremonies – mechanisms reflecting the ability to live with uncertainty in the area.
The barter system
The barter system, which essentially refers to exchanging goods and services using nonmonetary transactions, had always been a partially acceptable means of conducting
business and general exchange among villagers, and at local business centres over the
years. According to one local shop owner at Mushumbi Business Centre during an
informal conversation, Dande being a border area had inevitably meant increased
interactions and dealings with Mozambicans and Zambians over the years and
apparently those from other countries had always preferred to deal through nonmonetary exchange as most of them did not understand the constantly changing value of
the local currency (i.e. the then Zimbabwean dollar) particularly over the 2000s.
Respondents in interviews and group sessions noted that when they began experiencing
hyperinflation, basic commodity shortages in local shops as well as scarcity and the
eventual demise of the local Zimbabwean dollar in the 2000s, they had long gotten used
and grown accustomed to the barter system well before these dire economic
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circumstances such that it did not take time for them to quickly engage in it at a larger
scale. As mentioned earlier in this chapter and in chapter five, small livestock together
with other edible agricultural produce therefore became an important part of a
household’s ability to access groceries and other items in shops and in the carrying out
of many other exchanges among the villagers themselves. According to villagers and
the local leadership, what they made sure of was that they successfully convince
relevant authorities in essential local public services and utilities (e.g. education, health
and transport services) to embrace this system, such that by 2008 almost all households
were paying for these services in kind (i.e. in the form of small stock, buckets of
sorghum, maize, groundnuts and/or cowpea)55.
Marriages, Neighbourly bonds and Funeral ceremonies
From fieldwork evidence, other community linkages outside kinship, lineage and
religious connections contributing to adaptive strategies in the area involve marriages –
with people said to be consciously entering into or pushing for their children or kin to
enter into ‘marriages with benefits’ – particularly marrying into wealthier households,
local leaders’ households and/or into autochthonous households (if one is an immigrant)
so that they may be able to access certain critical livelihood resources (e.g. financial
assistance, draught power or even riverbank fields) through that avenue. Others have
sought to marry across borders in neighbouring Mozambique and Zambia so as to
spread networks beyond the area. According to respondents, such kinds of ‘cross-border
marriages’ (in recent years) became widespread during the period of the economic crisis
in the country from the early 2000s as interactions with nearby Zambian and
Mozambican communities increased; with an increased number of local residents
frequenting these areas to look for basic commodities, employment, and for some,
engaging in commercial fishing. However, as noted earlier, these interactions did not
start in recent years but had always existed since the 1970s and 1980s.
Other adaptive strategies emanating from the local community scale have revolved
around neighbourly bonds. According to respondents, this starts with people being just
neighbours (e.g. sharing residential or upland or riverbank field boundaries) then
developing this neighbourly relationship through such initiatives as gift exchange –
55
One child’s fees for the whole term at the local primary/secondary school, for example, would cost a bucket/20kgs
of maize or sorghum whilst a single visit to a local health centre would cost a gallon/5kgs of sorghum or maize or 6
cups of shelled groundnuts or cowpea
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beginning with small items such as exchanging cobs of maize, cups of groundnuts,
cowpea or poultry, to bigger resources such as lending each other pieces of land and/or
animals for traction.
A last area found to be central in the formulation of adaptive strategies at this scale was
around funeral ceremonies. It is a general community expectation in the area that if a
death occurs within any household in the locality (especially at village level), all able
and available adult community members are supposed and expected to attend and offer
moral, material, financial and physical support to the bereaved family. It was noted
during group discussions and informal conversations that the general (unofficial) rule in
the area was that if there is a noticeable trend that members of a particular household are
consistently and deliberately absenting themselves from others’ funerals, then if they
experience a death in their own households, other community members may as well
‘boycott’ their funeral en masse thereby facing social isolation. Such practices have
therefore helped in connecting people together (especially at village level), and
inculcating a sense of assisting each other during difficult periods even outside solely
funeral moments.
6.4. Adaptive strategies from the sub national scale
As noted in chapter one, the sub national scale comprises extra-local entities originating
from the national level and supporting local livelihoods in various roles over the years.
Institutional arrangements in this category include:
a) Government entities (such as the RDC, AGRITEX, the Department of Veterinary
Technical Services (DVS), PWMA, as well as Health and Educational institutions).
b) NGOs and UN agencies involved in various livelihood activities in the area over the
years (notably LGDA, Christian Care, World Vision, UNICEF and ZAPSO).
c) Cotton companies.
Adaptive strategies from this scale mainly involve various self-organising processes
such as the creation and strengthening of local common resources management systems
and other locally beneficial cross-institutional interactions (with the local community),
as well as assisting local residents to live with change and uncertainty through market
diversification (e.g. in the case of Cotton companies) and in the provision of such rapid
feedback mechanisms as food aid. To fully understand the role of these institutional
arrangements in local adaptive strategies therefore, this work sought to trace the
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evolving and current nature of their activities vis-à-vis local livelihood stresses and
shocks, and to examine their interactions and relationships at that scale and with
institutions at other scales over the years.
6.4.1. Government institutions
The Rural District Council (RDC)
RDC activity in local adaptive strategies was examined through identifying the relevant
by-laws upon which its interactions with the community is based. This involved
assessing the relevance of these by-laws within the broad local resiliency agenda and
their applicability and enforcement over the years. Also included in this section is
discussion on the government’s drought relief programmes in the area, channelled
through and managed by the RDC during the years that they subsisted.
RDC by-laws with respect to livelihoods in the area are more or less similar to
regulations set by the traditional leadership at the village level, including the prohibition
of veldt fires; the prohibition of the indiscriminate cutting down of trees and clearing of
forests; and the prohibition of the unlicensed hunting of wildlife. According to the
council CEO, they work hand-in-glove with the traditional leadership in the
enforcement of these laws and with the PWMA in the case of wildlife regulation
enforcement.
One RDC regulation which, however, drew some specific attention in as far as this
study was concerned was the prohibition of stream-bank cultivation. This was identified
to be a source of serious clashes between villagers and the RDC over the years, mainly
because riverbank fields form the most fertile lands in the area for all-year round maize
and vegetable farming as discussed in previous chapters. Attempting to enforce this bylaw was therefore met with fierce resistance, with villagers arguing that apart from
ensuring food security in the home, these fields are part of a special ancestral heritage
passed on from forefathers who had engaged in this production system over generations
and as such the system “could not possibly become wrong now” as one elderly
respondent put it during one group discussion.
Because of this resistance, it was noted that this by-law was therefore never actively
enforced in the end, beyond verbal threats. According to villagers and key informants,
with the advent of the new RDC in 2007 and after some protracted engagements
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between council officials, the traditional leadership and villagers, there was an
unwritten agreement that no ox-drawn ploughs (or any other implement besides the hoe)
would be used in the riverbank fields so as to avoid accelerated soil erosion. This local
modification of the national stream-bank cultivation regulation has therefore seen the
continued unhindered maize and vegetable production in these riverbank areas.
RDC and the Government Drought Relief Programmes in Dande (1982-1999)
Drought Relief Programmes were introduced in the country (in general) in 1982 in the
wake of the 1981/82 drought to prevent hunger, starvation, malnutrition and massmigration of people in search of food (GoZ, 1995). It remained in place over the years
but undergoing various transformations. In Dande, (as in most rural communities in
Zimbabwe), it initially assumed the free food handouts programme outlook; then the
food-for-work programme; to grain loan schemes, before it was stopped altogether in
1999. These programmes were financed through the Department of Social Welfare in
the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; however, for effective
targeting and implementation, their day to day administration was in the hands of the
Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development through the RDC (and
the traditional leadership) (cf. Munro, 2006). There was also the child supplementary
feeding programme financed through the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare – which
covered children in primary and pre-schools, as well as the post-drought free seed-pack
and fertiliser distribution programme financed through the Ministry of Agriculture.
According to respondents however, the last two programmes were erratic and not as
consistent as the other programmes in the area.
Dande (then still under Guruve District), immensely benefitted from these programmes
as a drought-prone area56. For example, all households which participated in the survey
indicated that they did receive free grain maize particularly during the severe 1991/92
drought – getting at least 10kgs every month (depending on household size). Villagers
in group discussions, for example, vividly recalled the years of ‘kenya’ – as the
government-sourced yellow maize-meal was locally known, and how it greatly assisted
many of them affected by the drought. As noted, the programme changed from free food
handouts and became largely a food-for-work programme; this taking place in the area
in 1994. Food-for-work required able-bodied recipients to provide labour for
56
As Munro (2006) writes, there was effort to target assistance to the most needy provinces, districts and communal
areas through the Ministry of Agriculture’s crop production index.
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community projects in return for food, though free food handouts remained for those
deemed most vulnerable such as the chronically ill, the disabled and the elderly.
Under the food-for-work programmes, the ward 12 community witnessed the
construction of the local Nyambudzi Primary School and Nyambudzi Health Centre as
well as the constant renovation of the main road running through the ward from
Mushumbi Business Centre to Chikafa Border Post (refer to Map 3.1). The programme
was then transformed into grain loan schemes in 1996 – whereby households were
encouraged to form loan groups and access maize for household consumption, which
was supposed to be repaid on harvesting. According to village heads of the study
villages – two of whom were actively involved in supervising the programmes in those
years (i.e. LCI.1 and LCI.3), very few villagers ever repaid these loans and the
programme was stopped completely in 199957. It can be argued then that given the
length of the period the programmes were active and the benefits as told by villagers,
these relief programmes had become an established part of adaptive strategies in the
area in dealing with the effects of drought and low rainfall challenges for most
households. The cessation of these programmes could therefore be said to have
effectively reduced adaptive options in responding to these challenges.
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (PWMA)
The activities of the PWMA are guided by the provisions of the Parks and Wildlife Act
(1975 as amended). Their main mandate in the area involves the general management of
wildlife resources, with specific responsibilities including ensuring that people live
harmoniously with wildlife by solving human-wildlife conflicts which might occur
(such as scaring away and, where necessary, eliminating problem animals destroying
people’s crops and livestock and threatening human lives), as well as enforcing antipoaching regulations and apprehending offenders. The PWMA works hand in hand with
the RDC – which is the general overseer of all district natural resources – as well as
with the local police and community members where, for example, they have jointly
created a Problem Animal Control (PAC) body responsible for assisting in enforcing the
said mandates (SNI.3)58.
57
This is consistent with Munro’s (2001) observations (as cited in Munro, 2006: 129) – that for the whole of
Zimbabwe, “perhaps only a quarter of the grain loans from 1995 to 1996 were ever repaid”.
58
This body consists of individuals who are trained to assist PWMA officers in executing the stated mandates as well
as to impart knowledge to the community on living harmoniously with wildlife, scaring away wild animals and
apprehending poachers.
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The position of the PWMA with respect to livelihoods and adaptive strategies in the
area cannot be overstated. This is because wildlife forms one of the most enduring
challenges in the area, ranked by villagers second only to low rainfalls and increased
drought cycles, as discussed in chapter five. Escalation in human-wildlife conflicts, and
reservations with the work of PWMA officials were, however, evident in interviews and
group discussions across the three study villages. There was unanimity, and almost
anger, amongst villagers in noting that PWMA officers were mainly visible and zealous
in enforcing anti-poaching laws and apprehending offenders more than they were in
assisting in protecting villagers’ fields and livestock from wild animals. There was
frustration also amongst villagers with the way PWMA officers were said to treat
problem animals, particularly elephants. Villagers complained, for example, that in the
case of elephants – which are the most problematic and dangerous animals on crop
destruction in upland fields – when called to deal with these animals, the officers just
shoo them off without eliminating even the most problematic ones which then keep on
coming back. To villagers then, this was a clear sign that they prioritise these animals
more than their livelihoods as one respondent asserted during a group discussion in
Bwazi village:
“...those animals actually seem more important to them than us people and our fields probably because of their
CAMPFIRE programme, which, however, do not benefit us here. They literally treat the elephants with kid gloves in
chasing them off whilst carrying guns with which they can decisively deal with these problematic animals...” –
FGD5-BWV
General resentment towards wildlife, especially where it involved issues of crop
destruction and livestock attacks, was therefore evident amongst villagers. The stopping
of compensation for destroyed crop or attacked livestock since the year 2001 due to
population growth (as discussed in chapter five), and the absence of the CAMPFIRE
programme in the study ward (due to its being a non-wildlife producing ward), have not
helped matters either and have fuelled this resentment over the years. There were also
reservations on the strict anti-poaching laws in the area, with villagers suggesting tradeoffs between enforcing regulations against poaching or uncontrolled hunting of game,
and limited hunting for meat which could be an effective fall-back mechanism against
hunger and starvation during the many times that their crop fail given the climatic
conditions of the area.
An interview with the head of the local PWMA revealed that macro-economic
challenges especially from the turn of the millennium had seriously handicapped their
operations. He talked of, for example, a huge staff turnover as salaries got to an all-time
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low from around the year 2004 to 2008 – with most workers leaving to search for better
opportunities elsewhere. They also experienced inadequate resource supply (e.g. guns
and ammunition, patrol vehicles and fuel) from central government during the same
period, which again limited their visibility on the ground. He, however, noted that they
were returning to some semblance of normalcy with the stabilisation of the macroeconomic environment from 2009. It is therefore clear from fieldwork evidence that, by
and large, the work of PWMA in the area vis-à-vis supporting livelihoods and adaptive
strategies to wildlife challenges, (which is their main mandate), has not really been up
to local people’ expectations. This is mainly due to what villagers feel as the overprioritisation of wildlife more than making wildlife a supportive resource to their
livelihoods, as well as a serious decline in resource supply from central government
over the years.
Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX)
The department of AGRITEX falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation
and Irrigation Development and is responsible for mobilising appropriate agricultural
technical, advisory and extension services to farmers in the area. Its services are
therefore important to local livelihoods given the centrality of farming as the main
source of livelihood for the majority of households in the area.
Discussions with villagers revealed that AGRITEX officers were very much active and
visible from the 1980s, just after the country’s independence, into the 1990s. Their
activities, however, drastically scaled down in the 2000s to the point of stalling (at the
peak of the country’s macro-economic crisis) around 2007/08. It was noted that in the
1980s to the 1990s, officers from AGRITEX were, for example, at the centre of the
planning and implementation of the previously discussed MZRDP, and the offering of
valuable early warning, technical and advisory services to farmers thereafter. They also
particularly came to be associated with the popular demonstration-plot concept in the
area and field days, (the latter occasions being held at the end of each farming season on
which they would give the best farmers in the ward tokens of appreciation such as seed,
fertilizers and/or farming equipment meant to encourage and motivate other farmers
thereby stimulating competition and better yields).
From an interview with a local AGRITEX officer who has worked in the area since the
1980s, it was mentioned (just as in the PWMA case) that resource constraints seriously
176
disabled their work during the period of the country’s economic upheavals throughout
the 2000s. He pointed out that they are, for example, supposed to be extensively mobile
in visiting farmers around the area – inspecting fields and proffering advice – however,
they had not been able to do that in the 2000s as the previous provision of motorcycles
and fuel from central government, which had greatly enabled them to go round and
effectively cover their catchment area had been stopped in the late 1990s. They had thus
been limited to covering few farmers in villages near their offices (around Mushumbi
Business Centre) where they could reach by foot (SNI.5).
Staff turnover, (just as mentioned in the case of PWMA), was also felt in the AGRITEX
department as the interviewed officer noted, for example, that at some points the whole
of Dande (covering 17 wards as highlighted earlier) was operating with only three to six
officers at a time between 2005 and 2008 as others left to seek greener pastures
elsewhere59. It was therefore apparent that though considered integral in offering
various advisory and supportive services to people vis-à-vis farming in the area, there
had been a marked decline in the capacity to do so by AGRITEX particularly as
resources from central government dwindled in the 2000s.
Department of Veterinary Technical Services (DVS)
The general responsibilities of the DVS in the area include the provision of technical
services concerning domestic animal diseases and health problems as well as veterinary
public health. From the mid to the late 1980s, the DVS was instrumental in broadening
the livelihoods base of people in Dande through its active involvement in tsetseeradication programmes then, carried out under a European Economic Commission
(EEC) funded programme (see chapter four). After the ending of the first phase of the
programmes, which involved intensive aerial and ground spraying, the Tsetse Control
Division (TCD) in the DVS then continued with important tsetse-control work mostly
involving the setting up of target traps, thereby clearing the remaining pockets of the fly
in the area. According to respondents, these efforts were extremely helpful in enabling
the rearing of cattle in the area which in turn accelerated crop production especially in
the uplands as people could now use draught power/ox-drawn ploughs leading to even
more livestock purchases for some. Baudron et al (2011) note that, for example, the
average number of cattle per person in the whole of Dande in 1980 was zero; 0.20 in
59
In Zimbabwe, normally four extension officers are recommended per ward – which shows how desperate the
situation had become then.
177
1992; then 0.28 in 2002 with high annual growth rates of above 15% of cattle numbers
in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994 – underlying the importance of the tsetse-eradication
programmes and the centrality of the DVS in broadening people’s livelihoods base in
the area.
Just as with other government departments discussed so far however, the issue of
resource constraints from the late 1990s into the 2000s came up as seriously
undermining both the DVS and TCD work in the area. According to the head of the
local DVS, the collapse of donor support due to differences at the national level
between the central government and donor countries (whom they had always relied on
for imported chemicals), coupled with declining government financial allocations
towards tsetse-control as the economy declined (see chapter five) all effectively led to
the reversal of tsetse-control activities as tsetse-fly actually began re-invading the
cleared areas. Besides tsetse-control, it also appeared the DVS has largely failed to
expand its services over the years to cater for the growing numbers of domestic animal
population in the area. For example, ward 12 is still serviced by only one dip-tank
constructed in the mid-1990s, which is hardly adequate to cover a cattle population of
over 1500 (LGDA Mbire District Survey, 2008). From this discussion, it is therefore
clear that the utility and relevance of DVS activity in adaptive strategies in the area – as
other government entities’ – has directly corresponded to stability at the national
government level, and declined considerably over the years.
Education and Health institutions
These mainly have to do with human capital development in the area. Educational
institutions’ contributions to local adaptive strategies seem to show somewhat covertly
through, for example, educational levels of local residents – enabling them to engage in
reasonably paying formal employment and remitting, as well as the general literacy of
community members to be able, for example, to engage in local and external market
dealings. On the other hand, health institutions’ contributions are rather clearly manifest
and can be immediately discerned in the effectiveness of these institutions’ activities in
dealing with such enduring stresses as malaria in the area.
It is important to note from the beginning that the performance trend that has emerged
with other government entities in the area was also clearly the same with educational
and health institutions. Whereas these had performed relatively well in the 1980s and
178
1990s, headmasters at local schools (Mushumbi High School and Nyambudzi Primary
School) as well as nurses-in-charge at the local Mushumbi Clinic and Nyambudzi
Health Centre interviewed, for instance, all stated that a slump in resources from the
government (their main sponsor) from the early 2000s greatly affected operations.
Shortage of books and other important teaching material in schools, and drugs and other
essential medical equipment in health centres, as well as poor staff remuneration
consequently leading to serious staff turnover saw these institutions operating well
below par.
For the health centres, it was noted during interviews with the nurses-in-charge that
what clearly saved the day for them during the difficult period of the 2000s was their
partnership with and support from NGOs (some of which will be discussed later in this
section), notably in the provision of malaria drugs, water purification tablets, and
mosquito nets for the local community. This partnership between local health centres
and NGOs thus generally set health institutions apart from other government entities in
the area in so far as contributing to responses against local challenges was concerned.
According to villagers in group discussions, there was no single year, even during the
difficult 2000s period, when they had visited local clinics for malaria treatment for
example, and had been turned away because of lack of drugs.
Another remarkable move involving education and health institutions contributing
towards local adaptive strategies to changing vulnerability patterns, as discussed in the
previous section, was to agree to engage in non-monetary transactions with villagers in
accessing their crucial services, as negotiated through School Development Committees
and Health Centre Committees respectively60. From around 2004/05 therefore, villagers
were able to pay school and health fees in the form of gallons of sorghum, maize,
groundnuts or cowpea and small stock as noted earlier.
6.4.2. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies
Activities of NGOs have also been important in local adaptive strategies over the years.
NGO activities in the area have included the following: food aid/distribution; non-food
item provision (e.g. mosquito-nets and hygiene kits, seed distribution, water and
sanitation issues); and HIV/AIDS and public health awareness. NGOs of note which
have worked in the area include the previously mentioned LGDA, whose activities dates
60
The full role of these committees will be discussed in chapter seven.
179
back to the 1980s; Christian Care since the late 1990s; UNICEF and World Vision since
the early 2000s; and the Zimbabwe Aids Prevention Services Organization (ZAPSO)
since the mid-2000s61. The activities of each of these organizations will now be briefly
examined in the following discussions.
Lower Guruve Development Association (LGDA)
LGDA has been involved in a number of activities vis-à-vis adaptive strategies to
livelihood challenges in the area – from input (both implements and seed) provision; to
food aid; non-food item provision (for example mosquito nets); as well as
experimenting on the establishment of such community projects as nutrition gardens.
LGDA has also helped in mobilising aid and worked in partnerships with other NGOs
on the stated activities. Villagers and key informants interviewed (particularly the ward
councillor and village heads) all held it in high esteem especially in its efforts towards
actively involving community members in all its programme formulations and
implementation. Amongst its most popular projects highlighted by respondents as
important in local adaptive strategies in light of livelihood challenges experienced in the
area was (the previously noted) mechanisation programme throughout the 1980s, when
it was still the Lutheran World Federation – which involved hiring out tractors for
cultivation to local community members at very low rates at a time when there were no
cattle in the area due to tsetse-fly up until the early 1990s.
Another notable programme by LGDA mentioned by respondents was the introduction
of the now popular drought resistant and disease tolerant macia sorghum seed variety in
2002 which, as discussed in chapter five and earlier in this chapter, effectively
rearranged the crop production system in the uplands, with sorghum gradually
becoming the second major crop after cotton and effectively displacing maize in that
regard. According to residents across the three study villages, the macia crop has
extremely helped them deal with food insecurity in their homes as the crop, unlike
maize, can withstand conditions of low rainfall and high temperatures in the area. The
LGDA has therefore been at the centre of some of the highly ranked projects which link
with critical adaptive strategies in the area.
61
There are a host of other NGOs which have been involved in various livelihood activities in the area over the years
as identified by ordinary villagers and key informants alike, but those mentioned are the ones noted to have
consistently worked/been working in the area for considerable periods of time and in much bigger projects at a larger
scale as well.
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Christian Care
Christian Care is an ecumenical NGO formed in 1967 and its work in different parts of
Zimbabwe has included programmes in water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS, advocacy and
development education, emergencies and disaster preparedness, as well as food aid. Its
work in Dande involves the last two concerns since 1999, where it has been engaged in
food aid during particular livelihood shock periods (e.g. during major droughts), and
every year during the period November to March (i.e. the food-gap period), targeting
mainly the most poor, the needy and the most vulnerable62. Christian Care therefore
aims at directly responding to local people’s livelihood challenges at particular stressful
periods as well as cushioning the most disadvantaged in the community.
Photo 6.5. Villagers waiting to receive Christian Care food packs
In discussions with villagers and interviews with key informants, it was noted that the
activities of Christian Care were extremely helpful notably during drought years
(2000/01, 2001/02, 2003/04, 2006/07), as well as during the peak period of the
economic crisis and basic food shortages in the country around 2007/08. In all these
periods, respondents maintained that the organization made efforts to reach out to all
needy households in the area hence providing critical fall-back mechanisms and
enhancing food security in most homes during these desperate periods. Since 2009,
however, respondents pointed out that the number of people receiving aid has been
62
These categories include the aged, the disabled, orphans and widows. Food distributed include bottles of cooking
oil, bags of maize meal, salt, bulgar, peas, beans and bars of soap.
181
drastically reducing thereby exposing some community members to starvation;
particularly the very poor and disadvantaged who had come to rely on that aid63.
World Vision
World Vision has been active in the area since the year 2000 and amongst its notable
programmes were a livestock-scheme project for almost all villagers in the study ward
from 2001 to 2005, as well as assisting with material and financial resources towards
the refurbishment of the ward dip-tank in 2007. The first project involved the availing
of funds to all households with children aged between eight and ten and in primary
school in the area, specifically for the purchasing of two goats per child. It was expected
that these goats would reproduce and some of them would then be sold for the benefit of
these children (especially in assisting towards the payment of the children’s school
fees). A majority of households in the study villages indicated that they had benefitted
from the scheme and some of them lauded the organization for actually helping them to
start livestock rearing for the first time thereby assisting them in diversifying their
livelihoods.
The renovation of the ward dip-tank in 2007 was also highly appreciated by all
respondents who stated that this was a helpful move suggested by ordinary community
members themselves and meant to support one of their main sources of livelihoods in
the area – livestock production – at a time when it was clear that the authority
responsible for the task, (the DVS), was not in a position to undertake such renovations
in the short to medium term due to resource constraints. It was clear therefore from
respondents’ perceptions as well as in looking at the general focus of the organization’s
projects that it had contributed to the strengthening and diversification of livelihoods of
quite a number of households in the area in no small way.
UNICEF and ZAPSO
These two have worked hand in hand with local health centres in the area and have been
instrumental in the availing and donation of water treatment tablets; mosquito-nets; and
condoms for onward transmission to the local community. ZAPSO also undertakes
HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in the area – educating people on prevention, living
63
Whereas up to 2008 everyone selected as poor or disadvantaged would benefit from the programme and received
food packs, it was reported that during the 2009/10 phase of the programme they only targeted 120 individuals per
village, and it was down to 75 individuals per village in the 2010-2011 phase which villagers say is hardly enough to
make any impact.
182
positively with HIV/AIDS and the advantages of voluntary testing. The two
organizations are therefore heavily involved in formulating adaptive strategies against
health challenges in the area, and their work was also highly appreciated by
respondents. The most important factor vis-à-vis these organizations’ activities was that
they strongly complement other institutions’ activities in the area – health institutions in
this case – thereby strengthening these (health) institutions’ capacities to deliver for the
betterment of local people’s lives. A previous discussion on health institutions in the
area has, for example, shown that they are part of the few government institutions which
remained reasonably functional during the peak of the economic crisis in the country
around 2007/08, which is primarily due to this close co-operation with such NGOs as
ZAPSO and UNICEF.
6.4.3. Cotton companies
Cotton companies are very much part of people’s livelihoods in Dande since cotton
farming is one of the major activities around which most households build their
livelihoods. Out of the 71 households involved in the survey for example, 63 (89%) had
varying acres of land under cotton production during the 2010/11 season. Cotton
companies have therefore emerged in the area over the years, particularly after the
government withdrawal from agricultural marketing activities following ESAP in the
early 1990s, to provide contract farming to villagers (see Box 6.4) – most of whom are
unable to meet the costs of engaging in this input-intensive activity on their own. There
were initially two cotton companies in the 1990s – COTTCO (transformed from the
government’s Cotton Marketing Board in 1992) and Cargill which began its operations
in the area in 1996. There were, however, a total of six cotton companies in the area at
the time of the research64.
64
The other four (besides Cottco and Cargill) were Olam, Grafax, Alliance and Sino-Zimbabwe
183
Box 6.4. Contract farming in Dande
Contract farming in the area involves a farmer registering with a cotton company of his/her choice first
after which the registered farmers are made to form groups of between 15 to 20 people and
(individual) contracts drafted and they sign. The contract basically requires the farmer to state the
acreage/hectares on which s/he would be farming and his/her expected yield that season as guided by
what the farmer normally gets in a good season as well as performance of the farmer during the
previous season. It also states that the farmer is obliged to sell all of his/her produce to that particular
company that season. Farmers are also obliged to declare their attachable property (such as cattle,
scotch carts, ploughs, harrows etc) in case of defaulting. The contract is also clear in stating that the
company retains the sole rights to weigh and grade the produce, set the prices of inputs and produce
and to reject substandard produce. After the signing of the contract, the company provides the farmer
with inputs (seed, chemicals, fertilizers) on credit during the farming season, as well as technical
advice, since all companies have their own extension officers on the ground who go round their
particular farmers’ fields monitoring crop performance and proper input use. Money for the taken
inputs is subtracted from that paid on delivered produce at harvest time.
Discerning the position of cotton companies in local adaptive strategies was a complex
task given the dynamics surrounding their operations as well as the nature of the
relationship that has existed between these cotton companies and their intended
beneficiaries (i.e. the villagers). On one side, there is the clear fact that cotton
companies have been extremely helpful in assisting villagers to deal with the challenges
of poor input and output markets for their major cash crop as these markets are made
readily available and easily accessible to everyone through the companies (unlike
markets for other crops and livestock) as acknowledged by the villagers themselves as
well during group discussions and other research interactions. A lot of villagers also
noted that throughout the 1990s when the economy was relatively stable and before
major fluctuations in cotton producer prices as experienced in the 2000s, they had been
able to accumulate substantial physical assets and livestock in their homes through
money realised from cotton farming as supported by these companies. This, however,
changed in the 2000s mainly due to the changed macro-economic environment as the
money they got from cotton produce began to rapidly lose value because of inflation
and hyperinflation (see cotton producer price trends in the area Table 6.2).
184
Table 6.2. Cotton producer price trends in Dande 1989/90 season to 2006/07 season
Season
Cotton producer price paid in Zimbabwean dollar per kilogram
$USD equivalent
1989/90
1.35
0.53
1990/91
1.63
0.44
1991/92
1.35
0.26
1992/93
2.62
0.40
1993/94
3.20
0.39
1994/95
3.70
0.43
1995/96
4.20
0.42
1996/97
6.00
0.49
1997/98
9.00
0.37
1998/99
15.00
0.37
1999/00
18.00
0.33
2000/01
28.00
0.21
2001/02
57.00
0.14
2002/03
400
0.19
2003/04
1,800.00
0.29
2004/05
4,500.00
0.19
2005/06
300.00 (re-valued)
0.16
2006/07
1, 500.00 (re-valued)
0.28
Sources: Poulton and Hanyani-Mlambo, 2009; Cottco Mushumbi Office, 2011
On the other side, there is a tension-filled relationship between the cotton companies
and the villagers with the latter accusing the companies of dealing in bad faith by
offering very low prices on their produce (particularly during the 2000s inflation and
hyperinflation years), as well as arbitrarily shifting initially agreed input prices higher at
the end of each season when they are settling their credits, thereby leaving them to take
home very little amounts of money. Cotton companies on the other hand accuse most
villagers of dishonesty and flouting contractual agreements by ‘side-marketing’ (i.e.
delivering to the contracting company only quantities equivalent to the value of the loan
advanced, then selling the remainder to competitors who would not have financed the
cotton production in the first place). In interviews, cotton company officials also noted
that some of the farmers abuse the input credit scheme by selling the inputs (especially
fertilizers) at highly inflated prices mostly to local salaried workers and ‘unscrupulous’
185
external buyers to get quick cash, inevitably leading to productivity decline in their
fields and incurring huge debts in the process as they (the villagers) would still need to
pay for the inputs in full at harvest time65. On balance, it would appear that cotton
companies still remain integral in as far as the provision of cotton input and output
markets in this remote part of the country is concerned – thereby retaining a critical
position in as far as livelihoods and particularly cash incomes in the area is concerned.
It was also interesting to note that the perceived unfair dealings in the cotton market (by
villagers) had spurred a sizeable number of them to begin scaling down their cotton
farming and concentrate on sorghum, especially after the introduction of the macia
sorghum variety from 2002. Such people reported that they are now actually doing
reasonably well selling their sorghum both locally and in external markets, rather than
being locked down in the cotton-growing ‘vicious circle’ with no real profits to show
for it at the end of the season especially in recent years. In essence, dealings with cotton
companies particularly during the inflation and hyperinflation period therefore led some
farmers to ‘think outside the box’ and explore other avenues besides sticking to cotton
farming, compelling them to be innovative and thereby ultimately learning from crisis.
6.5. Adaptive strategies in Dande: understandings from a multi-institutional focus
This section draws major observations regarding adaptive strategies in the area as
emanating from discussions on the household, the local community and the sub national
institutional scales as presented. A deeper focus on the three scales as undertaken in the
chapter enabled the engagement of an expanded approach in tracing and identifying
crucial factors and points regarding the viability of livelihoods in such a dynamic
vulnerability context. One of the main ideas around the resiliency perspective as
advanced in this thesis is that understanding the various ways in which vulnerability
affects livelihoods and long-term responses to challenges cannot be confined to analysis
on any one scale or unit, hence the cross institutional and temporal scalar dimensions
guiding analysis.
Revisiting dynamics at the sub national scale; it was clear that institutions at this level
have played huge complementary and supportive roles vis-à-vis many adaptive
strategies against various challenges in the area over the years. They have supported
strategies around, for example, diversification (e.g. LGDA, World Vision, the DVS);
65
A bag of fertilizer during the 2010/2011 season was, for example, availed to farmers by the cotton companies on
credit at between $US28-$US35 per bag, but would then later be resold at between $US9-$US11 by the farmers.
186
resource management (e.g. the RDC, PWMA) and various other different initiatives
towards the well being of residents in the area (e.g. ZAPSO, Christian Care, Cotton
Companies). It was, however, also apparent that institutions at this scale have been most
helpful when responding to localised vulnerabilities. Once the stresses and shocks
assumed a national scale, such as macro-economic challenges, their contribution to local
adaptive strategies became heavily compromised and quite minimal – particularly in the
case of government institutions and cotton companies.
Adaptive strategies at the local community scale were found to comprise of processes
around collective village and ward natural resource and social services management; the
transmission and sharing of (indigenous) knowledge in various livelihood aspects; and
local ‘bonds’ of mutual assistance and co-operation in different idiosyncratic and
covariant challenges. These strategies were seen assuming quite central roles
particularly in the background of weakening state institutions in the 2000s. As observed
in the study area, people make the most of their beliefs, norms, customs, traditional
knowledge, religion and spiritual elements as livelihood stresses and shocks intensify.
At the household scale, most adaptive strategies revealed trends more or less similar to
those at the sub national scale – showing signs of weakness and inadequacy as
vulnerabilities worsened in the 2000s. Diversification was, for instance, found to be
increasingly restricted only to crop and market diversification for most households.
Diversification into off- and non-farm activities, which appear more important vis-à-vis
adaptive strategies in livelihoods literature (see Ellis, 1998; Barrett et al, 2001;
Bryceson, 2002), were restricted to activities viewed by villagers as either insignificant
(i.e. maricho) or a preserve of the few (e.g. trading in goods and services or receiving
meaningful remittances) as discussed in the chapter. Extensification of fields, which
used to be a preferred adaptive strategy in the 1980s and 1990s, was no longer a major
option in the 2000s due to population increase. Intensification of farming practices has
also mostly meant ‘labour-led’ intensification as opposed to the more profitable
‘capital-led’ intensification due to general increases in input prices beyond most
residents’ reach over the years, and/or in some cases, the outright shortage of farming
inputs in local and nearby markets (particularly in the 2000s).
187
From research evidence, the local community scale emerged as comprising institutional
processes and structures largely filling the gaps in the formulation of locally sustainable
and effective strategies towards responding to a worsening vulnerability context in the
area. Aspects around tapping into social memory, ability to co-operate in social services
management, and collectively confronting idiosyncratic and covariant challenges have
been shown to prominently appear at this scale especially in the 2000s. The importance
of the local community scale relative to other scales in adaptive strategies and
ultimately well being under dynamic changes in the area was therefore very apparent.
Table 6.3 summarises the various adaptive strategies emanating from the three scales as
discussed in the chapter, and the general trend in each of these strategies and/or
institutional processes in effectively dealing with vulnerability factors in the area over
the reference study period – (from increasing/positive influence, to declining influence
and lastly to whether the strategy or action had discontinued/stopped by 2010).
Table 6.3. Summary of adaptive strategies from the three scales and their trends
Key: General trend in use or efficiency of strategy over 1990 to 2010 – Increased =
2010 =
Declined =
Discontinued before
First increase (up to about the year 2000) then decline =
Scale
Institution
Adaptive strategy
Primary
exposure(s)
responded to
Household
Household
Diversification
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Migration and remittances
Extensification of fields
Intensification of crop
production
Local
community
Indigenous
knowledge
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
The two-home system
Food insecurity
and Labour
limitations
Seasonal early warning
systems
Food insecurity
Indigenous crop farming
activities
Techniques in dealing with
wild animals
Food insecurity
Use of wild foods
Food insecurity
188
Food insecurity
General trend in use
and efficiency of
strategy over 1990 to
2010
(though labour-led)
Traditional
leadership
Natural resource regulation
and enforcement
Food insecurity
The ‘community’ aspect in
solving collective challenges
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Confidence in the ‘immortal’
in confronting livelihood
challenges
Local churches
Mutual assistance across
people of different socioeconomic backgrounds
Food aid
Sub
national
Other
institutionalised
community strategies
1 (marriages;
neighbourly bonds
and funeral
ceremonies)
Other
institutionalised
community strategies
2 (barter system)
Government
institutions
Mutual assistance across
people of different socioeconomic backgrounds
Non-monetary transactions
in exchanging goods and
services
Food and financial
insecurity
Natural resource regulation
and enforcement
(including wildlife
management)
Food aid/drought relief
assistance
Food insecurity
Food-for-work & community
infrastructural projects
(public works)
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Tsetse-fly control
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Financial
insecurity
Labour limitations
Education and literacy
provision
Community health and
sanitation provision
Diversification (e.g. World
Vision and LGDA)
Food aid (e.g. Christian Care
and LGDA)
Community infrastructural
renovations (World Vision)
Cotton companies
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Financial
insecurity
Agricultural advisory,
technical and extension
services
Problem animal control
NGOs & UN
agencies
Labour
limitations; Food
and Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Labour
limitations; Food
and Financial
insecurity
Community health and
sanitation resource provision
(UNICEF, ZAPSO)
Contract-farming
189
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Food and
Financial
insecurity
Labour limitations
Financial
insecurity
6.6. Conclusion
This chapter has explored the various livelihood adaptive strategies emanating from the
household, the local community and the sub national scales over 1990 to 2010. The
major observation from discussions across the three scales was that enduring and
effective strategies in the context of worsening vulnerabilities in the area, particularly in
the 2000s, emerge at the local community scale. Institutions at this (local community)
scale displayed the ability to support livelihoods in persisting through change, learning
from challenges and building rapid feedback mechanisms in responding to various
stresses and shocks more, relative to institutions at other scales. This chapter puts to the
fore the insightful dimensions of an institutional and temporal focus in adequately
understanding livelihoods under highly dynamic vulnerability contexts as advanced in
the resiliency perspective in this thesis. A multi-institutional and temporal analysis has
revealed how opportunities and constraints for effective adaptive strategies in the area
emerge from various angles and evolve over time, which is informative in so far as it
adequately captures the configuration and re-configuration of livelihoods as the nature
and patterns of vulnerability change. This is definitely a refocusing in conventional
livelihoods approaches – which appear particularly useful in analysing existing
livelihood systems, but less good at examining changes in the system and the rationale
behind the changes in more complex settings (Jordan, 2012). The next chapter proceeds
along the same institutional and temporal lines in examining specific factors that have
influenced resilient and adaptive responses to vulnerability changes in the area among
different units at the household and community levels over the years.
190
CHAPTER SEVEN. FACTORS INFLUENCING RESILIENT AND ADAPTIVE
RESPONSES TO VULNERABILITY CHANGES IN DANDE
7.1. Introduction
This chapter examines specific factors influencing the capacity of livelihood systems in
the study area to adapt to changing vulnerability patterns and to move towards
resiliency over 1990 to 2010. The chapter extends on discussions in chapter six and it
addresses the third research question. Two main points emerged with regards to
understanding livelihoods and responses to challenges under dynamic vulnerability
changes. The first is that in such contexts (of dynamic vulnerability changes), resiliency
trajectories differ from household to household even in the same area and sometimes
from community to community even in the same locality depending on the various
factors and processes operating. Second is the re-emphasis on the importance of
critically engaging with place-based cross-institutional and temporal aspects in
analysing and understanding livelihoods in environments characterised by dynamic
vulnerability changes. Certain historical processes and institutional interactions over
time were found to shape and influence past and present resiliency trajectories into the
future. This chapter is organised into three main sections. The first and second sections
explore important household- and community-level factors shaping resilient and
adaptive responses to vulnerability changes in the area respectively. The last section
provides the conclusion.
7.2. Household-level factors
These were more or less the same as those discussed in the case of other rural SSA
communities in chapter two (see section 2.8.1). In the study area, these factors included
household wealth, and most importantly attached to this factor, the ability to diversify
income sources; household demographic structure, particularly household size and the
number of economically active in-situ household members; household social identity,
particularly the household ethnic background and its migrant status; household ability to
create and expand social networks as well as household cognitive well being
perceptions and motivation to resiliency. These factors are discussed in detail in the
following sub-sections. Though discussed separately, most of the factors interlink as
will be highlighted in analysis.
191
7.2.1. Household wealth - factor towards ability to living with change and
uncertainty
The effect of this factor in determining responses to vulnerability changes in the area
was understood through the initial placement of households which participated in the
survey across the three study villages into different wealth ranks (i.e. the better-off, the
middle-ranking, the poor and the very poor) (see Table 7.1) – which, in itself, reflected
differences in asset possession among different households enabling them to respond to
vulnerabilities in the area66.
Table 7.1. Wealth-ranking and overall figures across the three study villages
(n=71)
Category
Roofing of
household
main
residence
Floor of
household
main
residence
Land
area
cultivated
(acres)
Labour
utilization
Livestock
holdings
Households in category
No.
1995/96
Hire
labour –
has 1 to 2
permanent
workers
Betteroff
Asbestos
Cement
More than
12 acres
Middle
Asbestos/Iron
sheets
Cement
7 – 12
acres
Hire
labour
Poor
Iron sheets/
thatch
Cement/
Mud
5–7
acres
Hire out
labour
Very
Poor
Thatch
Mud
0–4
acres
Hire out
labour
Total
%
No.
2010/11
%

Over 15
cattle

Over 15
goats

Plenty
chickens

7 – 14
cattle

5 – 15
goats

10 – 15
chicken

0 – 4
cattle

1 – 3
goats

1 – 5
chicken
None Owned
8
11.3%
5
7.0%
11
15.4%
13
18.3%
44
62.0%
42
59.2%
8
11.3%
11
15.5%
71
100%
71
100%
Following this wealth ranking, this work sought to examine whether, how and why
some households have maintained, moved up or down different wealth ranks, and the
dynamics behind those movements. This helped in the understanding of the actual
aspects enabling responses to change in the context of worsening vulnerabilities. These
dynamics were understood through an analysis of the changing nature of financial assets
(particularly livestock and cultivated land-holdings), and changing livelihood activities
of households across these different wealth ranks in two periods (i.e. in the mid1990s/1995-96 and at the time of the fieldwork/2010-11). This analysis ultimately
66
As discussed in chapter three, the wealth-ranking exercises were carried out together with village heads and
selected village elders, and as later guided by other factors raised by villagers on how they would regard someone or
a household as wealthy or poor during focus group discussions and informal conversations.
192
produced three different categories of ‘struggling’, ‘surviving’ and ‘thriving’
households, reflecting the trajectories taken by different households vis-à-vis
vulnerability changes in the area over the years. Because a trajectory could not be
possibly read in the first instance (i.e. using 1995/96 figures on their own), an arbitrary
criterion was used to place households falling into the very poor category then as
‘struggling’; those in the poor category as ‘surviving’ and those in the middle and
better-off ranks as ‘thriving’. A more valid picture of these trajectories however
emerged through reading into the changing nature of respondents’ livelihood assets and
activities between 1995/96 and 2010/11. Table 7.2 shows the changing numbers (and
percentages) of people in these three identified livelihood trajectory categories by
wealth ranks in 1995/96 and over the 1995/96 to 2010/11 period.
Table 7.2. Livelihood trajectories by wealth ranks (n=71)
Livelihood Trajectories
Wealth
rank
Thriving
1995/96
Thriving over
95/96 to
2010/11
Surviving
1995/96
Surviving
over 95/96 to
2010/11
Struggling
1995/96
Struggling
over 95/96 to
2010/11
No.
%
No.
%
No.
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
Better-off
8
11.3%
5
7%
Middle
11
15.4%
5
7%
8
11.3%
42
59.2%
8
11.3%
11
15.4%
Poor
44
%
62%
Very Poor
The three livelihood trajectory categories identified are described below. Included in
these discussions also is a life-history case for each category, representing examples of
how livelihood dynamics in each of these categories have played out.
Thriving households
These had bigger plots of mostly upland fields (12 acres and above) and they usually
specialised in farming either cotton only or sorghum only (in their upland fields) per
season then placing portions of other crops (e.g. maize, vegetables or groundnuts) in
their riverbank fields (for those who owned or had been able to borrow these). These
households owned significant numbers of livestock (i.e. seven and above according to
local considerations), and they also engaged in both labour-led and capital-led intensive
farming. Most of these were found to hire labour to work their fields (either
193
permanently to stay with them at their homes or periodically during the farming
season), or to help them in their other livelihood concerns as most of them were also
village entrepreneurs – owning some small businesses (e.g. grinding mills, grocery
shops, bottle-stores or hiring out tractors or draught power to other households for a
fee). These households typically belonged to the middle and better-off wealth ranks (see
Table 7.2), and there was some evidence that their social and economic networks were
wider than those of other categories (see Table 7.7 and Appendix 3). These were
‘thriving’ households because despite the worsening vulnerability context, they were
able to accumulate or retain significant assets and savings; were innovative; and
sometimes even exhibited skills of taking advantage of the intensifying vulnerability
context in their livelihood activities, akin to what Chimhowu (2003) refers to as
‘making money at the frontier’. This ‘making money at the frontier’ would be done
through their various livelihood sources and/or social and economic network
connections, and/or sometimes through buying off assets, particularly livestock, at very
low rates (i.e. distress sales) mostly from ‘surviving’ and ‘struggling’ households (many
of whom were in the poor and very poor categories) during difficult and desperate
periods for these households, and re-selling or exchanging the livestock with other
commodities at more value in such bigger centres as upper Guruve, Bindura (provincial
capital) or Harare (capital city).
LH1-NYBV67. Masimba’s story – paths to ‘thriving’ in adversity
Masimba Kamudegu is 53 years old and he established his household in Nyambudzi B village after
marrying in 1980. He started off (farming) with a two and a half acre upland plot sub-divided from his
father’s main field and a half an acre in the riverbanks. For the next three years, he would work on these
two small plots with his wife only (they just had one small child then) averaging two bales of cotton and
three bags of maize per season. In 1984, he registered with the LGDA (then Lutheran World Federation)
to join and benefit in its mechanization credit programme – where the organization would help in land
preparation and tillage in the upland fields at the beginning of and during the farming season and then the
farmers would settle the service payments after harvesting. He noted that he increased his yield a little but
then realised that with the little labour available (that is himself and his wife only) to supplement the
assistance he was getting from LGDA, he was running into loss after settling the credit hence he stopped
in 1986 and immediately left to look for work at a white-owned commercial farm in Guruve (up the
escarpment) leaving his wife to continue with subsistence farming in the village. He worked at the farm
up to 1988 when he decided to go back to Dande to benefit from the MZRDP which was taking place in
the area then. He was given a 12 acre upland field under the programme whereupon he re-registered with
the LGDA mechanisation credit scheme. This was apparently because he had no cattle (as almost all
villagers then) because of tsetse-fly in the area. To maximise labour, he then suggested to his recently
married two brothers that they rotate working in each other’s fields (especially on weeding and harvesting
cotton). This saw him substantially increase yields (to about ten bales of cotton in the 1990 season) and
with the money realised (together from his wife’s vegetable selling), he purchased one cow and a
grinding-mill machine. He noted that these were the years when people in the area were beginning to
acquire cattle after tsetse-eradication; however, he chose not to invest in a lot of cattle at once as he was
not sure of their chances of survival so soon after the eradication of tsetse-fly, thus whereas a lot of fellow
villagers were acquiring two or more cattle, he decided to settle for one then invest the other money in the
67
See Table 3.3 for meaning of codes.
194
grinding-mill machine whilst gauging the viability of cattle production. He also immediately took the one
cow to one of his uncles (who had a lot of cattle) up the escarpment in Guruve so that it would reproduce
among the uncle’s cattle as well as increase its chances of survival since there were no dipping facilities
in the area yet. This latter proved quite crucial decisions for him as the following season is when the
famous severe (1991/92) drought in the country hit, with many people in the area then having to, for
example, dispose off their cattle at very low prices or just watch them die on their own. Though more than
10 of his uncle’s 35 strong herd were either sold off or died, his cow somehow survived and he later took
it back in 1994 after it had given birth to two calves. With his two brothers (whom he used to work with
in boosting labour in each other’s fields) having left to look for work in white-owned commercial farms
up the escarpment in 1992, he came to rely on his grinding-mill; exchanging milling services with cereals
(maize and/or sorghum), then using those cereals to hire labour to work in his fields. By 1997, he was
among the top cotton growers in the area and his herd by the year 2000 had grown to 12 (from three in
1994) with 15 goats – mainly using his proceeds from both the grinding-mill and cotton farming. Through
his previous long working relationship with the LGDA over the years, he also became one of the first few
farmers to be selected for the organization’s new macia sorghum variety trial project in the area in 2002.
He therefore became one of the first people in the area to diversify from maize into the drought and
disease tolerant macia sorghum and other villagers would then come and get seed from him, (and a few
others who had been selected for the trial stage). In 2004, he sold off two of his then 10 cattle and
purchased another grinding-mill which he installed at the main local Mushumbi Business Centre. This
helped him acquire even more stock from the huge profits he was getting from the now two grindingmills. His cattle (at the time of the fieldwork) now stood at 16, with 20 goats, seven sheep and over 30
poultry (chicken and ducks). He also fully utilizes an 11 acre upland plot (having moved from the old 12
acre plot allocated during the MZRDP years, in 2000), where he alternates cotton and sorghum farming
each season; and a one acre plot in the riverbanks where he gets his maize and vegetables from.
Masimba’s case illustrates typical trajectories of a few households that have managed to
‘thrive’ despite the worsening vulnerability context in the area. The case actually
presents a household that was able to move from the poor to the middle and ultimately
the better-off wealth rank through getting round the various idiosyncratic and covariant
challenges such as household labour shortages, tsetse-fly, lack of infrastructure in the
area and droughts by undertaking deliberate processes of actively engaging close and
far-off kin assistance; continuous engagement with relevant formal institutions in
livelihood activities; and general innovativeness and flexible decision-making. On the
last aspect (of flexible decision-making) for instance, when most households in the area
were going mainly for cattle purchases immediately after tsetse-eradication in the late
1980s and early 1990s, he realised the importance of spreading risk and investing also
in a grinding-mill which proved to be quite a crucial decision as most households then
went on to suffer heavy losses on these cattle during the severe 1991/92 drought. In
Masimba’s case therefore, increasing (financial) assets and making wealth, and
ultimately being able to diversify and ‘thrive’ under conditions of worsening
vulnerabilities has involved primarily taking advantage of social, networking, and other
institutional arrangements beyond the household. Observations from this life history
resonate with Tompkins and Adger’s (2003: 13) assertion that “the way forward in
building (livelihood) resilience...requires a three-pronged approach: cementing localised
spaces of dependence; expanding spaces of engagements; and avoiding being tied to
specific response paths through flexible decision-making”.
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Surviving households
These conducted farming on average to big sizes of upland and/or riverbank fields
(approximately five to 12 acres combined). They also engaged in serious labour-led
intensive farming but had no funds to undertake capital-led intensification on crops
other than cotton. They owned very few livestock – mostly a few (one to six) cattle
and/or some other small stock. Most of these belonged to the poor wealth rank but some
could also be found in the middle-level rank (see Table 7.2). Most households in this
category always allocated labour towards maricho to supplement food and income over
the years. These were referred to as ‘surviving’ households as they were seen to be
engaged in strategies aimed at managing risk and uncertainty by maintaining a balance
of activities spread across space and time. In the context of increasing multiple and
reinforcing stresses and shocks, most in this category resorted to ‘piecing together’,
‘juggling’ and undertaking ‘ad-hoc’ short-term survival strategies which many a time
involved small accumulation and an immediate severe depletion of financial assets
(particularly livestock), but at the same time somehow always successfully holding on
until the next season/year.
LH2-KPV. Manase’s story – ‘surviving’ in the complex context
Manase Charuweki is 65 years old originally from Chivi (south-central of the country) who migrated and
started staying in Kapunzambiya village in 1987. His family then comprised of himself, his wife and three
children (two in their early 20s and one in his mid teens). He was allocated an 8 acre upland field on
which he planted maize on the major portion of the field (6 and a half acres) and reserving the other 1.5
acres for groundnuts during his first season in the area. He harvested 4 (50kg) bags of maize and 2 (50kg)
bags of groundnuts in that first season, of which he went on to exchange one bag of maize for 3 goats
with a fellow villager so as to diversify his livelihood. The 3 goats reproduced and by 1990 he now had 7
goats. The family, however, consumed three of the goats and he exchanged the remaining four for grain
towards the end of the year (1990). Due to the 1991/92 drought, Manase and his two sons left the village
January 1992 to seek employment at a white-owned commercial farm in Mazowe. They left the wife and
the daughter in the village but they too soon followed in April of the same year as the effects of drought
began to be felt in the villages. The women (mother and daughter), however, were to get back to the
village in time for the planting season in October of that same year. Manase and one of his sons also got
back to join the women in the village beginning of 1993 to help in the weeding and harvesting of the
cotton that had been planted so as to ensure maximum yield, whilst the elder son remained working at the
farm. They harvested four bales of cotton that season and got some reasonable returns most of which they
used to purchase maize for household consumption (as they had no riverbank field) and some few
farming implements (i.e. a plough, a wheelbarrow and some hoes). In 1995 their only daughter got
married (to a man originally from another local ward but now based in Harare), and the household got its
first three cattle from that marriage – paid as lobola/bride price. One of the cattle, however, died two
years later from a tick-related disease (chirwere cheminyatso) whilst of the two remaining, they had to
give one to their elder son and assist him in paying his own lobola the following year (1998). They then
decided to sell off the one cow left in 1999 since they were finding it difficult to herd the lone cow and
had no hope of adding another/other cattle in the foreseeable future; and tried starting a chicken-rearing
project with the money realised so as to boost proceeds from their crop farming. This was, however,
largely a flop as almost half of the 45 chicks purchased died of diseases whilst the ones which survived
could not find proper customers apart from the few teachers at the local primary school. They therefore
abandoned the business in 2000 and that year, the elder son (who had remained working in the farms) also
came back to the village with his wife and one child after the farm he was working on was invaded and
196
taken over by ZANU PF supporters during the FTLRP. They decided to utilise the same fields and
combine proceeds with the son’s family, which, however, was to last for only two seasons as the son then
decided to move and stay in another village with his family in 2003, where he had found a stand and a 7
acre field. Meanwhile, the younger son had found a job as a shopkeeper at a bottle-store at Mushumbi
Business Centre where he virtually stays now. The household therefore effectively remains with only
Manase and his wife. By the time of the fieldwork, Manase and his wife had reduced their crop
production activities to farming only 5 acres of upland fields where they have been concentrating on
sorghum, groundnuts and cowpea. Their shopkeeper son bought them 3 goats, and they also have some 7
chicken. Their daughter also initially intermittently sent some money and groceries from the days she got
married and moved to Harare but stopped as the economic situation in the country deteriorated since the
mid-2000s as she also struggled to fend for her own family. They also had to rely on their elder son (who
stays in another village) during the period of commodity shortages in the area (as in the whole country)
between late 2006 and 2008 to bring them basic commodities they needed (e.g. salt, sugar, soap) on his
many trips to Mozambican markets (as most people in the area) during that period. Manase thus
summarised his life (and that of his household) over the years as that of ‘survival’ – not really ‘struggling’
or ‘thriving’ but ‘in the middle there’ as he says.
This case exhibits a household which has only been able to ‘get by’, but unable, for
example, to accumulate significant numbers of livestock or to successfully diversify
into other profitable sources of livelihoods besides subsistence farming, commercial
farm-working, and small flows of remittances from the shop-keeper son and married
daughter. Whilst this household has therefore been able to diversify income sources in
one way or the other since the 1990s, as well as attempting some innovative initiatives
(such as the chicken-rearing project), it has primarily relied on individual household
resources. This appears to be the main difference with the ‘thriving’ case presented
earlier, as this (surviving) household did not show evidence of a deliberate engagement
with formal and informal networks in the formulation of its livelihoods68. By local
standards, this household is neither rich nor poor. Its livelihood activities and
individual-household oriented approach to facing challenges has, however, ensured that
it only survives from season to season.
Struggling households
These typically belonged to the very poor wealth category. They had no livestock and
they owned small upland fields and/or small riverbank plots, harvesting approximately
one to three bales of cotton and/or one to four bags of sorghum or maize each season –
returns which are hardly enough to last until the next harvesting season. They were
engaged in labour-led intensive farming and most households in this category also
depended heavily on local casual agricultural labour (maricho) – working mostly for
‘thriving’ households; undertaking public works employment during the time they were
in operation; and/or benefitting from the Christian Care food-aid programme in the
2000s. They were characterised as ‘struggling’ because facing and responding to
68
This was typical of most ‘surviving’ and ‘struggling’ households, who had less social networks (both locally in
ward 12 and externally in other wards and beyond than the ‘thriving’ households) (see Appendix 3)
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vulnerability and vulnerability changes for these households over the years appeared to
be an uphill task. They had few livelihood sources and limited options to fall back on in
a context of increasing multiple stresses and shocks.
LH1-BWV. Tambudzani’s case – a ‘struggling’ story
Tambudzani Manhamo is a 68 year-old widow who migrated from the Hurungwe area (north-west of the
country) in 1989 together with her late husband and their two children to settle in Bwazi village – having
been attracted mainly by supposed better prospects of more profitable cotton farming in Dande than in
their original home area. They were allocated a 10 acre upland field that year by the local sabhuku,
planting maize on half of the field and cotton on the other half. Their first two seasons in the area were a
disaster as they failed to harvest to expectation. She noted that in the 1990/91 season, they failed to join
the input credit scheme in any of the two cotton companies operating in the area then, as the companies
required that a farmer should have had at least farmed in the area for two consecutive seasons before
qualifying for access to credit, thus their newcomer status prevented them from getting credit inputs in
that first season. They therefore harvested only 2 and a half bales of cotton that season. Much of their
maize crop also failed due to low rains and high temperatures as most of the maize crop got ‘burnt’ (i.e.
wilted and succumbed) in the middle of the season, such that they only harvested 2 (50kg) bags. 1991/92
was the famous drought year in the country and nothing came out of their fields, and they had to virtually
depend on the government drought relief programme that year, receiving grain maize through the RDC.
In 1993, her husband died after suffering two consecutive bouts of malaria, which not only robbed the
home of the male-head but decimated the household of the already few manpower to work the fields. In
1995, she had to sell her two goats to sponsor her elder son to go and look for employment in the capital
city (Harare) after he had failed his basic secondary education (Form 4) the previous year. This further
reduced household labour and she had to reduce her fields from 10 acres to about 6.5 acres as she (and her
remaining son) could not cultivate the full field on their own – since they had no cattle for draught power
as well. She managed to join the food-for-work government programme in 1996, where, (with fellow
community members) they would participate in community projects, such as repairing the main road and
renovating local schools in return for grain. The programme was, however, stopped in 1999 and she now
had to rely on working in other people’s fields (maricho) for money and food. In 2001, she shifted her
fields away from near village homesteads – as everyone else was doing then, and cleared a 5 acre field
where she has farmed since then. Her remaining son followed his brother to Harare in 2003 in search of
employment and she was left on her own. She joined the Christian Care programme in 2004, which she
says has gone a long way in cushioning her from starvation every year since then, though she noted that
the food-pack supplies have become reduced in recent years due to the increasing numbers of people
joining the programme. Her sons work as touts (mahwindi) at the main long-distance bus terminus in
Harare’s high-density suburb of Mbare, (loading long-distance travellers’ luggage on buses), and
therefore they have not been able to remit anything meaningful to her ever since, given their low-paying
employment. She also now suffers from chronic back-aches and swollen legs (which she attributed to old
age and overworking in the fields), and therefore she is no longer able either to undertake cotton farming
at a reasonably large scale or to go for maricho as she used to do. She noted that although she has been
able to access the more fertile riverbank fields through friends and neighbours (for reasonable returns on
maize and vegetable farming), there are no guarantees for confidently continuing farming there every
season as she noted that people always demand their fields back ‘once they see that you are producing
well’. She therefore described her life as ‘a struggle’ from the very first year she settled in the area.
Tambudzani’s case is one of a household which has alternated in the poor and very poor
wealth ranks due to various idiosyncratic and covariant stresses and shocks, thereby
leading to both a failure to build up assets and diversify livelihoods, and an erosion of
held financial assets. Such vulnerabilities as droughts, malaria (leading to death in the
family), as well as personal illnesses and old age in recent years, have ensured that
facing livelihood challenges has been an uphill task for her since the 1990s. Her
problems also seem to have been compounded by her migrant status (which, for
example, constrained household access to cotton inputs credit in their first season in the
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area as well as not being able to own a riverbank field). She also experienced reduction
of labour in the home due to death of husband and migration of sons to seek
employment, thereby stopping her from utilising her fields to full potential. In this case,
the factors affecting adequate responses to challenges become entangled in a complex
web. Although she has been able to benefit from formal institutional support, this has
involved mainly food-aid, which has also been declining over the years; as well as the
public works scheme which stopped in 1999. Unlike the ‘thriving’ household, there is
also no active engagement with social networks in this case.
The household wealth factor vis-à-vis explaining responses to vulnerability in the area
has been shown to link mainly with processes around (income) diversification, which is
a sub-component of the resiliency surrogate of the ability to live with change and
uncertainty. Levels of financial asset endowment have also been shown to link with
levels of household crop productivity and a spread in social networks. Discussions in
this section suggest that household wealth is strongly reinforced by other factors such as
the ability to activate local and external social networks, household size, innovative
decision making and active engagement with relevant formal institutions in livelihood
activities to be able to ‘thrive’.
7.2.2. Household demographic structure – enabling living with change and
uncertainty
As noted earlier, the household demographic structure aspects important for this study
as emanating from research findings were household size and the type of people making
up household numbers, especially with respect to age, and subsequently dependency
ratio69. The household demographic structure factor mainly related to the importance of
the quantity and quality of labour in the home at any given moment in time, and it links
with the human capital asset in the adapted livelihoods framework used to guide
analysis. In the context of the study area, this connected with a household’s ability to:
o undertake crop diversification – particularly working both upland and riverbank
fields at the same time
o undertake labour-led intensive farming (which is the common type of agricultural
intensification for most households as discussed in chapter six)
69
Dependency ratio alludes to the balance of household members likely to be economically productive against those
who depend on them financially (Verdugo, 2006).
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o participate in market diversification and reach the crucial Mozambican and Zambian
markets – especially when local input and output markets collapsed as the economic
crisis in the country in general worsened in the 2000s
o undertake livelihood activity diversification particularly as it relates to spreading
income-flows in the home.
Revolving around enabling (crop, market and general livelihood) diversification, this
factor therefore links with a household’s ability to live with change and uncertainty.
Analysis of this factor was also tied to the characteristics of ex-situ household members
(e.g. their education levels and the type of employment they are engaged in), and their
contribution to household adaptive strategies, especially as relating to the remittance
factor. Table 7.3 shows a typical general home-activity allocation scenario in the area
(also taking into consideration dynamics which were taking place within the general
reference study period), underlying the importance of a sizeable number of
economically active (in-situ) household members or, alternatively, the ability to hire
labour to fulfil these tasks.
Table 7.3. Typical home-task allocation in Dande
Type of activity
Land preparation and planting in upland fields (at the beginning of
the farming season)
Men
Women
x
x
Land preparation and planting in riverbank fields
Weeding and harvesting in both upland and riverbank fields
x
Guarding fields against quelea birds during sorghum-harvesting
period
Children
x
x
x
x
x
x
Guarding crop from elephants and other problems animals (e.g.
baboons and monkeys)
x
x
Reaching Mozambican and Zambian markets (i.e. between 20032008) for basic commodities (e.g. soap, salt, sugar)
x
x
Taking harvested crop (particularly cotton the major cash-crop) to
the market
x
Going for maricho
x
Herding cattle
x
x
x
x
Herding goats
x
Fishing
x
200
x
Literature on the effect of household size on long-term responses to livelihood
challenges in rural Zimbabwe elicits varied observations. On one hand, Campbell and
colleagues (2002) and Frost et al (2007) in their work in semi-arid communities of
Masvingo Province (south-central of the country), for example, found wealthier
households also tending to have bigger numbers of household members than poor
households. This made them reach the conclusion that households with larger families
appear able to create more wealth and have more capacity to respond to vulnerabilities
in these semi-arid communities. Similar observations have also been made elsewhere in
rural Africa (e.g. Kamuzora, 2001; Demeke et al, 2011). On the other hand, Bird and
Shepherd (2003) found larger families in rural Zimbabwe as associated with severe
poverty and subsequently low capacity to respond to vulnerability as they tended to
have a larger dependency ratio, affecting potential household gains. As alluded to
earlier, findings in this work, as shall be shown, tends to support the former rather than
the latter standpoint, though in some cases households with increasing numbers of very
young or old members also evidently exhibited low capacity to respond to challenges.
The dynamics surrounding household demographic structure and response to
vulnerability in the area were captured around three categories following results from
the survey and life-histories. Whilst the survey, (in this case), largely provided the
fieldwork period scenario; life-history cases sought to trace temporal aspects with
respect to resilience and adaptive capacity as influenced by household size and
dependency ratio at every important turn of the household life-cycle. To that end, the
first category comprised ‘diminishing’ households. These are households which had
generally experienced a decrease in the proportion of economically active members (i.e.
considering both in-situ and ex-situ members) largely through deaths, marriages and
members leaving to start their own households and disconnecting from the study
households. A second category was ‘static’ households – which comprised those
households which had not had a significant change in household composition and
structure particularly with respect to an increase or decrease in productive household
members over the study period. The last category was ‘growing’ households, and these
are households which had a noticeable increase in household membership over the years
(notably due to births and polygamous marriages).
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From the survey, the average household size was 770. There was also a noticeable figure
of polygamous households, with a sizeable 22 (or 31%) of the 71 households involved
in the survey being in polygamous arrangements. What was more interesting and
probably more useful in this study, however, was following the life-histories of selected
households across the three villages of study to discern how household size has played
out in resilient and adaptive strategies against stresses and shocks at particular points in
time over the study period. It is also important to note that the presentation and analysis
of the case histories in this section is tied to the three trajectories (of thriving, surviving
and struggling) among households targeted, since strong linkages were observed
between these factors as discussed in the previous section.
Table 7.4. Household size and structure figures from life histories (n=18)
Villages of Study
Categories
Nyambudzi B
Kapunzambiya
Bwazi
Diminishing households
4
3
3
Static households
1
1
1
Growing households
1
2
2
Of the 18 households selected for life histories, the majority were in the diminishing
category (Table 7.4), which meant they had experienced a downward trend in the
composition of economically active members over the years. This was probably mainly
due to the age group of people involved in the survey (from which the life-history cases
were sampled), with respondents ranging from 41 to 89 years and averaging 57 years.
As such, most of these households (being in the ‘diminishing’ category), had
experienced deaths, and children or household members leaving to start their own
households. As depicted in the life-cycle of the Kandava household case below, a
‘diminishing’ household’s ability to institute certain livelihood activities and formulate
particular crucial adaptive strategies at some points in time, which it may have used to
do with ease, is heavily compromised due to this change in composition and structure,
especially if the remaining household members are either aging or too young to
undertake important tasks in the home.
70
This figure included both productive, and non-productive (i.e. the very young, the infirm and the very old)
household members.
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LH2-NYBV. A ‘diminishing’ household on a ‘thriving’ to ‘struggling’ trajectory
Jonasi Kandava is 78 years old and he established his household in the area in 1956 when he had his firstborn son. He went on to have eight other children between then and 1980. He also inherited his deceased
young brother’s wife and two kids (including both the upland and riverbank fields they were using) in
1974 which meant his household in 1981 stood at 13 people all in all. Events over the years have,
however, seen Mr Kandava’s household diminish to just four (i.e. himself, his first wife and two young
grandchildren aged five and seven left by a deceased daughter). His first son passed on in 1985 at a
former white-owned commercial farm in Mvurwi (up the escarpment) where he was employed. His
second child (a daughter) got married in 1987 and migrated to Zambia with her husband, whilst the third
child (a daughter), got married in 1993 to a man who stays in another village. The fourth child (a son)
also married in 1996 and migrated to another ward (in the area) whilst the fifth son went to South Africa
in 2000 in search of employment (during the first years of the country’s economic crisis) and they never
heard from him again. The sixth daughter got married in 1998 and left to live with her husband in another
district. The seventh son married in 1999 and has been working in the capital city (Harare) as a generalhand living with his family there whilst the eighth daughter (who had divorced) passed on in 2008 after a
long illness leaving the two small kids referred to earlier. The ninth daughter got married and lives with
his husband in Guruve. Mr Kandava’s other wife (inherited from the deceased young brother) passed on
in 1997 and the two kids (now grown up) decided to go back to their late parents’ stand and revive the
homestead, taking with them the riverbank field that had been inherited by Mr Kandava when they were
taken in together with their mother. Mr Kandava pointed out that at one point (in the 1980s) he was
considered the best (cotton) farmer in the area and was among the first people to acquire huge numbers of
cattle in the late 1980s/early 1990s after tsetse-eradication in the area – all of which he attributed to the
big pool of labour that he had then, as well as the huge area of farmland that he had as added by the
portion he had inherited from his late brother when he took in the deceased’s family. During the serious
1992 drought, for example, three of his older children went up the escarpment to work as commercial
farm-workers, in the process helping out in supplementing family food supplies. As the children grew and
began to leave to form their own households, he also correspondingly began to effectively reduce the
number of acres he farmed, which also meant reduced farm output. He also noted that none of the
children that left (to form their own households) ever properly remitted food or money back to the
household as they were also struggling with their own families. The death of his second wife also created
complications as the late brother’s children then also left, and repossessed their late parents’ riverbank
field (as earlier stated) which used to boost his maize and vegetable yield. He noted that due to all these
changes, and with him (together with his remaining wife) aging, they now concentrate on farming only a
small portion of their riverbank field as they are no longer capable of undertaking the intensive uplandfield farming on their own. He also has no cattle left having used some to pay off his married sons’ lobola
(bride price), and sold off the few remaining ones as there was no one to herd them. He noted that he now
literally relies more on Christian Care food-aid, something he never thought would happen to his family.
He also lamented not encouraging and pushing his children hard enough to take education more seriously
saying he just enjoyed their immediate labour when the family was still intact – hence none of them has
had the capacity to remit anything meaningful to him as they are not into (well) paying employment. The
two kids left by his deceased daughter are still very young and, as such, they cannot contribute much
meaningful labour to the household. He noted therefore that due to these changes in his household
composition and structure, caused by children leaving through marriages; deaths in the family; and old
age, he has seen himself drop down from being one of the most successful farmers in the area to mainly
surviving on NGO food hand-outs.
This case provides a typical example of a household which has undergone a cycle of
enjoying the advantages of having a huge pool of labour to a period of household
decline in fortune as members age, move to start their own homes or die. Due to old and
very young age (i.e. high dependency ratio), the remaining household members cannot,
for example, undertake both riverbank and upland farming at the same time (so as to
adequately diversify crop production), neither could they undertake the long journeys to
input and output markets in Mozambique and Zambia during the period of serious
commodity shortages in the country from around 2005 to 2008; having to rely on
203
relatives and fellow villagers for that. The household also had to dispose of its few
remaining cattle because there was no one to herd them thereby depleting its assets.
Most such households, which were in the majority, therefore appeared to have low
capacity to effectively respond to worsening vulnerabilities as household size and
structure changed.
The next category identified in demographic structure factor analysis is ‘static’
households. As noted, this referred to those households that have not experienced much
shift in household composition vis-à-vis economically active members due to a number
of reasons among which are engaging in polygamy, remarrying (after death of spouse)
and/or engaging other social and kinship arrangements. Static households were very few
in the area however, as shown in Table 7.4. The few households in this category
appeared to exhibit much higher capacity to respond to challenges than those in the
other two categories. One such household is the Mupfumi case below which has
managed to maintain more or less the same household size of economically active
members over the years through the household-head remarrying (after the passing on of
the first wife and the departure of other household members to start their own homes),
in the process maintaining a relatively ‘thriving’ trajectory.
LH1-KPV. A ‘static’ household on a ‘thriving’ trajectory
Biggie Mupfumi is a former soldier who was based at a local (later disbanded) army-camp in the area
since 1981. Originally from Zhombe (in the Midlands province of the country), he decided to settle in
Dande after resigning from the army in 1988 having also been allocated a 12 acre plot during the
MZRDP. Together with his wife and four children (two sons and two daughters), he set out to concentrate
on cotton growing only, in his 12 acre field. He also opened a grocery shop and a bottle-store at
Mushumbi Business Centre mainly using the pension money that he received when he resigned from the
army. The tasks in his home therefore increased considerably as besides needing someone to constantly
be working in the shop at the business centre; the exclusive extensive cotton farming that he chose to
concentrate on was quite labour-intensive – but also proved to be well-rewarding as he managed to
purchase six herd of cattle in the first two seasons after resigning from his job. The only season that he
realised extremely low yields was during the 1992 drought when he had to sell four of his cattle to
purchase bags of maize and other food-stuff for the family. In 1994, one of his sons married and left to
start his own home in another village. The following year, his wife passed on after a sudden malaria
attack. These events saw the household decimated in as far as its productive membership and subsequent
labour pool was concerned – effectively slowing down household work in the following seasons as, for
example, they had to reduce cotton acreage because of minimal labour. Mr Mupfumi then decided to
marry another wife late 1997, a local widow who also had a 10 year-old son from a previous marriage.
The new wife (and her son) therefore effectively replaced the two departed household members which
saw the household farming to its full potential again. Over the years, his other daughter also left after
being married to a man living in another ward, however, the new wife had given birth to a daughter in
1998 – now 12 at the time of the research – who again effectively replaced the departed married daughter.
Mupfumi’s household has therefore circled around six adult household members at every given moment
in time over the years, which has greatly helped in as far as the undertaking of various tasks in the home
is concerned.
204
Though ‘static’ in the sense of demographic structure, this household actually appeared
dynamic in its approach to dealing with the natural diminishing aspect in household size
and composition; exhibiting quite proactive characteristics of learning to living with and
embracing change during its life cycle. It has therefore managed to maintain a ‘thriving’
trajectory by retaining a labour-pool enabling it to carry out its diversification activities
over the years.
A last category in this discussion is the ‘growing’ households. Just like ‘static’
households, these were also found to be few, as only five out of the 18 life-histories
collected fitted into this category. Three of these were polygamous arrangements whilst
the remaining two had adopted some relatives’ children into their households over the
years. An examination of the dynamics of ‘growing’ households vis-à-vis capacity of
response to vulnerability revealed a mixed picture. It was apparent that whereas there
were advantages in numbers with respect to home-task allocation and other livelihood
opportunities, this had to be supported by other factors, such as initial adequate
supportive (financial) assets in the home for the numbers to make meaningful
contribution to household adaptive strategies. The following two life histories present
contrasting cases on the advantages and disadvantages of a ‘growing’ household in the
area.
LH2-BWV. A ‘growing’ household on a ‘thriving’ trajectory
Cosmas Kamuti is 70 years old, married to three wives and has 13 children. He is a member of the Johane
Masowe apostolic sect, a local church which generally advocates for polygamous marriages and many
children. He married his first wife (with whom he has five children) in 1963. Besides being taken into a
‘protected village’ with other villagers when the liberation war intensified in the late 1970s, he has never
left Dande and has survived mainly on farming in his vast upland fields for livelihoods. He married his
second wife just after the country’s independence in 1980 with whom he went on to have five children as
well. He then took a third wife in 2002, with whom he has three children (and she was also expecting a
fourth one during the period of the research). The whole family resides at the same compound though the
three women maintain different huts from where they cook for themselves and their children, whilst Mr
Kamuti rotates living with the three women. Mr Kamuti stated that he has witnessed some of his children
marrying and getting married and leaving to start their own families elsewhere yet the household kept on
tremendously growing over the years mainly due to new births in every two to three years on average,
from his three wives. He has also seen his farming potential grow – getting master-farmer prices in
various different seasons over the years, as well as being classified among the ‘gold class’ cotton farmers
since 1998, all of which he attributed to the huge labour-force at his disposal in the form of his wives and
children71. He has also been cushioned by some of his older children who have gone on to work in the
capital city (Harare) and who continuously send money, farming equipment and groceries (through their
different mothers) especially during tough periods such as droughts as well as during the serious
economic crisis of the 2000s. He singled out the first two sons of his first wife – one who is employed as
a sales executive at a top retail chain-supermarket in Harare, and the other one a cross-border truck driver
based in Harare as well; then one of the daughters of his second wife married to a wealthy fellow church
71
‘Gold-class’ members are those farmers considered, (within their cotton companies), as selling the highest number
of high-quality cotton bales every season, and are given preferential treatment by their companies (relative to the
other farmers), which include such benefits as the provision of diesel for tillage with hired tractors, unlimited amount
of inputs, and sponsorship to attend farmer-training workshops.
205
member with whom they have gone on to forge close ties (based mainly on the marriage) in assisting each
other in difficult periods. He has thus managed to accumulate a huge herd of 15 cattle, 25 goats and
several poultry through these various sources of income.
This case presents an example where a growing household provides opportunities not
only for a bigger pool of labour enabling the effective carrying out of the labourintensive cotton farming, but also for the diversification of income sources through, for
example, remittances from the two sons based in the capital city. The household has
also had the opportunity of developing close ties with a local wealthy family that one of
its daughters married into, thereby creating networks of assistance in times of
challenges. The next case provides another example of a ‘growing’ household but one
whose capacity to respond to vulnerability is compromised due to a high dependency
ratio.
LH3-KPV. A ‘growing’ household on a ‘struggling’ trajectory
Rudo Chikeya is a 57 year-old widow with four children (two sons and two daughters). Her husband
passed on in 2000. She owns a 3 acre upland field and a 1 acre riverbank field. His first-born son moved
out in 2003 to start his own family in another village, whilst the younger son married in 2005 and has
continued to stay with her at the homestead with his wife and now two children – using the same fields
and living together as one family. The elder daughter got married in 1999 but later divorced and came
back home in 2006 together with her three young children. The other daughter was said to be living in
Zambia (where she is apparently engaged in commercial sex-work as later learnt from my research
assistant) and is mother to two young children also staying at that home. The family has thus grown from
a core of six members (as at 1998 for instance), where it comprised of the late father, the mother and the
four children to eleven members at the period of the research (comprising Ms Chikeya; one of her sons,
his wife and two children; the divorced daughter and her three children; and two children of the Zambianbased daughter). Ms Chikeya, however, lamented that the growing number of household members had not
helped, as firstly, there has not been corresponding field-expansion for food production in the home given
the scarcity of lands to expand into in recent years as a result of general population increase in the area.
Secondly, the majority of those causing the growing household number are not economically active and
cannot, for example, make meaningful contribution to household labour (save for the son’s wife who is
the only older addition into the original family). This has seen the family having to rely more on maricho,
and Christian Care food-aid every year.
The last case supports the point that it is not only about the numbers, but the type of
individuals making up the numbers that matter in as far as adequately responding to
vulnerabilities is concerned. Overall, the presented cases show that it is mostly when
household size and structure are consciously and proactively controlled from within the
household itself (such as in the Mupfumi and Kamuti cases) no matter the natural cycles
that may take place, that they produce meaningful results for household livelihoods,
than when they are solely a result of processes outside the household’s control (such as
in the Chikeya case). Household demographic structure is, however, bound to change
anyway as the years go by due to such natural and other processes as movement of
children due to marriages, deaths of household members, and/or household members
leaving to pursue other opportunities elsewhere. Gonzalez de la Rocha (2001), for
206
example, posits that labour in the home is not a static and endless asset, yet it plays a
crucial role as the most important asset in many rural communities, and for most
households perhaps the only one they may be having abundantly. It is therefore how the
remaining actors in the home respond to these changing processes that define their
resilience and adaptive capacity, and many a time, this may have to do with engaging
available social and community structures as well as other inter-household connections
(such as making use of kinship arrangements, remarrying or choosing to enter into
polygamous marriages).
7.2.3. Social identity – factor in nurturing social learning processes and living with
change and uncertainty
Identity means to know who one is, and to have a sense of similarity with some people
and a sense of difference from others (Gupta, 2009). Social identity may be based on
ethnicity, age, gender or nationality; however, in this case, the most important aspect
was ethnicity, as noted earlier. The ethnic identity factor came up in interviews as
revealing particular constraints around accessing certain critical livelihood resources
and opportunities important in the formulation of adaptive strategies as based on a
household being immigrant and not belonging to the main (Korekore) ethnic group in
the area.
The importance of this factor appeared to emerge in the background of massive
immigration trends in the area since the early years of the country’s independence in the
1980s right into the 2000s as discussed in chapters four and five. It is highlighted in
chapter four, for example, how the dominant Korekore group has come into contact
with a variety of other different ethnic groups from in and out of Zimbabwe. Table 7.5
shows the general ethnic picture (i.e. numbers and percentages) of respondents from the
dominant Korekore and other ethnicities in and across the three study villages from
survey data.
Table 7.5. Ethnic figures across the villages of study (n=71)
Ethnic Group
Nyambudzi B
Kapunzambiya
Korekore
21
78%
10
71%
21
70%
52
73%
Other
6
22%
4
29%
9
30%
19
27%
Overall number/percentage of respondents
27
100
14
100
30
100
71
100
207
Bwazi
Overall
figures
across the 3
villages
Though ethnic figures for the whole study ward could not be obtained, the general
understanding was that the current percentages of people of other ethnicities (other than
the Korekore) are much higher than those portrayed in the survey data, though the
Korekore still remain the dominant group (SNI.1). This was understandable since the
survey did not capture households which settled in the area after 1990 for reasons
explained in the methodology chapter. Nevertheless, issues raised in this discussion also
apply and relate to those households which came into the area after 1990 as the factors
and conditions under discussion are the same.
Discussion here focuses on structural issues around which the ethnic identity factor has
played out and the effects on livelihoods. Further analysis on how people, (particularly
the immigrant households), have reacted to these structural identity factors over the
years is also made. Three main issues came up vis-à-vis the ethnic factor in the area.
The first, as mentioned elsewhere in this work, is ownership of riverbank fields –
considered the most fertile lands in the area – and which have been central in ensuring
adequate maize and vegetable production for most riverbank-owning households even
during seasons of very low and insignificant rainfalls, and therefore critical for
diversification, well being and local sustainability. As noted in previous chapters, these
fields are the preserve of autochthonous residents as they are passed over generations
and therefore part of social learning processes in local livelihoods. Subsequently, and as
noted in chapter five, if one is outside the ancestral lineages of the area as most
immigrants are, then actual ownership is very difficult.
It was interesting to note, however, that the majority of immigrant households involved
in the survey had managed to successfully access these fields over the years through
developing social networks in the community utilising such avenues as marriages,
creation of neighbourly bonds, and same-church attendance (see chapter six). For
example, of the 19 immigrant households involved in the survey, 14 (or 74%) were
farming in the riverbanks at the time of the research (accessed through one or the other
of the above-mentioned avenues). The remaining five noted that they had had access to
the fields at one point or the other after settling in the area, but had then either ran into
disagreements with the owners and had the fields repossessed; or the fields had been
repossessed by the owners’ children or relatives upon the owner’s death; or they had
simply returned the field to the owner and decided to concentrate solely on upland
farming that season. On analysis, it appears therefore that whereas outright ownership
of the fields for immigrants is next to impossible, accessing them and farming there is
208
not difficult provided they develop social networks in their host community. A
significant number of respondents during focus group discussions and in life histories,
however, noted that there has been a tendency among some owners that when they
notice that the one they lent the field to is producing better than them, they then
repossess their field out of jealousy and/or fear of social ridicule72.
A second issue had to do with most immigrant households being concentrated in
villages far from the main local business centre in the area (Mushumbi). Though Table
7.5 shows not much differences in ethnic distribution across the villages in the targeted
sample, the figures nevertheless reveal an interesting trend whereby immigrant
households are less concentrated in Nyambudzi B village (nearer Mushumbi), then
increasing as we move to Kapunzambiya and then Bwazi which is the furthest away
from Mushumbi (towards the border with Mozambique). According to the ward
councillor, this is due to the obvious fact that the non-immigrant households (and their
offspring) will be in prior occupation of these strategically positioned areas and the
immigrants coming will therefore be forced to push further away from the local socioeconomic centre.
A third interesting observation (from survey data) was that there was a notably high
percentage of ‘struggling’ immigrant (or non-Korekore) households over the 1995/96 to
2010/11 period relative to non-immigrant (or Korekore) households – a point also
corroborated by the high percentage of very poor non-Korekore households during the
fieldwork period (2010/11) (see Appendix 3). Some of the main reasons for this might
probably include problems associated with relocating to a new area, more so a frontier
area – such as finding and establishing reliable social networks as well as being forced
to settle far from the local business and economic centre (Mushumbi) and the (income
and livelihood) benefits lost through that (as discussed). There were, however, over
50% of both immigrant and non-immigrant households exhibiting a ‘surviving’
trajectory over the reference study period and low percentages of ‘thriving’ households
for both immigrant and non-immigrant households (see Table 7.6).
72
The ridicule is about being labelled lazy by other villagers when comparing the owner’s usual produce on the same
field and that of the new user.
209
Table 7.6. Livelihood trajectories by ethnicity over 1995/96 to 2010/11
Thriving
Immigrant
households
Surviving
Struggling
(non-Korekore)
n=19
2
11%
12
63%
5
26%
Non-immigrant
(Korekore)
households
n=52
8
15%
38
73%
6
12%
7.2.4. Ability to create and expand social networks – enabling the nurturing of
social learning processes and living with change and uncertainty
The ability to create social networks builds into rapid household feedback mechanisms
in responding to livelihood challenges and constraints and is therefore part of the ability
to live with change and uncertainty. It also promotes the nurturing of social learning
processes as people share ideas and experiences on adaptive strategies and livelihood
activities in general. Results from the survey, for example, showed households in the
‘better-off’ and ‘middle’ wealth ranks having more local and external social networks
(i.e. friends and relatives) whom they could confidently approach to seek financial and
material assistance over the years, than ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ households (see Table
7.7). This trend was also replicated when looking at social networks by livelihood
trajectory – whereby ‘thriving’ households were found to have far more networks (both
local and external) than ‘surviving’ and ‘struggling’ households (see Appendix 3). This
supports the argument by such scholars as Lundberg and Over (2000) and De Weerdt
(2002) that poor households in most rural SSA communities are poor not only in terms
of income, savings and material assets, but also in terms of their networks. As found
during the research, such ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ households were subsequently less
likely to receive assistance, and to receive less assistance than middle ranked or betteroff households.
This is also corroborated in life-history cases presented earlier (in discussions on the
household wealth factor) where, for instance, it is the household engaging in (labour)
reciprocating activities with close kin and making use of far-off relatives in various
livelihood activities, which was found to ‘thrive’. In contrast, the ‘surviving’ and
‘struggling’ households appeared to rely primarily on individual household effort in
their livelihood activities over the years. It was, however, interesting to note (from
survey data) that ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ households mentioned having received major
assistance from church networks in some way, (e.g. portion of riverbank field, help with
210
draught power in upland fields, or food during a drought period), at some point over the
years, more than those in the other wealth categories.
Table 7.7. Percentages of social networks by wealth rank
Local networks (i.e. in ward 12) a
household can confidently approach for
financial and/or material assistance in
times of livelihood challenges
External networks (i.e. in other wards and
beyond) a household can confidently
approach for financial and/or material
assistance in times of livelihood challenges
More than 10
networks
Less than 10
networks
None
More than 10
networks
Less than 10
networks
None
Better off
n=5
60%
40%
0
100%
0
0
Middle-rank
n=13
46%
54%
0
46%
31%
23%
Poor
n=42
24%
60%
16%
10%
55%
35%
Very poor
n=11
0
73%
27%
0
18%
82%
Wealth rank
Discussions on demographic structure and social identity dynamics have also shown the
importance of the ability of a household to create and expand social networks (e.g.
through neighbourly bonds and marriages), as a possible means of circumventing
constraints created by these factors, as well generally strengthening household
livelihoods in responding to challenges.
7.2.5. Household cognitive well being perceptions and motivation to resiliency
Cognitive well being relates to people’s ‘personal satisfaction’ and ‘inward happiness’
or ‘discontentment’ vis-à-vis life experiences and, in this instance, their abilities to live
with change and uncertainty, nurture processes of social learning and to self-organise in
the context of highly dynamic vulnerability changes. It links with different motivations
and influences on what drives and constitutes the ‘quality of lives’ of different
households and how they respond to vulnerability changes affecting them. It was
interesting to note that selected household cognitive perceptions collected according to
livelihood trajectory (Box 7.1) showed ‘thriving’ households emphasising ‘taking
advantage of opportunities’, ‘tenacity’ and ‘hard work’ as some of their cognitive
motivations of well being and consequently resiliency in the area over the years, whilst
on the other end of the spectrum those grouped as ‘struggling’ emphasised the role of
‘bad luck’ and ‘ancestors’. This essentially supports long-standing arguments around
211
the role of individual motivation and risk-perception in responding to adversity (e.g.
Slovic, 1987; Barrett et al, 2001; Doss et al, 2006)
Box 7.1. Selected household cognitive well being perceptions
Thriving households
“Life in Dande requires some extra jerking-up of the mind. For instance, from the mid-1990s into the early 2000s,
I would exchange grain from my riverbank field with goats, which I would then go on to sell in various butcheries
in Bindura. This gave me some really good returns. I am happy with the opportunities that arise in some of these
so-called backward areas. Identifying these opportunities is how I have managed to rise and I am happy here” – a
local businessman (LH4-NYBV)
“It is not about good or bad life here, it is about tenacity (kushingirira). If u are tenacious and hardworking, you
stay happy” – a ‘gold-class’ farmer (LH5-KPV)
Surviving households
“I opened a grocery shop in 1996 due to good cotton returns but then I had to close it down in 2006 because of
hyperinflation. It is, however, the same cotton and later sorghum farming that have kept me going despite the
fluctuating and sometimes frustrating cotton producer prices in the 2000s; so for me life has been ups and downs”
– LH3-BWV
“There is much working together now in confronting community problems than in the 1990s when it was mostly
one man for himself. For me that is how life should be all about whether in good or in bad times” – LH6-KPV
Struggling households
“I have had a lot of personal problems which have made my life miserable since I migrated to this place. The
death of my husband; coupled with my two children dismally failing their Ordinary-level examinations; and my
own chronic back and swollen feet illnesses – it has been bad-luck after bad-luck (munyama wega wega). I have
never tasted happiness in Dande” – a local widow (LH1-BWV)
“I was born in 1930 and have lived here ever since; I have survived the war, droughts, malaria...so only being
alive today for me means God and my ancestors love me and I have nothing to complain about. My wife and my
parents are buried here and I will die here” – an elderly man (LH5-NYBV)
Source Life histories
7.2.6. Inter-household dynamics and resiliency in Dande
From research findings and the different household-level factors discussed, there is
some less ambiguous evidence around three main points vis-à-vis inter-household
dynamics and resiliency in the area. These points include the following:
(a) Most better-off and some middle ranking households were taking advantage of
cheap labour provided mainly by poor and very poor households particularly around
maricho – which appeared to significantly help in making some of these (better-off and
middle ranking) households ‘thrive’, especially as it concerned being able to farm huge
acreages of and realise good returns on the labour-intensive cotton crop. In the same
vein however, this appeared to be at the expense of those providing the labour as it led
to neglect of their own farms; concentrating on farming small acreages; and realising
poor yields (see Table 7.1 and chapter 5 – section 5.2.1)
212
(b) Whilst all livestock-owning households across all wealth ranks reported engaging in
barter trade using livestock (especially small stock) both locally and in external markets
(see chapter six), it appeared from life histories and informal conversations that a
significant number of better-off and some middle ranking households had ‘thrived’ and
‘survived’ over the years partly through accumulating livestock (especially goats, and in
some cases cattle) by many a time exchanging this stock with desperate poor and
‘struggling’ households using goods and commodities remarkably inequivalent to the
actual value of the livestock (i.e. according to local valuations) particularly over the
2000s. For example, it was noted during focus group discussions across all the three
study villages that it was not uncommon for a goat to be exchanged for as little as five
bars of washing soap or two gallons (i.e. 10kgs) of maize or sorghum during the period
of basic commodity shortages in the country from around 2006 to 2008; when over the
years it had been valued, on average, at two buckets (40kgs) of maize or sorghum
depending on the size of the goat. It also appeared that most poor and ‘struggling’
households had then gone on to fail, or marginally succeed, in replacing the traded
livestock by the time of the research.
(c) The third point is the reiteration on the importance of the spread of both local and
external social networks for a household to be able to ‘thrive’ – as discussions in all the
four household-level factors reveal (see also Table 7.7 and Appendix 3).
7.3. Community-level factors
Important community-level factors influencing resilient and adaptive responses to
vulnerability changes in the area over the years were linked to the nature of local
common property management systems; community social networks formation;
geographical location; demographic changes; community well being notions and the
evolving nature of formal social support in various livelihood activities in the area. Just
as household factors discussed in the previous section, most of these factors interlink
and they reinforce each other. Discussions here also reflect and support observations
made in chapters five and six73.
7.3.1. The nature of local common property management systems
As discussed in chapter two, though much common property literature has mainly
concentrated on natural resources management, analysis of common property
73
This relates to the patterns and trends of vulnerability factors discussed in chapter five, as well as the emergence of
the local community scale as central in effective long-term responses to stresses and shocks (relative to other
institutional scales) in the area over the years as observed in chapter six.
213
management in this work was broadened to include both natural resources management
and the management of common physical assets and social services such as schools,
health centres, boreholes, roads and dip-tanks. The main concern in this analysis was to
explore how the origins, set-up and presence of management systems of these resources
have impacted on responses to vulnerability in the area. Discussion here therefore
includes a focus on the types of the systems in place, how they have operated, and local
perceptions on their effectiveness over the years. This then enabled conclusions around
three main aspects directly linking resilient and adaptive responses to dynamic
vulnerability changes, common property management and livelihoods – i.e. resource
conservation and quality maintenance (for long-term availability and locally beneficial
use of the resources – reflective of self organization in the face of intensifying and
reinforcing vulnerabilities); institutional innovation (reflective of the ability of
livelihood systems to live with change and uncertainty as well as to self organise in the
face of uncertainty); and access to the different resources (reflective of the capacity of
management systems in place to assist people in effectively living with change and
uncertainty
through,
for
example,
enabling
locally
sustainable
livelihood
diversification). For clarity purposes, analysis is divided into an examination of natural
resources management systems first before moving to physical resources management
systems, though most of the structures and processes around the management of both
types of common properties interlink as will be shown.
Natural resources management systems
Important natural resources in the area include grazing and farming land, water, forests
and wildlife. The management of these resources play a critical role in responding to
vulnerability changes in the area as these resources are both sources of livelihoods and,
in the case of wildlife, sources of vulnerability. As indicated in chapter six, natural
resources management in the area has been built around two systems over the years – on
one side an enduring traditional system comprising of the chief, headmen, village heads
and spirit mediums, and on the other, an RDC structure comprising of the WADCO and
VIDCOs. This set-up has effectively resulted in a concoction of different de facto
management arrangements and consequently different property rights for different
resources as highlighted in Table 7.8.
214
Table 7.8. De facto authorities (and property rights) for different natural resources
Natural resource
De facto authority in control and property rights
Uplands/upland
fields
Village communal ownership – The traditional leadership (particularly village heads) are
considered visibly in control, though there was awareness that all land is ‘state-land’, and
references made of the state once exercising its authority during the MZRDP resettlement
programme.
Riverbank fields
Household private ownership – Ownership passed on through inheritance.
Grazing land
Open access – Livestock can graze freely within and across villages and wards, though the
main authorities considered to be in charge are the traditional leadership (i.e. village heads).
Forests
Open access – People can harvest forest products (e.g. firewood and wild fruits) freely within
and across villages and wards, though the traditional leadership (particularly village heads
and spirit mediums) are considered to be the main authorities in control.
Water/Rivers
Open access – People can freely use water/rivers within and across villages and wards,
though the traditional leadership (i.e. village heads and spirit mediums) are considered to be
the visible authorities in control, and state authorities (through the RDC) considered to have
the final say on rules regulating use.
Wildlife
State property - The RDC and the PWMA are the visible authorities in control
Sources: Key informant interviews; Focus group discussions & Informal conversations
Natural resources management on the ground is therefore characterised by a mixture of
village communal ownership and rights (e.g. uplands); state management (wildlife);
private ownership (riverbank fields); and ‘open access’ (forests, grazing lands and
water).
Physical resources and social services management systems
As highlighted in chapter four, community physical resources in the study ward
included three schools; one dip-tank; 15 functional boreholes; two health centres and
one major road. Whilst the management of these properties has overall been considered
to be under the relevant state actors (i.e. local Ministry of Education officials for
schools; local Ministry of Health officials for health centres; the RDC for boreholes and
the main road; and DVS officials for the dip-tank); the committee system in rural
Zimbabwe in general, and the entrenchment of this (committee) system in the study area
has seen community members assuming a central role in the management systems of
these physical resources and social services, particularly as vulnerabilities worsened
over the years. Save for the main road and the dip-tank, all the other resources have
therefore come to be under the day-to-day management of committees comprising
community members and relevant state officials involved in the provision of these
services. The following discussions present the structures around School Development
Committees (SDCs), Health Centre Committees (HCCs) and Borehole Committees
215
(BCs) in the area and their utility in responses to livelihood stresses and shocks over the
years.
School Development Committees (SDCs): SDC members (for individual schools) are
elected from among the parents/guardians of children attending these schools at the end
of each (calendar) year. A typical SDC in the area comprises a chairperson, a vice-chair,
treasurer, secretary and three committee members as well as the head, the vice-head and
the senior teacher of a particular individual school (as ex-officio members of the
committee). SDCs’ main role is to work with school staff of their individual schools in
identifying and finding solutions to development challenges facing these schools as well
as agreeing on what the community can do in the general development of their
particular school. They are also responsible for relaying concerns and suggestions on
the smooth running of schools between the local community and school staff; hence
they are essentially conduits between these two sides. SDCs normally conduct periodic
meetings at the beginning and at the end of each school term (i.e. twice in every three
months). The case of Nyambudzi Primary SDC (Box 7.2) reveals examples of some of
the major contributions that SDCs in the area have made in the context of vulnerabilities
and vulnerability changes experienced over the years.
Box 7.2. The case of Nyambudzi Primary SDC
Nyambudzi primary school services seven of the 15 villages in ward 12 (including Nyambudzi B and
Kapunzambiya villages chosen for depth focus during the research). The first SDC for Nyambudzi
primary was installed in 1995, a year after the school started running. From interviews with villagers
and key informants, successive committees have been instrumental in the following activities over the
years:
o
Negotiating favourable school fee payment plans on behalf of the local community.
o
Co-ordinating supplementary feeding for school children, and public works for villagers
(throughout the 1990s) in conjunction with central government and non-governmental
organizations
o
Negotiating that parents have the alternative of paying fees in kind (i.e. in the form of buckets of
maize/sorghum/groundnuts/cowpea or small stock) since the early 2000s when accessing cash
became difficult due to macro-economic challenges in the country.
o
Mobilising that teachers be given incentives by community members (in the form of small
monetary top-ups or equivalent in-kind commodities such as crops or small livestock) since mid2007 as teachers’ salaries became eroded due to hyperinflation, thereby assisting in motivating
teachers to continue working at a time most schools in rural and urban communities across the
country were closing due to lack of proper staff remuneration.
216
Health Centre Committees (HCCs): The set up for HCCs is more or less the same as
SDCs as these also comprise an annually elected team of a chairperson, a vice-chair,
treasurer, secretary, two committee members and the nurse-in-charge and one other
nurse as ex-officio members. The elected members are chosen from local villagers who
are within the catchment area of the particular health centre. The major role of HCCs is
to represent community interests and concerns in health planning and management in
the area and just like SDCs, they relay both community and hospital staff suggestions
and concerns to and from the two sides with respect to such issues as health fee setting
as well as clinic infrastructural maintenance and development. According to the nursein-charge at Nyambudzi Health Centre, they have also made use of their HCCs over the
years in motivating and implementing public health standards in the community in
critical areas such as malaria prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness and water sanitation
through, for example, making them help in flyer distribution and general community
conscientisation in health advice and issues. Just as SDCs, HCCs in the area have also
been instrumental in the implementation of in-kind payments of health fees, as
accessing cash became difficult in the 2000s due to hyperinflation, general economic
hardships and the demise of the Zimbabwean dollar.
Borehole Committees (BCs): All functioning boreholes in the area are run by specific
committees. BCs are elected annually, and are chosen from among villagers consistently
using a particular borehole within a ‘reasonable’ radius as subjectively judged by the
borehole users themselves. BCs therefore may or may not overlap village boundaries
depending on where the borehole is positioned. BCs are much smaller than other
committees as they only consist of a chairperson, a vice chair, a treasurer and two
committee members. Their major responsibility is to ensure the proper usage and
maintenance of their particular borehole, thus when a borehole breaks down they are the
ones who mobilise for its repair (e.g. collecting money from users to fund repairs, and
looking for people to repair the borehole). They are also responsible for the periodic
collection of funds for the purchasing of lubrication oil needed to consistently apply on
the boreholes for their effective and efficient functioning. According to villagers in
group discussions, BCs have been quite helpful in keeping most boreholes running and
functional especially in the background of massive population increases and the
subsequent pressure on these boreholes over the years as constant monitoring on their
proper usage and maintenance became very necessary. Respondents, however, noted
that a significant number of boreholes had unfortunately dried up over the years as well
217
due to low rainfalls and recurring droughts (and the subsequent lowering of the water
table in most places in the area), leaving most committees redundant and leading to their
folding up.
The structure and operations around these various physical resource committees in the
area, as discussed, exemplify co-management, and ultimately, adaptive management.
All the major aspects of adaptive- and co-management (i.e. flexible decision-making
processes, pluralism and linkages; communication and negotiation; transactive decisionmaking; and social learning in coming up with various rules of operation) (see also
Table 2.4) were apparent in these committees, especially as the vulnerability context
worsened (e.g. through hyperinflation and population increase) over the years.
Lessons for institutional innovation, access and resource conservation/quality
maintenance in the area
Having discussed the various common property management systems in place in the
area, the main focus was to deepen analysis on issues around resource conservation and
quality maintenance, institutional innovation, and access by users to different resources
in the context of changing vulnerability patterns. This helped to clearly bring out how
the common property resource management factor has affected responses to
vulnerability in the area.
Institutional innovation
The term ‘innovation’ generally refers to the process of invention through which new
things, ideas or practices are created, and by which existing innovations ‘become part of
the cognitive state of the innovator and his knowledge repertoire’ (Zaltman et al, 1973;
Goldsmith and Foxall, 2003). In the context of resource institutions, innovations are
defined as changes in the standard set of rules governing particular resources in an area,
and the structures and processes through which decisions are made to suit changing
situations or circumstances (cf. German et al, 2012). Innovations are essentially
community or site specific, and they involve a broad range of social actors (Gottret,
2007). As noted earlier, institutional innovation reflects the ability of livelihood systems
to live with change and uncertainty and to self-organise in the face of changing
circumstances. Institutional innovation in the context of common property management
systems in the study area was discerned in two main spheres occurring in both natural
resources management and physical resources and services management.
218
The notable innovation in natural resources management in the area concerned the
modification of the National Stream-bank Cultivation Regulation. As discussed in
chapters five and six, riverbank fields form the most fertile lands in the area and they
have been an important part of people’s livelihoods for generations – being central to
maize and vegetable production since the pre-colonial era (see chapter four). This
practice, however, came under threat with the advent of the 1991 National Stream-bank
Cultivation Regulation which made it illegal to cultivate land ‘within thirty metres of a
public stream’ (GoZ, 1991). With the area still under Guruve Rural District Council
until 2007 (see chapter four), community members across the three study villages spoke
of clashes with council officials as the authorities threatened to slash their crops and
implement the regulation almost every year since the 1990s. It was only in 2007, with
the placement of Dande under the new Mbire RDC (split from Guruve RDC), that
people were able to strike a deal with the new authorities that they could be allowed to
continue farming in these riverbanks unhindered provided they do not use ox-drawn
ploughs or any other farming implement besides the hoe. In interviews with the Mbire
RDC CEO and the ward 12 councillor, it was noted that the main factor which appeared
to have facilitated an amicable movement towards this agreement between authorities
and villagers was the close (geographical) proximity of the new council to those areas
where riverbank farming is extensively practiced. This contrasted with the old Guruve
RDC (which seemed geographically far-removed from realities in these areas).
According to the RDC CEO, as the new authorities, they had therefore been able to
flexibly engage with and listen to representations from local residents through setting up
a team (which included the CEO, the DA of the new council, the Natural Resources
Officer of council, chairman of council and selected ward councillors) to move around
and assess activities in riverbank fields in the area and report back to the full council –
something which the old authorities had not done. They had therefore came to a
mutually agreeable deal with community members on the conditions for continuing
farming activities in these (riverbank) areas from a well-informed point of view. In this
case, the conditions for innovative decision-making were triggered by a change in sub
national institutional structures in the area, and the subsequent new approaches of
engagement by new authorities – revealing successful cross-scale interactions between
the local community and the RDC in livelihoods in the area.
In physical resources (and services) management, innovations were seen mainly in the
successful switching of user fee payments (e.g. in schools and health centres) from cash
219
to various in-kind commodities particularly as hyperinflation and general economic
hardships increased in the 2000s (as discussed earlier). Community mobilisation to
incentivise teachers in local schools with small monetary top-ups and/or in-kind
contributions as their salaries lost value due to hyperinflation (as highlighted in Box
7.1), was also another institutional innovation discerned vis-à-vis physical resource and
services management in the area. According to villagers in group discussions and key
informants in the sub national institutions involved (i.e. schools and health centres),
they were able to take advantage of the committee system in place (in the running of
these services) to come up with, suggest, and successfully push for the implementation
of these innovations. These innovations assisted in the continued reasonable delivery of
services from these entities as the vulnerability context intensified.
Access to Resources
Access is broadly defined as processes by which people – individually or collectively –
are entitled and able to fully utilise resources in an area. The implication from this
definition is that access goes beyond mere legalistic rights, to the actual ability to use
the resource(s) in practice. Access is therefore determined not only by the common
property management system factor but also other factors such as social relations and
social identity. The focus in this instance, however, is on access as determined by the
management systems factor. Besides riverbank fields (which are essentially private
property) and wildlife (regulated by strict State anti-poaching laws), it appeared all the
other resources – both natural and physical – are easily accessible within and across
villages in the area through the ‘open access’ system (e.g. in the case of forests, grazing
lands, water/rivers, main road, dip-tank), and co-management (e.g. in the case of
schools, health centres and boreholes). Though uplands are under the direct
management of the traditional leadership, unrestricted access has been guaranteed
through the existing practice of free-expansion into virgin forests – a practice which
began in the late 1990s as people were allowed to freely shift fields from those situated
close to their homesteads (allocated during the MZRDP), to current areas which are far
from homesteads so as to avoid conflicts around crop destruction by other villagers’
livestock as population in the area increased. This has, however, resulted in resource
conservation implications as the next discussion shows.
220
Conservation and Quality Maintenance
This relates to practices and processes that protect, preserve, and/or renew resources in a
manner that will ensure their highest economic and social benefits, as well as the
maintenance of optimum quality services (particularly in the case of physical resources
and social services). It appeared there were mixed results vis-à-vis resource
conservation and quality maintenance as aided by the management systems in place in
the context of vulnerability trends in the area over 1990 to 2010. Whilst there appeared
to be successes in physical resources and social services, there were notable drawbacks
in natural resource conservation as confirmed by various key informants, community
members in group discussions and observations from transect walks. For example, due
to village communal ownership and the ‘open access’ system, the extensive clearing of
forests (due to unrestricted upland field expansions and harvesting of fuel-wood) and a
decline in resource rule compliance (manifesting, for example, in the clandestine fishing
with nets in local rivers at night and an indiscriminate cutting down of trees) as spurred
mainly by population increases over the 1990s and intensifying economic hardships in
the 2000s, are clear examples of some of the major failures of the management systems
governing these resources. On the other hand, innovative decision making leading to
improved access and some semblance of quality service maintenance in the delivery of
various social services as discussed, is evident of the successes in physical resources
management systems in place in the area.
7.3.2. Community social networks formation
Discussion of this factor traces the existence of the conditions for, and the outcome
processes around social network formation in the area over the years, rather than the
incidence of social networks among respondents during the period of the research. This
analytic route was taken so as to capture and understand the temporal ‘processes’
around social network formation, rather than the current ‘states’ of social networks in
the area in line with the resiliency perspective as advanced in this thesis. The analysis
therefore takes up the ‘communities’ approach (see section 2.8.2) in examining this
factor. This is because the approach explicitly specifies the particular structures, social
relationships, attitudes and processes that have mattered in the creation and maintenance
221
of conditions for the perpetuation of social network formation towards resilient and
adaptive responses to changing vulnerability patterns in the area74.
As Figure 7.1 shows, the study area as a ‘community of place’ has over the years
compelled community members to come together and self-organise in ‘communities of
practice’ particularly around the effective operation of the various physical resource and
social services management committees (discussed earlier), especially as the
vulnerability context worsened over the 2000s. Various ‘communities of choice’ and
‘communities of perspective’ in the area are also presented as arenas for the creation of
long term social networks, which has enabled the activation of the many resiliency
aspects discussed in chapter six, such as the nurturing of social learning processes
through the sharing and spreading of indigenous knowledge in various livelihood
activities; livelihood diversification through easier access to riverbank fields for those
who do not own them; ability to live with change and uncertainly through barter trade
and in-kind commodity transactions, food-aid to less privileged community members
and psycho-emotional strength in facing and dealing with uncertainties such as funerals.
The local community has therefore become both a physical space and a distinct sensory
order where a concentration of people engage in complex and subtle networks of social
relations (cf. Leeds, 1973), helpful in adequately responding to a dynamic vulnerability
context.
74
It was interesting to note, for example, that there was no tradition of the formation of such visible organisations
and/or arrangements as ROSCAs, women’s clubs, labour-sharing schemes, burial societies and marketing cooperatives across the three study villages, and indeed, in the whole ward – normally used in most studies to gauge the
level of social networks in an area; however, as discussions in chapter six revealed, and as highlighted in Figure 7.1,
there are other underlying, unquantifiable and subtle social processes, relationships and structures that have facilitated
the strong networking of people towards effective long-term responses to worsening livelihood challenges in the area.
222
Figure 7.1. The ‘community’ aspect and social network formation in Dande
Adapted from Brint (2001)
7.3.3. The evolving nature of formal social support
Analysis of this factor builds on the review of sub national institutional activities in the
area undertaken in chapter six. The evolving nature of formal social support in
livelihood activities in the area over 1990 to 2010 was, for example, characterised by
the introduction, and later cessation of government drought relief programmes (DRPs);
reduction in wildlife control, agricultural extension and veterinary services provision; as
well as a marked ascendancy and later decline in the role of non-state entities in
livelihood activities in the area. These developments mainly had huge implications on
people’s ability to live with change and uncertainty (especially as they affected
opportunities for livelihood diversification and the building of rapid feedback
mechanisms to different challenges). These issues are discussed in the following sub
sections.
Trends in DRPs
As highlighted in chapter six, the duration of DRPs in the area (covering the period
1982 – 1999), their spatial coverage (i.e. implemented in all villages in the area), and
the reliable regularity of benefits-flow to villagers during the period they subsisted
meant that they had become part of important adaptive strategies in responding to
various food and financial insecurity exposures over the years. All households involved
in the survey across the three study villages, for example, indicated that they had
223
received grain assistance through one or the other of these DRPs during the period they
were in operation, (especially during the serious drought years of 1991/92 and 1994/95).
These programmes had also greatly contributed in the construction and maintenance of
common physical resources such as local health centres, local schools and the main road
with far-reaching positive impacts on education, health and transport services delivery
essential in local livelihoods75. As noted by villagers during focus group discussions,
the cessation of the programmes in 1999 greatly reduced options for adaptive strategies
particularly during drought and food-gap periods in the year for most of them. The
maintenance of common physical properties also suffered major setbacks with the
stopping of public works employment, which became particularly manifest in the
continued deterioration of the main road in the 2000s. As noted in chapter five, the road
now becomes virtually impassable and unusable during rainy seasons – which also
happen to be the busiest farming periods in the year when villagers need to access
markets for inputs and to transport their produce after harvesting. The evolving trends in
government DRPs have therefore had huge effects on adaptive strategies and
livelihoods in general in the area.
Trends in wildlife control, agricultural extension and veterinary services provision
These are critical services in local livelihoods provided for by different government
entities (i.e. PWMA, AGRITEX and DVS respectively), which all went on a serious
decline particularly in the 2000s mainly due to macro political and economic challenges
as fully discussed in chapters five and six. The results of this decline over 1990 to 2010
(as discussed in those previous chapters), included increased destruction of (especially
upland) crops by wild animals (i.e. in the case of declining wildlife control); a decline in
the provision of crop and livestock production advice (i.e. in the case of declining
agricultural and veterinary extension services) – particularly for people in villages such
as Kapunzambiya and Bwazi located far from Mushumbi Business Centre where the
service providers are based; and a re-emergence of the tsetse-fly problem. All this have
had negative effects on local livelihood diversification activities, and reduced rapid
feedback mechanisms in responding to such problems as wildlife.
75
As noted in chapter four, Nyambudzi Primary School (servicing seven of the 15 villages in the study ward), and
Nyambudzi Health Centre (covering again almost half of all the villages in the study ward), were constructed in the
mid-1990s with the huge amount of labour being provided by community members through public works
employment.
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Trends in non-state entity activities
As discussed in chapter six, non-state entities (i.e. NGOs, UN agencies and cotton
companies) became central in a range of local livelihood activities over 1990 to 2010,
particularly in the context of gaps in services and other livelihoods provision created by
weakening and/or withdrawing government entities during that period. They therefore
assisted villagers in crop and livestock diversification as well as in building rapid
feedback mechanisms against such vulnerabilities as malaria, HIV/AIDS, droughts and
poor markets. It is, however, important to note that by 2010, activities of most non-state
entities in the area had either stopped or were on a decline vis-à-vis coverage and/or
positive influence in the general well-being of people in the area (see chapter six).
Nevertheless, notable activities of such non-state entities as LGDA (e.g. the
introduction of the drought resistant and disease tolerant macia sorghum variety);
Christian Care (e.g. covering the majority of households in all villages in the ward in its
food-aid programmes during the difficult 2000s decade) and cotton companies (i.e. in
contract farming since the early 1990s), have had lasting positive impacts with respect
to adaptive strategies against idiosyncratic and covariant vulnerabilities in the area.
7.3.4. Demographic changes
The demographic change factor specifically related to the population increase aspect in
the area, and it appeared to affect livelihoods and response to vulnerability in two ways.
Firstly, as it linked with pressure on natural resources, particularly forests and upland
fields as discussed in chapter five. As highlighted in previous discussions, transect
walks across villages of study revealed an extended push from past upland field
boundaries towards an extensive clearing of hitherto wild animal habitats, a point also
corroborated by the local PWMA head (during a discussion on increasing wildlife
problems in upland fields in the area). With the subsequent scarcity of upland areas to
expand into because of these consequences, most households were therefore being
forced to shift from agricultural extensification – which used to be an effective adaptive
strategy in increasing household returns especially from cotton farming in the 1980s and
early 1990s, to the less profitable labour-led agricultural intensification for most
households (as discussed in chapter six). Demographic changes in this case had
therefore limited available adaptive strategies in particular livelihood concerns. At the
same time, demographic changes had also increased local vulnerabilities in the form of
increased wildlife problems in those hitherto wildlife habitats now turned upland fields.
225
Demographic changes also appeared to have an effect on community compliance to
natural resource regulations, and as highlighted in previous discussions, community
members openly admitted during group discussions across the three study villages that
the increase in population in the area had generally resulted in a shift from
communalism to individualism particularly with respect to the cutting down of trees in
hitherto restricted forest areas (for firewood); fishing with nets in local rivers; as well as
stalling the practice of community policing (i.e. apprehending or reporting offenders to
relevant traditional or sub-national authorities). In this regard, this factor had therefore
compromised opportunities for effective self-organisation in local livelihoods in the
area.
7.3.5. Community well being notions
These were found to form the basis of the major aspirations around decisions people in
the area make, not only in their daily lives but also in longer-term strategising against
livelihood constraints76. Following Marschke and Berkes (2006), two clusters
constituting community well being notions emerged and these included (a) resourcerelated aspects and (b) knowledge and relationship-related aspects. Table 7.9
summarises these well-being notions. It also outlines how community members have
sought to or succeeded in achieving satisfactory levels of these community well-being
aspects over the years.
76
Aspirations refer to “hopes or ambitions to achieve something” (Ibrahim, 2011: 3), and “they have something to do
with wants, preferences, choices and calculations” (Appadurai, 2004: 67).
226
Table 7.9. Community well being notions
Resource related aspects
Main means of obtaining these over the years
Ownership of a significant
number of cattle (i.e. 7 or
more
from
a
local
perspective)
Through money realised from extra efforts/kushanda nesimba especially in cotton
and sorghum fields; which, however, mostly requires lots of household labour,
possession of arable lands and ability to purchase and/or access adequate inputs
Exchanging with small-stock or some other crop with fellow community members
Through a daughter/female sibling or relative’s marriage (bride-price)
Ownership
of
(or
alternatively access to) a
riverbank
field/‘munda
wekugova’
Large upland field (12 acres
and above) in good upland
soils
Inheriting along lineage or kinship lines
Possession of and living in a
big brick-walled and asbestos
roofed house (3 bedrooms
and above) in addition to the
traditional
grass-thatched
kitchen
Through money realised from extra efforts/kushanda nesimba especially in cotton
and sorghum fields; which, however, mostly requires lots of labour at this
(household) level, possession of arable lands and ability to purchase adequate
inputs
Running a thriving business
(e.g. a grocery shop, a
grinding mill or a bottlestore)
Ability to timely purchase or
access adequate agricultural
inputs
especially
seed,
fertilizers, pesticides and
herbicides
Enough labour
upland fields
to
work
Access
to
basic
food
commodities for one’s family
(e.g.
maize-meal,
flour,
vegetables, salt, sugar) all the
time
Knowledge and
relationship related aspects
Being conversant with both
indigenous
and
modern
systems of agriculture (crop
and livestock production)
Borrowing from relatives, friends, neighbours or church colleagues
Inheriting from parents or close kin
Goodwill from the allocating village-head
Possession of abundant cattle (and other livestock) which one may then sell to be
able to construct such properties/start such businesses
Inheritance from parents
In the case of cotton (the major cash crop), they have always depended on contract
farming with cotton companies in the area.
For other crops, they have always relied on borrowing from and exchanging with
friends, relatives and colleagues (particularly recycled seed (mbeu dzemudura) for
such crops as maize, sorghum and cow-pea)
Having a corresponding number of economically active household members to
work the size of one’s fields, particularly weeding cotton fields and picking the
cotton during harvest time as well as guarding sorghum fields against quelea birds
and elephants
Hiring the labour
Through consuming, selling and exchanging farm-produce from both riverbank
and upland fields
Through proximity to both local and foreign (i.e. Mozambican and Zambian)
markets
Main means of obtaining these over the years
Advice from elders and other knowledgeable community members (on indigenous
systems)
Following community ways of doing things (in both crop and livestock production)
Access to advice from relevant local sub national institution officials (e.g.
AGRITEX, DVS, Cotton company officials)
227
Membership in one or more
of the various committees in
the area (e.g. the VIDCO,
SDC, HCC, BC) and actively
influencing
important
decisions and actions thereby
attaining the respect and
community recognition that it
brings along
Close
relationship
to
influential community figures
(e.g. the chief, the headman,
the village head, councillor,
local successful business
people etc)
Having a child, sibling or
household member in a
top/well-paying
job
especially in the City; and the
resources/remittances as well
as the community respect that
it brings along.
Maintaining cordial relations with other community members so as to get the
chance of being elected or seconded into these committees.
Mutual assistance (among
community members) in both
good and bad times
Important local ceremony codes of conduct (particularly for funerals – see chapter
six)
Through lineage
Through kinship and marriage into such families
-
Neighbourly bonds
Barter-trade
Inter-marriages
Timely and accurate early
seasonal and other challenges
warning systems (e.g. for
droughts, quelea birds etc)
Tapping into available indigenous knowledge on these occurrences
Relying on information from relevant formal entities (particularly the AGRITEX
and the DVS)
From evidence in Table 7.9, it is clear that elements of knowledge building;
opportunities for livelihood diversification (particularly with respect to access to and/or
ownership of adequate land and livestock); community relationships; and participation
in community resource management systems – which are all important components of
the resiliency surrogates (see chapter one) – are also seen to be central aspects of well
being in the area. The pursuit of well being and what people perceive as a desirable way
of life therefore become tied to major determinants of long-term strategising against
livelihood challenges.
7.3.6. Geographical location
Two aspects came up with respect to the influence of the geographical location factor in
livelihoods and responses to vulnerability in the area. The first related to a consideration
228
of the ‘first and second nature’ geographical characteristics of Dande as a whole77. The
second aspect related to an analysis of the effects of geographical distance of villages in
the study ward to the main local (Mushumbi) business centre, (which was one of the
major criteria used to select the three villages for in-depth focus in the first place), and
how that has shaped livelihood trajectories of households in these three villages vis-àvis a changing vulnerability context over the years.
Effects of ‘first and second nature’ geographical characteristics
As fully discussed in chapters four and five, Dande is a semi-arid marginal area within
agro-ecological zones IV and V characterised by poor soils, low rainfalls, high
temperatures and consequently low agricultural potential. The area is also a high
wildlife, tsetse-fly and malaria zone. As articulated in chapter five, these ‘first nature’
geographical characteristics have played a significant part in limiting crop and livestock
diversification in the area resulting in constrained opportunities for living with change
and uncertainty. Unfavourable ‘second nature’ geographical characteristics in the area,
such as deteriorating physical and social services infrastructure, have also led to
inadequate and fragmented local input, output and labour markets again leading to
constrained livelihood opportunities (see chapter five). The proximity of Dande to
neighbouring countries (i.e. Mozambique and Zambia), however, appeared to be an
advantage for local livelihoods particularly in the context of worsening national
vulnerability factors (such as hyperinflation and other macro-economic challenges in the
2000s). As discussed in chapter six, people in the area were able to engage in input and
output markets in these countries at a larger scale over the 2000s, whilst others sought
to marry in neighbouring communities in these countries so as to spread social
networks. In this case, the geographical location aspect therefore reveals both negative
and positive effects vis-à-vis responses to vulnerability in the area.
Effects of village geographical distances from the main local business centre
As noted earlier, this was one of the major criteria used to select villages for in-depth
focus in the study ward. As discussed in chapter three; resulting from preliminary
interviews with key informants (particularly the councillor of the selected ward and the
RDC CEO), three radiuses relative to the main Mushumbi Business Centre were set,
around which contrasts vis-à-vis livelihood opportunities and constraints between
77
As differentiated in chapter two; ‘first nature’ geographical characteristics refer to the inherent natural
characteristics of an area (e.g. climate and topography), whilst ‘second nature’ characteristics refer to infrastructure in
an area.
229
villages in the ward over the years could possibly be observed. For example, besides
mere closeness to local main input, output and labour markets; the further away from
the main centre towards the border post with Mozambique, the more deteriorated the
main road became. This factor therefore sought to probe whether this had any effects on
differences in responding to vulnerability processes in the area over the years. To
recapitulate, this resulted in Nyambudzi B village being chosen as the closest village of
study near Mushumbi; Kapunzambiya village relatively far; and Bwazi village the
furthest from Mushumbi towards the border with Mozambique.
Two notable factors relevant for livelihoods and vulnerability response analysis as
emanating from this aspect were observed. The first was the different patterns in the
movement of households in the three villages across the three trajectories of
‘struggling’, ‘surviving’ and ‘thriving’ (as defined in section 7.2.1) from the mid 1990s
into the late 2000s. As Figure 7.2 shows, it was interesting to note that whilst
Kapunzambiya village (situated more or less in the middle of the ward) maintained the
same figures of households in the three trajectory categories across the two periods,
there were noticeable differences in patterns occurring in other villages. Bwazi village –
furthest from Mushumbi Business Centre – had high numbers of households exhibiting
negative trajectories, whilst households in Nyambudzi B village (which is nearest
Mushumbi), appeared to exhibit less dramatic movements across categories (with very
few households moving from ‘thriving’ to ‘surviving’, and maintaining a single
household in the ‘struggling’ category over the years).
Figure 7.2. Livelihood trajectories across the three study villages mid-1990s into
the 2000s
230
These different trends in livelihood trajectories, especially for households in the two
villages closest to and furthest from the main centre, therefore appeared to suggest a
major role of the geographical location factor in shaping the dynamics of households
across different categories – with those in the furthest village seemingly most affected
by a worsening vulnerability context over the 1990s into the 2000s78.
A second notable factor around this (distance from the centre) aspect, (as discussed in
section 7.2.3), was the increasing concentration of immigrant (non-Korekore)
households in villages far from the centre (i.e. Kapunzambiya and Bwazi villages).
Whilst figures showing the ethnic distribution (between the Korekore and non-Korekore
households) in Table 7.6 do not reveal much significant differences across the three
villages, they nevertheless highlight how the geographical location factor can amplify
other local social differences vis-à-vis accessing critical resources important in
formulating adequate responses to vulnerability even at that very small spatial scale.
7.4. Conclusion
This chapter has critically examined specific factors influencing responses to
vulnerability in the area over the 1990 to 2010 period. The chapter builds on discussions
in chapter six to further reveal the utility of temporal and institutional dimensions in
analysing and understanding livelihoods under dynamic vulnerability conditions.
Factors important for adequate responses to worsening vulnerability conditions in the
area are found to evolve from emergent institutional and social processes, perceptions
and relationships that facilitate collaboration, co-operation, interaction and social
learning towards the realisation of livelihood benefits across scales. This also supports
conclusions regarding the centrality of the local community institutional scale in
livelihoods in the area as vulnerabilities worsened over the study period, as discussed in
the previous chapter. Discussions around differential livelihood trajectories across
households and villages have also supported the various factors raised.
Whilst sustainable livelihoods thinking implicitly aimed at capturing long-run changes
and processes in livelihoods analysis as done in this chapter79, an over-emphasis on
assets – more so within the neo-classical economics language of ‘capitals’ – resulted in
78
Though this difference was clearly noticeable between these two villages closest and furthest the main centre, I
acknowledge that there might be other factors which may have caused these different livelihood trajectories (other
than distance from the centre) not accounted for in this analysis e.g. different population sizes, poverty levels in the
two villages etc.
79
As noted in chapter one, the term ‘sustainable’ in everyday language relates with processes that are ‘continuous’
and ‘long-lasting’.
231
the neglect of the relational and processual elements of the approach and much focusing
on single-time frame ‘snap-shot’ views of livelihoods in much sustainable livelihoods
research (cf. Whitehead, 2002). This chapter ultimately corroborates conclusions in
chapter six around advancing the need for a refocusing in livelihoods inquiry towards
more long-term process-oriented perspectives in capturing dynamics in contemporary
contexts to be able to engage with the complex and inter-related factors influencing
responses, as driven by resiliency aspects in analysis. The next chapter provides a
summary and conclusion for the thesis. The last research question is also addressed in
that chapter, as discussions there bring together the theoretical, policy and practice
lessons emerging from the thesis.
232
CHAPTER
EIGHT.
TOWARDS
A
RESILIENCY
PERSPECTIVE
IN
LIVELIHOODS INQUIRY – SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
8.1. Introduction
This thesis set out to examine how livelihoods inquiry could be refocused to be able to
take into account highly dynamic vulnerability patterns and trends in contemporary
environments, with a specific focus on vulnerability changes in rural Zimbabwe and
Dande Communal Area in particular. As Chambers and Conway (1992) rightly argued
in their seminal livelihoods paper: in a fast changing world, conventional concepts,
methods and models are liable to lag further and further behind the frontiers – and this
now appears to be the case vis-à-vis livelihoods inquiry. Tracing evolving approaches in
the analysis of livelihoods and vulnerability over the years – from farming systems
research, to famine and food security analyses, and sustainable rural livelihoods
thinking emerging in the early 1990s and informing much livelihoods inquiry since
then, the thesis finds that increasing vulnerability changes and complexity in recent
years as happened in Zimbabwe now require a move towards even more robust
perspectives to capture these dynamics.
A resiliency perspective is advanced as an analytical and methodological lens through
which we can rejuvenate livelihoods approaches towards more adequately analysing
livelihoods in such dynamic and complex vulnerability contexts. As already noted, the
case of a marginal rural community in the Mid-Zambezi Valley area of Dande in
northern Zimbabwe is used to operationalise this resiliency perspective, and an adapted
livelihoods framework provided the overarching conceptual guide for organising
analysis. In operationalising this perspective, four specific key findings emerged from
the study, which ultimately led to five major conclusions vis-à-vis taking livelihoods
analysis forward in the context of highly dynamic vulnerabilities. Specific key findings
from the area are:
a) Increasingly worsening multiple and reinforcing covariant and idiosyncratic socioeconomic and natural related vulnerability factors over the 1990s into the 2000s
emanating from dynamics at both the local and national levels.
b) The interplay of both slow and fast variables of change characterising these
vulnerability factors, patterns and trends.
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c) The centrality of local community practices, entities and processes in responding to
livelihood risks and uncertainties as the vulnerability context worsened over the
years – particularly in the 2000s – as most individual household opportunities
dwindled, and as formal state and non-state entities’ involvement in various
livelihood activities either weakened or stopped altogether.
d) The emergence of notable accommodative and negotiation processes among actors
across institutional scales in addressing some of the various vulnerability factors that
were occurring.
These four key findings and the subsequent five major conclusions are discussed in
detail in the next section – which revisits the specific research questions pursued in
operationalising the resiliency perspective as outlined in chapter one.
8.2. Revisiting research questions, summary of key findings and major conclusions
The thesis was designed to address four specific research questions:
(i) What have been the nature, patterns and trends of livelihood constraints in the case
study area and how have they shaped the vulnerability context over 1990 to 2010?
This question was mainly addressed in chapter five and it was found that livelihoods in
the area were under increasingly worsening and reinforcing idiosyncratic and covariant
social, political, natural and economic vulnerabilities particularly in the 2000s. These
vulnerabilities included, and were characterised by, both slow and fast variables of
change. Such factors as increasing poverty levels; low rainfalls and increasing
frequency of droughts; increasing human population; wildlife and pests; deteriorating
markets and infrastructure; deepening health challenges – particularly malaria and
HIV/AIDS – represented the slow variables of change. The fast variables of change
included the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in nearby commercial
farms; and inflation and hyperinflation. These slow and fast change variables combined
have resulted in three main negative livelihood exposure conditions of financial
insecurity, food insecurity and labour limitations in the area.
The concepts of resilience and adaptive capacity – which are at the centre of the
resiliency perspective (see chapter one) – are composite concepts which incorporate
social, environmental, political, demographic, economic and natural factors in
describing the long-term capacity of livelihoods to anticipate adversity, reduce the
effects of adversity, recover and thrive in the wake of risks and uncertainty. They
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therefore directed the response to this question towards a holistic examination of the
reinforcing nature of all the major stresses and shocks in the area over the reference
study period. Whilst the consideration of a holistic analysis of ‘contexts, conditions,
trends and shocks’ is captured in sustainable livelihoods thinking (e.g. Scoones, 1998;
Ellis, 2000), most livelihoods inquiries over the years have, nevertheless, tended to
disaggregate the problems that people face to focus on a single threat notably droughts,
HIV/AIDS, ESAPs, floods and recently climate change (Quinn et al, 2011). This
divergence seem to be a product of the problem of the issue of scale in conventional
livelihoods approaches; where much focus has been placed on household and
geographical scales – ensuring that where, for example, agro-climatic and
environmental issues dominate as sources of risk and uncertainty, discussion has
subsequently centred on the links between household assets, the natural resource-base
and environmental entitlements and less on the vulnerability context as a whole (cf.
Whitehead, 2002). Fully operationalising a resiliency perspective in livelihoods,
however, demands a conscious analytical focus on all major vulnerabilities within an
area, which leads to a deeper understanding of the various reinforcing constraints
driving the vulnerability context and the full effects on livelihoods. Based on these
observations, we draw the first major conclusion that to adequately comprehend the
complexities, livelihood risks and uncertainties as well as constraints and opportunities
for response in contemporary environments, livelihood inquiries should undertake
conscious in-depth analyses of the interaction, reinforcing nature, trends and outcomes
of all major stresses and shocks within an area.
(ii) What response strategies have been implemented in addressing these constraints
and how effective have the strategies been over the years?
This question was addressed in chapter six. In the context of dynamic vulnerabilities in
the Dande area emanating from local, national and even global processes such as
fluctuating agricultural prices, as well as livelihood opportunities emanating from such
wider sources as migration and remittances, a main concern with regards to answering
this question was addressing the issue of scale first, with particular attention to crossscale linkages across time, to be able to sufficiently engage with relevant issues. As
Scoones (2009: 187) argues, and as reiterated in chapter two, the long-held notion that
conventional livelihoods approaches link micro and macro scales is often “more of an
ambition than reality”, yet this should form the bigger part of the story in understanding
response strategies in the context of complex vulnerability changes emanating from
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both macro- and micro-level dynamics. At the same time, much conventional
livelihoods focus has also emphasised “coping and short-term adaptation, drawing on a
rich heritage of vulnerability analysis” (ibid: 189), yet such contemporary dynamics as
those observed in Dande point to the importance of examining response strategies that
capture both slow and fast change variables. A resiliency perspective, as advanced in
this thesis, sought to contribute towards addressing these concerns as it implicitly (i.e.
through its three surrogates) advocated for the utilisation of institutional and temporal
scalar dimensions in analysis80. This had two important implications for examining
response strategies in the area over the selected study period. Firstly, this led to the
categorisation of units of analysis (and local livelihood practices emanating from these
units) into three institutional scales, i.e. the household, the local community and the sub
national scales, which helped in linking local household and community analysis
upwards and outwards to national levels through examining decision-making
intersections and various livelihood practices over time across these different scales. It
also assisted in analytically intertwining and comparing the changing opportunities and
constraints for response emanating from the household, village, ward, district and
national levels over the reference study period. Secondly, it led to an emphasis on
adaptive rather than coping strategies, as the aim was to trace strategies relevant to longrun changes across the 20 year reference study period.
These approaches enabled clear insights into various adaptive strategies emanating from
the three institutional scales, with adaptive strategies at the household scale involving
such activities as changing diversification patterns; migration and remittances; and
changing crop cultivation practices. Adaptive strategies emanating at the local
community scale included the increasing utilisation of indigenous knowledge in various
livelihood activities; the increasing role of the traditional leadership and local churches
in various livelihood activities; and the increasing centrality of barter trade, neighbourly
bonds, intermarriages, and co-operation during funeral ceremonies. Strategies
emanating from the sub national scale included various livelihood support activities
from extra-local entities in local common property and natural resources management;
food aid; community health and sanitation provision; tsetse-fly and problem animal
control; and agricultural marketing.
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The three resiliency surrogates of the ability to live with change and uncertainty; nurturing of social learning
processes and self-organisation call for the recognition of both short- and long- term as well as cross-institutional
dynamics in understanding the ability of households and communities to respond to livelihood risks and uncertainties
(see chapters one).
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A cross-scale analysis of the evolving influence of these activities to livelihoods over
1990 to 2010 enabled insights into effective and ineffective strategies through the
examination of institutions weakening or succumbing in the context of multiple and
reinforcing vulnerabilities on one hand, and those accumulating potential on the other.
The analysis showed local community institutional processes, practices and
arrangements providing cover and capacity for livelihoods against a background of
constricting individual household livelihood opportunities and weakening or
withdrawing sub national institutional arrangements over the 20 year period. It
demonstrated that effective adaptive strategies to dynamic vulnerability changes and
increasing livelihood risks and uncertainties in the area were linked to emergent local
interactive and associational activities and processes as well as collective action and
knowledge over time. Based on these observations, we draw the second major
conclusion that institutional and temporal scalar dimensions are more revealing vis-àvis understanding livelihood dynamics as well as effective (and ineffective) strategies
under increasing and reinforcing vulnerabilities. These dimensions link multiple scales
in analysis; allow for the adequate capturing of contemporary livelihood and
vulnerability linkages and flows; whilst retaining in-depth focus on long-term local
level dynamics.
(iii) Which factors have influenced the establishment and implementation of resilient
and adaptive strategies over 1990 to 2010?
This question was addressed in chapter seven – mainly to establish how and why some
and not other institutional scale(s), entities and processes have been instrumental in
adaptive strategies in the area over the years. Findings from this question extended on
the informative and insightful dimensions of an institutional and temporal scalar focus
in analysing livelihoods in contemporary dynamic vulnerability contexts.
Key household-level factors found to influence resilient and adaptive strategies included
household wealth and the ability to diversify income sources over the years; household
demographic structure and the ability to deal with changes in household size and
dependency ratio; household cognitive well being perceptions and motivation to
resiliency as well as household social identity and the ability to create and expand social
networks. Three categories of ‘thriving’, ‘surviving’ and ‘struggling’ households were
identified among survey respondents, which assisted in the analysis of livelihood
trajectories in the area in the context of changing vulnerability patterns over 1990 to
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2010. This analytical approach is consistent with what scholars such as Dorward et al
(2009) have suggested vis-à-vis possible classification of households as ‘hanging in’,
‘stepping up’ and ‘stepping out’ in the face of changing vulnerability trends, and it
essentially added a prospective and future-oriented dimension to the retrospective and
circumspective dimensions emphasised in most livelihoods analysis. This was important
as it brought into sharp focus not only inquiry into the capacity of households to
respond to and live with change, risk and uncertainty over time, but also a clearer
comprehension of longer-term local inter-household relations in property and
production and the impacts on livelihood resilience and adaptive capacity.
At the community level, factors found to influence resilient and adaptive strategies over
1990 to 2010 include the nature of common property management systems in the area;
community social networks formation; demographic changes; community well being
notions; geographical location (of the Dande area in general and the selected study
villages in particular); and the changing nature of formal social support in various
livelihood activities. Just as the point emerging from the analysis of household-level
factors, an examination of these community-level factors revealed the importance of
understanding longer-term dynamics to be able to comprehend the development of
current and prospective livelihood capacities at community level to respond to evolving
risks and uncertainties in the area. All the factors identified as crucial in responding to
vulnerability changes (at both the household and the community levels) are processual
in nature; manifesting over years. The lesson for livelihoods inquiry, which is also the
third major conclusion, is that there should be a shift from static, deterministic, singletime frame analyses towards a more dynamic approach to be able to adequately analyse
and understand livelihoods in the increasingly uncertain and changing environments of
contemporary times.
(iv) What are the major policy and practice lessons for response to dynamic
vulnerability changes in the study area and in similar environments?
This question brought us full circle as its answers derived from findings across all the
empirical chapters. Two main lessons for policy and practice emerged. The first
concerns a significant re-thinking of ‘conventional wisdoms’ on social and
environmental integrity particularly as conceptualised by the term ‘sustainability’ which
has dominated livelihoods thinking in particular and development practice more widely.
The main problem with ‘sustainability’ as projected in sustainable livelihoods thinking
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for example, especially in highly dynamic vulnerability contexts , is that it carries with
it connotations of what are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ livelihoods and therefore, in this case,
‘good’ and ‘bad’ strategies in responding to livelihood stresses and shocks (see also
chapters one and two). It is implicitly based on normative notions of equilibrium and
predictability where livelihood activities and responses to challenges should be
conscious of both current and future generations’ assets and capabilities.
In the context of vulnerability trends and patterns as experienced in Dande over the
study period for example – in which increasingly worsening and reinforcing stresses
and shocks generated unpredictable outcomes – these notions of sustainability fail to
hold up. A re-examination of the processes leading to the two main trade-off activities
in the study area (see chapter five) helps bring out this point. Immigration and
increasing population due to erratic national government policies such as the poorly
planned MZRDP and the chaotic FTLRP of the 1990s and early 2000s respectively,
triggered massive shifts of upland fields into unfarmed forest areas as people firstly
sought to avoid conflicts around crop destruction by fellow villagers’ livestock in
established fields – which were becoming much closer to the near homesteads – with
the expansions continuing as more people came into the area. The subsequent massive
clearing of savanna forests, which would ordinarily class as ‘unsustainable’, were out of
sheer necessity in response to stresses induced from the national level. The riverbank
farming practice on the other hand – deemed ‘unsustainable’ by national government
policy and a source of conflict with local government authorities from the 1990s until
2007 – was viewed by villagers not only as essential for food security and a source of
well being in the context of increasingly low rainfalls and poor upland soils in Dande,
but also an important symbol of cultural heritage passed over generations. As articulated
in chapter one, the ‘response space’ to successful adaptive strategies in such
environments (of highly dynamic vulnerability changes) almost always has negative
externalities and institutional spillovers between social and environmental concerns
which have to be accounted for in analyses on responses to vulnerability.
The crucial policy link for ‘sustainability’ within the resiliency perspective vis-à-vis
analysing dynamics in contemporary vulnerability contexts therefore, which is also the
fourth major conclusion, is that its notions should fit into and be operationalised within
the broader picture of social justice81, place-based dynamics and cultural diversity. As
81
A social justice perspective argues that we need to think about sustaining a good quality of life for people not just
for the future but also in the present (Dobson, 1999).
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advanced within the outcome processes of the resiliency perspective (see chapter one), a
refocusing towards ‘local sustainability’ supported by subjective assessments of well
being by local residents is suggested in the analysis, policy and practice design of
responses to stresses and shocks in the dynamic vulnerability contexts of the 21st
century (see Box 8.1).
Box 8.1 Resiliency as well being and local sustainability
The aspects of ‘well being’ and ‘local sustainability’ enabled the operationalisation of the resilience
and adaptive capacity concepts on the ground, by connecting our theoretical understanding of
resiliency (as encapsulated in the surrogates and pillar processes) with what people in the study
community regard as resiliency within their lifeworld (as highlighted in chapter one). Engaging with
‘well being’ and ‘local sustainability’ in the area, as well as treating them as livelihood outcome
processes within the resiliency perspective was informative as the two processes form the major
aspirations around the decisions that people make, not only in their daily lives but also in longer-term
strategising against livelihood constraints (as noted in chapter 7). An underlying premise for the
consideration of these aspects also was that resiliency in livelihoods, as articulated in chapters one and
two, is not neutral but place-based and local interpretations regarding ‘good’ and/or ‘bad’ adaptive
strategies and livelihood practices in the context of worsening vulnerabilities should form the platform
upon which its success is judged. Therefore, whilst local interpretations of well being i.e. ‘good life’
or ‘hupenyu hwakanaka’ and ‘bad life’, ill being or ‘hupenyu hwekutambudzika/kushushika’ became
direct local benchmarks around which respondents’ subjective interpretations of livelihood resilience
and adaptive capacity processes and successes were discerned, the aspect of ‘local sustainability’
qualified vulnerability response actions in terms of their effects on social justice and environmental
integrity, i.e. actions are sustainable “only if (they) contribute to (and at the very least do not seriously
erode) these two features” (Eriksen et al, 2011: 10).
A second lesson, mainly deriving from the scalar focus of the thesis, is that ‘institutions
matter’. This leads to two important clarifications for policy and practice vis-à-vis
response to vulnerability in the Dande area and in similar environments: (a) what kinds
of institutions contribute to what kinds of conditions, in this case, with respect to
adequately responding to dynamic vulnerability changes, and (b) where do ‘good’
institutions, in this case those facilitating resiliency in contexts of dynamic
vulnerabilities, come from and why do they evolve the way they do (cf. Doner, 2010)?
These two concerns are partly addressed in chapter six and partly in chapter seven on
issues around the second and third research questions. However, key findings regarding
policy and practice for resiliency are revisited here.
It is important to re-state that institutions in this thesis were treated broadly as both
formal and informal social, economic, cultural and political entities and practices in
livelihood activities (after Mehta et al, 1999); however, categorised into the household,
the local community and the sub national scales. This departs from both new
institutional economics (NIE) and common property resource (CPR) thinking – two
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strands which have directed institutional analysis and institutional design over the years.
These two perspectives (i.e. NIE and CPR) presuppose a non-interactive divide between
formal and informal institutions respectively. Consequently, the conceptualisation of
and policy proposals for the existence and evolution of ‘good’ conditions for livelihoods
have tended to focus either on state-level recommendations for NIE (corresponding to
sub national institutions in this thesis), or on local level informal institutions for CPR
(corresponding to local community institutions in the thesis).
Whilst this thesis found the local community institutional scale as central to effective
resiliency processes (particularly as vulnerabilities worsened over the years), it also
implicitly acknowledged the importance of the contribution of practices and institutions
at other scales in the creation and evolution of proactive and relevant local community
actions in, for example, building rapid feedback mechanisms to stresses and shocks
through the sharing and perpetuation of indigenous knowledge, as well as barter trade
which became widespread in the area over the 2000s. Such practices emanated from
both individual households (some of whom were immigrants sharing ideas and
knowledge originating from their home areas), and from practices transmitted over
generations in the local Dande community. In the same vein, conditions for selforganisation such as the setting up and strengthening of platforms for successful crossinstitutional practices in common property resource management (e.g. the committees
analysed in chapter seven), were found to emanate from both the sub national and the
local community scales in situations akin to what Frances Cleaver calls ‘institutional
bricolage’ (Cleaver, 2000; 2002)82. This, as discussed in chapters six and seven, led to
the formulation of such useful adaptive strategies as the establishment of options for inkind payments (with such commodities as buckets of maize, sorghum, cowpea,
groundnuts and even small livestock such as chickens and goats) in accessing crucial
formal social services such as health and education in the context of inflation and
hyperinflation83.
The implication of this for policy and practice in contexts of dynamic vulnerability
changes is that rather than striving to ‘get institutions right’ for the realisation of
conditions for resilient and adaptive livelihoods as implied in both NIE and CPR (e.g.
82
Institutional bricolage means constructing and borrowing disparate existing institutional elements in order to create
different frameworks for decisions and practices.
83
In this case, whilst the state was responsible for the setting up of the committee system for various common
physical resources in the first place in the 1990s; the local community was able to take advantage of these structures
in suggesting and pushing for various adaptive strategies important in accessing crucial services in the 2000s as
vulnerabilities worsened.
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through the establishment of strong formal legal systems, fixed property rights, setting
‘guiding principles’ or fixed norms of behaviour), interventions need to be processual
and worked out in context. There should be recognition that institutions and practices
providing for the existence and evolution of conditions for resilience and adaptive
capacity are path dependent, context specific, and emerge out of negotiation and
accommodative processes among heterogeneous actors across institutional scales (cf.
Mehta et al, 1999). Recognition of processes of transactive decision making, bargaining,
learning and negotiation therefore appear important in understanding the evolution of
institutions for resilient and adaptive livelihoods in contexts of dynamic vulnerabilities.
This supports arguments about adaptive- and co-management thinking (see Table 2.4)
in these environments. Based on these findings, we draw the fifth major conclusion that
designing useful development policies and practices in contemporary vulnerability
contexts requires abandoning linear and top-down planning approaches and engaging
more with accommodative and negotiation processes among actors across institutional
scales.
Ultimately, understanding conditions for successful development policies and practices
around responses to dynamic vulnerability changes demands shifts in two areas that
have come to dominate livelihood inquiries. Firstly, moving from universalist views of
what is (supposed to be) sustainable and what is not, to considering aspects of ‘local
sustainability’ based on place-based and context-specific perceptions and experiences.
And secondly, shifting from an over-emphasis of the assets component of livelihoods
approaches (and the subsequent over-focusing on the behaviour of either households or
local communities as independent units in time and space), to an elevation of
institutions as an equally, if not more, important aspect in livelihoods research and the
subsequent cross-scale analysis of practices in local livelihoods.
8.3. Resiliency perspective: new wine or old wine in new bottles?
A resiliency perspective as advanced in this thesis is about understanding a livelihood
system’s resilience and adaptive capacity. It encompasses specific surrogates, (what I
term) ‘pillar’ processes, outcome processes and various methodological and analytical
principles (Table 8.1).
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Table 8.1. Revisiting the resiliency perspective for livelihoods analysis
Resiliency perspective
Surrogates
Pillar processes


Anticipating
adversity

Reducing
the
effects of adversity

Recovering from
the
effects
of
adversity

Ability to live
with
change
and uncertainty
Nurturing
of
social learning
processes


Self
organisation
Source: Author
Thriving in
context
adversity
Outcome
processes


Analytical
principles
the
of
methodological

A holistic analysis of vulnerability

Recognition
of
dynamics in analysis

Focusing on adaptive rather than
coping strategies

Focusing on processes and longterm dynamics rather than outcomes
and single time-frame analysis
Well being
Local
sustainability
and
cross-scale
Each of these aspects (Table 8.1) contributes towards the fuller understanding and
comprehension of livelihood systems’ resilience and adaptive capacity. Given the
familiarity of some ideas (within the resiliency perspective as advanced in this thesis) to
particular aspects in conventional livelihoods approaches, it is important to clarify
whether this perspective is new thinking or ‘old wine’ packaged in new ‘resilience’ and
‘adaptive capacity’ bottles. For example, aspects of ‘well being’ and ‘sustainability’
which form the resiliency outcome processes in this thesis are also captured in the
livelihoods outcome component of Scoones’ (1998) sustainable livelihoods framework.
In fact, the terms ‘resilience’ and ‘livelihood adaptation’ are part of the defining aspects
of ‘sustainability’ in that framework, though they are not defined in detail themselves.
As noted in chapter two, conventional livelihoods approaches have also carried with
them some normative commitments around a set of principles also central in the
resiliency perspective in this work, for example, the importance of context; and a focus
on capacities and capabilities rather than needs. It can be said therefore that resiliency
‘thinking’ is not new in livelihoods inquiry; however, as a ‘perspective’ unifying the
various aspects highlighted in Table 8.1, it defines a new frontier in livelihoods
research84.
In formulating a resiliency perspective for livelihoods analysis in this thesis, many of
the ideas were borrowed from the concepts of resilience and adaptive capacity in
climate change literature (e.g. IPCC, 2001; Tompkins and Adger, 2004; Adger et al,
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The term ‘thinking’ here relates to a general idea, whilst ‘perspective’ alludes to an organised analytical lens.
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2005; Nelson et al, 2007) and from what some scholars have termed a social-ecological
perspective, which seeks to recognise the coupled nature of social and ecological
systems (e.g. Folke et al, 2003; Olsson et al, 2004; Carpenter et al, 2005; Berkes, 2007).
What emerges is a powerful synthesis of ideas bringing an added dimension to the
analysis of livelihoods and livelihood responses for the dynamic, uncertain and
unpredictable vulnerability patterns and trends of the 21st century. As discussed in the
previous section, a resiliency perspective shapes important lines of inquiry towards a
holistic analysis of vulnerability; moving from an emphasis on assets to an emphasis on
institutions and their interactions across time and space; from coping to adaptation; as
well as suggestions on the qualification of the ‘sustainability’ concept – aspects which
provide fresh insights towards refocusing livelihoods analysis. This perspective extends
conventional livelihoods models to embrace uncertainty and to highlight the difficulty
of predicting livelihood outcomes. It guides analysis towards multiple equilibria,
through the advancement of ideas around subjective well being and local sustainability
in the examination of livelihood processes. Based on these arguments, it is clear that the
resiliency perspective provides novel dimensions for analysing livelihoods in dynamic
vulnerability contexts and unpredictable environments.
It is, however, important to emphasise, as implied in chapter two, that the resiliency
perspective advanced in this thesis does not seek to replace conventional livelihoods
models, but to extend and enrich ideas in those models so that they may more
adequately embrace uncertainty. Ideas from the resiliency perspective do not dismiss
propositions within the sustainable livelihoods approaches, but seek to refine and
refocus them to take on the challenges of an increasingly unpredictable and complex
world.
8.4. Contributions of study to knowledge
The thesis makes significant contributions to knowledge at the theoretical, policy and
empirical levels.
At the theoretical level, as discussed in section 8.3, the thesis brings in a new resiliency
lens into livelihoods analysis – thereby defining a new frontier to livelihoods theory and
research. This theoretical contribution is encompassed in various analytical and
methodological aspects summarised in chapter two and section 2.6.4 (see Table 2.3)
suggesting shifts from thinking about ‘sustainable’ livelihoods to ‘resilient’ livelihoods
in the context of dynamic vulnerability changes in contemporary environments. As
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highlighted in the previous section, though most of the aspects making up the resiliency
perspective are not individually new to livelihoods analysis, as a unified perspective
they form a novel contribution to livelihoods and livelihoods inquiry.
At the policy level, the thesis provides evidence and supports novel approaches to
development policy and practice designs in contemporary environments based on the
recognition of the centrality of institutions, relative, for example, to assets in addressing
the various vulnerability processes occurring. As emanating from the resiliency
perspective advanced, and from research findings in Dande, the thesis, for example,
calls for the recognition of path-dependent, context-specific, negotiation processes
among different actors across institutional scales in dealing with and addressing
complex livelihood and vulnerability dynamics in contemporary environments.
Lastly, the thesis provides new empirical data on livelihood and vulnerability changes in
a marginal, remote and relatively under-researched area of Zimbabwe. It reveals new
comprehensive information and insights on social and environmental changes as well as
people’s livelihood strategies in a context of complex vulnerability dynamics, in the
process examining and exploring the meaning and processes of ‘resilience’ and
‘adaptive capacity’ of livelihoods in conditions of profound risk and uncertainty.
8.5. Reflections on the thesis
In this section, I reflect upon two key areas of the thesis which are: my methodology;
and possible areas for future research.
8.5.1. Methodological reflections
This work was designed to examine livelihood processes and accounts at close hand,
using an ‘extreme’ case study. The rationale was that because of its richness in
information content, operationalising the resiliency perspective in this case would not
only result in many valuable findings, but would produce significant lessons which
could be applicable in understanding livelihoods in other contexts. It is important to
note that the case itself was essential in so far as it played a central role in our aim to
present the efficacy of a resiliency perspective in refining livelihoods inquiry to be
responsive to analysing dynamic vulnerability contexts. As discussed in chapter three,
this meant the case was simply instrumental to accomplish the stated aim rather than
being intrinsically explored to understand the case in and of itself. Nevertheless, this
called for an in-depth examination of the case, thoroughly scrutinising its contexts and
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detailing the rich and changing livelihood processes in pursuit of the overall thesis aim
(cf. Baxter and Jack, 2008).
Operationalising the resiliency perspective in the selected area meant a consideration of
three critical methodological and analytical aspects, some of which have already been
discussed in detail earlier in this chapter and in chapter three:
i.
Undertaking a multi-institutional focus to capture cross-scale dynamics in analysis.
ii.
Covering a relatively long time-period to trace changes, trends and dynamics in both
the livelihood challenges experienced and the capacity of people and institutions to
respond.
iii.
Taking a holistic approach in comprehensively examining aspects related to
livelihoods and livelihood processes (e.g. stresses and shocks, asset trends, resource
management, state and non-state interventions, local authority influences in local
livelihoods and people’s local and non-local livelihood activities). There was no
room for choosing and leaving out certain livelihood aspects in the full
operationalisation of this perspective.
These three factors consequently had implications on the selection of the numbers of
units of study particularly at the household and the local community scales, essentially
as it raised concerns around taking up many units of analysis (i.e. households, villages
and wards) e.g. for comparative purposes, and facing the real possibility of only
‘scratching on the surface’ versus lesser number of units and getting deeper with
examining the many issues which needed to be covered. I chose the latter option – a
decision which was also primarily spurred not only by the mainly institutional and
temporal (as opposed to geographical/spatial) scale focus of the study, but also by the
place-based and highly context specific notions advanced within the resilience and
adaptive capacity concepts, as well as time constraints.
With the wide range of issues to be covered in the operationalisation of the resiliency
perspective, using the predominantly qualitative methods that I chose to work with, and
capturing livelihoods and other processes over as long a period as 20 years; I was also
concerned about maintaining rigour. This related to issues of the validity and reliability
of my work, especially ensuring that my findings and analyses would carry sufficient
conviction to enable someone else to appreciate the accuracy of the account, and that
another person in similar circumstances would, within limits, have more or less the
same experiences as me (cf. Mays and Pope, 1995). The use of different methods of
246
enquiry (as discussed in chapter three), and a deliberate seeking of evidence from, as
well as cross-checking with a wide range of different sources (e.g. many key informants
and local community members) facilitated triangulation which conferred rigour to my
work. As Woodhouse (1998) articulates, validity is obtained by generating explanations
or hypotheses to account for what a range of informants have said and pursuing further
investigation until an investigator feels able to satisfactorily explain all the evidence the
enquiry has yielded. A meticulous and thorough recording, transcribing and
documentation of data were also essential to ensure further rigour.
8.5.2. Areas for future research
As noted in sub-section 8.5.1, the mechanisms and processes supporting and
challenging livelihood resilience and adaptive capacity are highly context specific and
place-based and thus the operationalisation of the resiliency perspective has to be at the
micro-level. There, however, remains scope for extending this research both in
Zimbabwe and beyond. Lessons from this thesis could be used as the basis of
comparative work for the factors that impinge upon and/or promote resiliency in other
communities within Zimbabwe and in rural SSA. This spatial extension of findings
from this work would be a form of upscaling – testing the relevance and applicability of
the resiliency perspective in understanding livelihoods in different vulnerability
contexts.
Findings from this thesis also speak to many other theoretical and conceptual areas
inherent in a livelihoods analysis of this nature such as institutional theory,
sustainability science and natural resources management. This means lessons from this
work could provoke a re-examination and further refinement of standpoints and
propositions within these individual areas of inquiry in future research.
8.6. Concluding remarks
This thesis has demonstrated the utility of a resiliency perspective for understanding
livelihoods in situations of dynamic vulnerabilities characterised by multiple,
reinforcing and increasing livelihood challenges, using the case of a marginal rural
community in the Mid-Zambezi Valley area of Dande in Zimbabwe. Suggestions
around analytically and methodologically taking livelihoods inquiry forward in the
context of acute vulnerability changes were therefore at the heart of the thesis. As noted
in section 8.3, although some of the ideas advanced within the resiliency perspective are
individually not new to livelihoods inquiry, combined together they form a novel lens
247
through which we can adequately analyse livelihoods in current dynamic, complex and
unpredictable environments.
As shown in discussions around the four research question, the thesis also reveals some
policy implications vis-à-vis ‘doing development’ in contemporary dynamic and
complex contexts. A look at policy lessons outlined in those discussions suggests that
there is a need to build flexibility into current policy and development planning,
actively taking on board local experiences, views and practices. The implication is that
development objectives in current environments need to be process- rather than
outcome-oriented. Whilst not valorising the virtues of local community institutions, the
dynamics in the case study area – where the local community scale is seen to assume a
prominent role in various adaptive strategies as stresses and shocks worsened over the
years – suggest that perhaps livelihoods integrity and local development in
contemporary dynamic vulnerability contexts may best be understood by paying more
attention to the way local communities themselves respond to and deal with continuous
change.
248
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Summary of key characteristics of the Dande study community
Ward 12
* Figures according to the last census by LGDA in 2008
Number of households
Population
No. of villages
Business centres servicing ward
Schools (both primary and secondary) servicing ward
Health centres servicing ward
Dip tanks in ward
Working boreholes
Main roads in ward
Rivers in ward
*1 616
*7 532
15
3
5
3
1
15
1
3
Villages selected for in-depth focus
* The stated kilometres capture the furthest part of the villages from the centre
No. of households
* Distance from main Mushumbi B/C
Schools servicing village
Health centres servicing village
Working boreholes
Nyambudzi B
village
135
10km
3
2
2
274
Kapunzambiya
village
70
18km
3
2
1
Bwazi
village
150
28km
2
2
1
Appendix 2. Data collection instruments
Checklist for qualitative data instruments (other than life-histories)
Broad topic/issue
Main sources of information
Data collection techniques
Sources of and trends in
livelihoods
(assets
and
activities) in the area. (Probing
from the period of the research
going back to, at least, 1990)
(Economic, natural, social,
political) stresses and shocks
faced and affecting livelihood
assets and activities in the area
beginning
recently going
backwards (probing their
intensity, periodicity, timing
and recurrence) at least to
1990
Understanding household and
community ‘well-being’ in the
area and how this well-being
has been compromised by the
identified stresses and shocks.
Direct effects of stresses and
shocks
on
sources
of
livelihoods and on community
assets – including physical
assets (roads, water and
sanitation infrastructure; other
essential built infrastructure in
the community including
schools, clinics etc); natural
resources (such as land, water,
pastures);
human
capital
development
(community
members’ education, health,
skills);
social
capital
(networks)
and
financial
capital
(credit
facilities;
labour, input and output
markets)
General and specific adaptive
strategies; their trends and
(spatial, temporal and other)
determinants
Community members.
Village heads.
RDC CEO.
Ward councillor.
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Transect walks and Observation.
Community members.
Village heads.
Ward councillor.
RDC CEO.
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Community members.
Village heads.
Ward councillor.
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Community members.
Village heads
Ward councillor.
RDC CEO.
Key personnel involved in the provision
and management of the identified
utilities, services and infrastructure.
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Transect walks and Observation.
Community members.
Village heads
Ward councillor.
RDC CEO.
Key personnel in the provision and
management of essential community
utilities, services and infrastructure
Community members.
Village heads
Ward councillor
RDC CEO
Key personnel in the identified entities
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Observation.
Community members
Village heads.
Ward councillor
Other opinion leaders in the villages
(e.g. spirit mediums, church leaders etc)
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Village heads
Selected community elders.
Community members.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
State and non-state entities
involved
in
livelihood
activities in the area and
impacts of their activities (both
positive and negative) on
livelihoods over the years.
Probing how these entities
have also been affected by
identified stresses and shocks.
Local practices, norms, values
and beliefs enabling and/or
constraining
preferred
household and community
responses to identified stresses
and shocks over the years
Wealth ranks in the area
275
Focus group discussions.
Key informant interviews.
Informal conversations.
Life-history guide
Probing the following areas in discussion
1.
General life-story of respondent, provoked by the question – Could you please tell me about yourself?
2.
Years/period lived in the village/ward – any movements made in and out of Dande and why?
3.
Respondent’s source(s) of livelihoods and changes in these over the years?
4.
Livelihood challenges faced recently going back at least since 1990 and how these have affected
respondent’s life and (his/her household’s) well-being in general?
5.
Strategies undertaken in response to challenges (including how interviewee has adjusted or changed their
way of life and how they earn a living in countering these livelihood challenges both in the short-term and
in the medium to long-term, and levels of success)?
6.
Reasons for choosing those particular response strategies and not others?
7.
Identification of factors that may have hindered and/or enabled respondent to fully and adequately respond
to livelihood challenges faced?
8.
Lessons learnt (if any) in as far as responding to current livelihood challenges and facing future problems
and challenges is concerned?
9.
Assistance from (and to) fellow community members (friends and relatives) in times of livelihood needs
and challenges?
10. (Level of) involvement in community based (local) institutional structures (VIDCO, SDC, HCC etc) over
the years?
11. Livelihood activities thought to be viable for respondent (and their household) in the future and reasons
(given your past experiences and your current way of life)?
12. Probing any external assistance (as provided by government and non-governmental organizations) at any
point, beginning in recent years going backwards into the 1990s and the impacts on well-being?
13. Probing respondent to explain whether (and why) in the last 20 years they (generally) have:

done well/thrived (i.e. been able to meet household needs by their own effort, making some extra for stores,
saving and making investments e.g. buying livestock or other assets)

done just okay (i.e. been able to meet household needs but with nothing extra to save or invest)

struggled (i.e. managed to meet household needs, however, usually through depleting productive assets or
sometimes receiving support from governmental and/or non-governmental entities)

been unable to meet household needs (have always depended on support from governmental and nongovernmental organizations).
276
Questionnaire survey (pp277-288)
To be administered to the head of household/adult members of the household by the
interviewer. WRITE DOWN THE ACTUAL RESPONSES AS GIVEN
A. Questionnaire identification
1. Village
2. Questionnaire Number
3. Interviewer
4. Date
6. Homestead
5. Time
7. Distance from Mushumbi B/C (in km)
8. Distance from main road (in km)
277
B. General household information
1.
Name of respondent
2.
Gender 0= Male 1=Female
3.
Age (in years)
4.
Ethnicity
5.
Is respondent household head? 1= Yes 0=No
6. If not, relationship to household head
1=Wife, 2=Husband, 3=Child, 99=Other(specify)
7. Marriage status
1=Single,
2=Monogamously
married,
3=Polygamous
married,
4=Widowed,
5=Separated/Divorced, 99=Other(specify)
8. Education level
1=no formal education, 2=adult education, 3=some
primary education, 4=completed primary education,
5=some vocational training, 6=completed vocational
training, 7=some secondary education, 8=completed
secondary
education,
9=college
education,
10=university education
9. Highest level of education attained by any
family member
10. Household size (Both adults and children)
11. Type of household
1=male headed (monogamous), 2=male headed
(polygamous), 3=female headed (husband absent),
4=female headed (widowed), 5=female headed
(divorced), 6=female headed (single), 7=male
headed (single), 8=male headed (divorced), 9=male
headed (widowed), 10=child headed, 99=Other
(specify)
Household characteristics/Identifiers
1=straw/thatch, 2=mud, 3=wood/planks, 4=iron sheets, 5=asbestos, 6=bricks/tiles, 7=tin, 8=cement, 9=other
12. Roofing material of household main residence
13. Walls of household main residence
14. Floor material of household main residence
278
C. Sources of livelihoods
1. What is your main source(s) of livelihood at present?................................................
Livelihood
Source
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
(i)Do
you
build up assets
or
savings
from
this
livelihood
source?
1=Yes
0=No
(ii)How
regularly
do you
build up
assets
and/or
get
savings
from this
source?
(iii)
What
importance
would you give
this
livelihood
source
to
household asset
building and/or
savings in the last
5 to 10 years?
(iv)What
importance would
you
give
this
livelihood source to
household
asset
building
and/or
savings in
the
1990s (1995/96)?
(v)Approximately,
how much did you
earn from each of
these last year
(2009/10)
Farming (and
sale
of)
crops
Rearing (and
sale)
of
livestock
Sale of forest
products e.g.
wild
fruits,
firewood etc
Regular
employment
Commercial
fishing
Casual
employment
(agricultural
related)
Casual
employment
(nonagricultural
related)
Running own
business
i.
Remittances
j.
Other
(specify)
Regularity of income/asset accumulation from livelihood source: 1=Do not get, 2=Occasionally, 3=Regularly,
4=All the time
Importance of Source: 1=Not important, 2=Moderate importance, 3=High importance, 4=Very high importance
279
2. Riverbank farming activity
1 = Yes
0 = No
(a)
Do you own a riverbank field at present?
(b)
Did you own a riverbank field in the 1990s (1995/96)?
If Yes,
1= Owned
2 = Borrowed
Size of
field
(in
acres)
If borrowed,
from whom?
(see codes
below)
Person borrowed from: 1=Relative, 2=Friend, 3=Neighbour, 99=Other (specify)
Upland farming activity
3. Can you indicate a profile of the crops you produced last season (complete table)
Crop
(i)Area
Planted (in
acres)
a.
Cotton
b.
Maize
c.
Sorghum
d.
Groundnuts
e.
Soya beans
f.
Sunflower
g.
Millet
h.
Tobacco
i.
Other (specify)
(ii)Yield
2009/10
(iii)Amount
sold 2009/10
280
(iv)Amount kept
for
own
use
2009/10
(v)Amount given
as gifts 2009/10
4. Can you make approximate comparisons of your yields over the last 5 years and in the
1990s (1995/96)
Crop
(i)Approx. average
area planted (per
season) over the last
5 years
a.
Cotton
b.
Maize
c.
Sorghum
d.
Groundnuts
e.
Soya beans
f.
Sunflower
g.
Millet
h.
Tobacco
i.
Other (specify)
(ii)Approx. average yield
(per season) over the last
5 years
(iii)Approx.
average
area
planted in the
1990s
(1995/96)
(iv)Approx.
average yield (per
season) in the
1990s (1995/96)
5. Why has your upland yield changed in this way?
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………
6. Which one of the following best describes your household over the last ten years?
(Tick appropriate box)
(a) Does not produce enough food and does not sell any food crops
(b) Produces enough to subsist on with nothing for sale
(c) Produces enough food crops to live on and a little surplus to sell locally
(d) Produces enough food with surplus to sell formally and locally
281
7. Can you make approximate comparisons of the numbers of livestock you kept in the
1990s (1995/96) and at present (complete table below)
Livestock
a.
Cattle
b.
Donkeys
c.
Goats
d.
Sheep
e.
Pigs
f.
Chickens
g.
Rabbits
h.
Turkeys
i.
Other (specify)
(i)Number at
present
(ii)Approx.
average
number in the
1990s
(1995/96)
282
(iii)Number
sold last season
(2009/10)
(iv)Number
consumed last
season
(2009/10)
(v)Number
stolen or died
last
season
(2009/10)
D. Constraints (stresses and shocks) to livelihoods
1. What major livestock production constraints do you face nowadays? (List three)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………...……………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………..................
2. What major crop production constraints do you face nowadays? (List three)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. Major economic-related constraints faced since the 1990s (beginning with the most severe)
(a)...................................................................................................
(b)...................................................................................................
(c)....................................................................................................
(d)............................................................................................. .......
(e)....................................................................................................
4. Major natural-related constraints faced since the 1990s (beginning with the most severe)
(a)...................................................................................................
(b)...................................................................................................
(c)................................................................................................... .
(d)....................................................................................................
(e)....................................................................................................
5. Major social-related constraints faced since the 1990s (beginning with the most severe)
(a)...................................................................................................
(b)...................................................................................................
(c)....................................................................................................
(d)....................................................................................................
(e)....................................................................................................
6. Major politically-related constraints faced since the 1990s (beginning with the most severe)
(a)...................................................................................................
(b)...................................................................................................
(c)....................................................................................................
(d)....................................................................................................
(e)....................................................................................................
7. Other major constraints (not mentioned) faced since the 1990s (beginning with the most severe)
(a)...................................................................................................
(b)...................................................................................................
(c)....................................................................................................
(d)....................................................................................................
(e)....................................................................................................
283
E. Responses to livelihood challenges and constraints
Response
(a) Did it happen?
(b) How often have you
done this? (see codes)
1=Yes (specify years)
0=No
1.
Mixing/diversifying crops and/or
livestock
2.
Intensifying crop production
(c) Effectiveness
of action (see
codes)
Expanding fields
3.
(Temporary) Migration
4.
Mortgaged/Sold Assets
5.
Foraged for wild fruits/insects
6.
Barter trade locally
7.
Barter trade in other areas
8.
10.
Borrowed money or food from
relatives or friends
Went for food for work
programs
Survived on donor support
11.
Survived on begging
12.
Other (specify)
9.
How often: 1=Very few times (seldom), 2=Occasionally, 3=Regularly, 4=All the time
Effectiveness of Strategy: 0=Not effective, 1=Relatively effective, 2=Effective, 3=Very Effective
13.
Social community networks useful in times of livelihood stresses and shocks
(a)
(If any) How many local friends and/or relatives (i.e. in ward 12) can you confidently approach
to seek financial or material assistance in times of livelihood challenges?
(b)
(If any) How many external friends and/or relatives (i.e. in other wards and beyond) can you
confidently approach to seek financial or material assistance in times of livelihood challenges?
(c)
(If any) How many deceased relatives and/or neighbours’ orphans have your household ever
taken in or adopted?
(d)
Have you ever received any major assistance from faith-based (e.g. church) networks over the
years (1=Yes; 0=No)
284
State
number
F. Assets
(a) Do you own
Asset
1=Yes
0=No
1.
Plough
2.
Harrow
3.
Planter
4.
Scotch cart
5.
Wheel barrow
6.
Bicycle
7.
Radio
8.
Television
9.
Brick lined well (water)
10.
Mobile phone
11.
Land line
12.
Electricity
285
(b)If yes, state number
G. Social services and Infrastructure
How would you rate social services and infrastructure in your area presently; in the early
2000s (between the years 2000 and 2005) and in the 1990s? (see codes below)
Service
1.
Health services
2.
Schools
3.
Water and sanitation
4.
Roads
5.
Transport
6.
Credit facilities
7.
Shopping facilities
8.
Fuel wood supply
9.
Extension services
10.
Crop and livestock protection
from wildlife (including
compensations)
11.
Dipping services
12.
Job opportunities
(a) Now
(b) In the early
2000s
Rating of service: 0=Non-existent, 1=Poor, 2=Average, 3=Very good, 4=Excellent
286
(c) In the 1990s
H. Participation in (shared) community activities
Aspect
How would you rate the frequency of
occurrence?
1.
Active participation or membership in any local
committee(s) over the years (e.g. VIDCO, SDC, HCC, BC
etc?)
2.
3.
Participation in general community development activities
Financial and/or other contributions towards community
activities or in solving collective problems
Involvement in raising awareness on various
problems/challenges in the village and/or ward
Involvement in settling disputes/conflicts among other
community members
Active involvement in the (awareness of) conservation
and/or responsible use of common property resources
(e.g. pastures, shared water sources etc)
4.
5.
6.
7.
Seeking advice from elders on challenges faced
Rating of frequency of occurrence: 0=Never happens, 1=Poor, 2=Average, 3=Very Good, 4=Excellent
287
I. Local and Sub national entities in the area
Name
(a) Are they present? (&
year formed if Yes)
1=Yes
(b) Are you a
member? (&
since when if
Yes)
0=No
1=Yes
(c) Assessment of benefits
(see codes below)
0=No
i
Labour sharing schemes
ii
Burial societies
iii
Savings clubs
iv
Marketing cooperatives
v
PLWHA support groups
vi
Women’s clubs
vii
Other (specify)
Assessment of Benefits: 1= Not Beneficial, 2=Fairly Beneficial, 3=Beneficial, 4=Very Beneficial
(d)
Which NGOs (and
other
non-state
institutions) have been
supporting/assisting
you in as far as
livelihood activities are
concerned
(e.g.
information,
technologies, training,
inputs,
implements,
food-aid)
beginning
recently going back to
the 90s
(e) Methods/approaches
used1
(f) Usefulness
of intervention2
(g) Frequency of
interaction3
(h) Timeliness
of service
provision4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Perception on methods: 1=Very poor, 2=Poor, 3=Good, 4-Very Good
Perception on usefulness of intervention: 1=Not useful, 2=Somehow useful, 3=Useful, 4=Very useful
Frequency of Interaction: 1=Very infrequent, 2=Occasional, 3=Regular, 4=Very regular
Timeliness of service provision: 1=Untimely, 2=Always provided late, 3=Not always timely,
4=Timely
288
Appendix 3. Selected research outputs
A summary of the 18 life history cases
* See meaning of code names in Table 3.3.
** Most of these life histories are outlined in detail in discussion of issues in the thesis; hence only key highlights are
included here
*Code
LH1NYBV
Pseudonym
used
Masimba
Kamudegu
Age of
respondent/Sex
53 years/Male
** Key highlights of life history




LH2NYBV
Jonasi
Kandava
75 years/Male



NYAMBUDZI B
VILLAGE
LH3NYBV
Mazvita
Murongoti
62 years/Male



LH4NYBV
Kurai
Gande
56 years/Male



LH5NYBV
Tendai
Rangwani
80 years/Male



LH6NYBV
Ngoni
Gwaya
63 years/Male



LH1KPV
Biggie
Mupfumi
60 years/Male



KAPUNZAMBIYA
VILLAGE


289
Ranked in the ‘better-off’ wealth category
during the time of the fieldwork (2010/11)
Has lived in Dande all his life, though
intermittently going to work in the
commercial farms
Managed to purchase two grinding mills
and much livestock over the years
Exhibited a ‘struggling’ to ‘thriving’
trajectory over the study reference period.
Ranked in the ‘poor’ wealth category
during the time of the fieldwork
Had notable changes in household size and
structure over the years which negatively
affected his life
Exhibited a ‘thriving’ to ‘struggling’
trajectory
Has lived in Dande all his life
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category at
the time of the fieldwork
Moved from ‘thriving’ to ‘surviving’ over
the reference study period.
Ranked in the ‘better-off’ wealth category
at the time of the fieldwork
Worked his way from a petty-trader in the
1990s to an established businessman in the
2000s
Projected a ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’
trajectory
Ranked in the ‘very poor’ category 2010/11
Wife passed on 1998; had six daughters all
married and now lives on his own
Moved from ‘surviving’ to ‘struggling’
over the reference study period.
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category
2010/11
Migrated from the Zaka area of Masvingo
(south central of the country) in 1989
during the MZRDP
Maintained a ‘surviving’ trajectory over the
reference study period
Ranked in the ‘better-off’ wealth category
2010/11
A former soldier who was based at a local
(later disbanded) army camp in the area
since 1981
Originally from Zhombe (in the Midlands
province of the country)
Managed to become a successful cotton
farmer and businessman after resigning
from the army in 1988
Maintained a ‘thriving’ category over the
reference study period
LH2KPV
Manase
Charuweki
65 years/Male



LH3KPV
Rudo
Chikeya
57
years/Female



LH4KPV
Thomas
Arineshto
65 years/Male




LH5KPV
Rindai
Makopa
70 years/Male



LH6KPV
Ronica
Nyajena
58
years/Female


LH1BWV
Tambudzani
Manhamo
68
years/Female




LH2BWV
Cosmas
Kamuti
70 years/Male




LH3BWV
Farai
Ruwona
59 years/Male


BWAZI VILLAGE


LH4BWV
Oliver
Garai
74 years/Male




290
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category
during the fieldwork period
Originally from Chivi area of Masvingo
(south central of the country) and moved to
Dande in 1987
Maintained a ‘surviving’ trajectory over the
reference study period.
Ranked in the ‘very poor’ wealth category
during the time of the fieldwork
Widow; husband passed on in 2000
Projected a ‘surviving’ to ‘struggling’
trajectory
Ranked in the ‘poor’ category during the
time of the fieldwork
Migrated from Mozambique in 1986 –
fleeing the civil war in that country then
Allocated a stand in Dande but went on to
be based at a commercial farm where he
worked until 2001 in the wake of the
FTLRP
Maintained a ‘surviving’ trajectory over the
reference study period
Ranked in the ‘better-off’ wealth category
2010/11
A ‘gold class’ cotton farmer in the area
since the early 2000s
Moved for ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’ over the
reference study period
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category
during the time of the fieldwork
Maintained a ‘surviving’ trajectory over the
reference study period
Ranked in the ‘very poor’ wealth category
during the fieldwork period
Migrated from the Hurungwe area (northwest of the country) in 1989
Husband passed on in 1993
Has had a life of ‘struggling’ over the
reference study period
Ranked in the ‘better-off’ wealth category
at the time of the fieldwork
A successful cotton farmer since the 1980s
A polygamist with quite a big family
Maintained a ‘thriving’ trajectory over the
reference study period.
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category
during the fieldwork period
Used to work in a manufacturing factory in
Harare from the 1980s up to 1996 when he
was retrenched and permanently joined his
wife in the village
Opened a small grocery shop at the local
Chikafa Business Centre in the ward using
his retrenchment package in 1997 but the
business collapsed in 2002 due to inflation
Projected a ‘thriving’ to ‘surviving’
trajectory over the reference study period
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category
during the fieldwork period
Migrated from the Kariba area (north-west
of the country) in 1987
Worked in former white-owned
commercial farms quite a lot over the 1990s
Maintained a ‘surviving’ trajectory over the
reference study period
LH5BWV
Tawona
Madawo
56 years/Male



LH6BWV
Garikai
Jena
50 years/Male



Ranked in the ‘poor’ wealth category
Moved from ‘surviving’ to ‘struggling’
over the study period
Noted the FTLRP as the main challenge
that curtailed one of his major sources of
livelihoods – commercial farm-working.
Ranked in the ‘middle’ wealth category.
Runs a grinding mill since the early 2000s
Maintained in the ‘surviving’ category over
the study reference period.
Service ratings in the area
(a) Cotton credit facilities
Ratings
Excellent
Very Good
Average
Poor
Non-Existent
Total
During the research period
(2010/11)
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
% of people
rating
No. of people
rating
2
12
26
30
1
71
2.8
16.9
36.6
42.3
1.4
100
1
8
8
38
16
71
No. of
people
rating
0
40
26
4
1
71
% of
people
rating
1.4
11.3
11.3
53.5
22.5
100
% of
people
rating
0
56.4
36.6
5.6
1.4
100
(b) Health services
Ratings
Excellent
Very Good
Average
Poor
Non-Existent
Total
During the research period
(2010/11)
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
% of people
rating
No. of people
rating
6
22
36
7
0
71
8.5
31.0
50.7
9.9
0
100
0
3
13
50
5
71
No. of
people
rating
8
28
21
10
4
71
% of
people
rating
0
4.2
18.3
70.4
7.1
100
% of
people
rating
11.3
39.4
29.6
14.1
5.6
100
(c) Main road
Ratings
Excellent
Very Good
Average
Poor
Non-Existent
Total
During the research period
(2010/11)
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
% of people
rating
No. of people
rating
0
0
0
71
0
71
0
0
0
100
0
100
0
0
4
67
0
71
No. of
people
rating
0
1
11
58
1
71
291
% of
people
rating
0
0
5.6
94.4
0
100
% of
people
rating
0
1.4
15.5
81.7
1.4
100
(d) Transport services
Ratings
Excellent
Very Good
Average
Poor
Non-Existent
Total
During the research period
(2010/11)
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
% of people
rating
No. of people
rating
0
1
21
49
0
71
0
1.4
29.6
69
0
100
0
0
16
54
1
71
No. of
people
rating
2
12
26
30
1
71
% of
people
rating
0
0
22.5
76.1
1.4
100
% of
people
rating
2.8
16.9
36.6
42.3
1.4
100
(e) Extension services
Ratings
Excellent
Very Good
Average
Poor
Non-Existent
Total
During the research period
(2010/11)
No. of people
% of people
rating
rating
Early 2000s (2000-2005)
In the 1990s
No. of people
rating
0
0
11
59
1
71
0
3
11
55
2
71
No. of
people
rating
0
16
19
35
1
71
0
0
15.5
83.1
1.4
100
% of
people
rating
0
4.2
15.5
77.5
2.8
100
% of
people
rating
0
22.5
26.8
49.3
1.4
100
Wealth ranks of survey participants by ethnicity
Wealth rank (2010/11)
Ethnicity
Korekore n=52
Non-Korekore n=19
Better-off
No.
%
3
5.8%
2
10.5%
Middle
Poor
No.
7
%
13.5%
No.
36
%
69.2%
6
31.6%
6
31.6%
Very Poor
No.
%
6
11.5%
5
26.3%
Percentages of social networks by livelihood trajectories
Local networks (i.e. in ward 12)
a household can confidently
approach for financial and/or
material assistance in times of
livelihood challenges
External networks (i.e. in other
wards and beyond) a household
can confidently approach for
financial
and/or
material
assistance in times of livelihood
challenges
Less than
10
networks
0
None
0
More than
10
networks
100%
Less than
10
networks
0
None
Thriving households (over 1995/96 to 2010/11) n=10
More than
10
networks
100%
Surviving households (over 1995/96 to 2010/11) n=50
24%
42%
34%
28%
42%
30%
Struggling households (over 1995/96 to 2010/11)
n=11
0
73%
27%
0
18%
82%
Livelihood
Trajectories
292
0
Appendix 4. Key informant and FGD schedules
* See full code names in Table 3.3.
Key informant interview schedule
** These interviews were iterative in nature hence reference to the ‘first date’. I continually engaged these informants
throughout my stay in Dande to cross-check and confirm information which I thought was not clear and needed
verification.
*** These were more of group meetings primarily for wealth ranking and identification of participants for the
questionnaire survey, hence they were not coded.
**1st date of in-depth interview
05/11/10
05/11/10
08/11/10
* Code
SNI.1
SNI.2
SNI.3
Name/role of respondent
RDC CEO
Ward councillor
Head PWMA Mushumbi office
SNI.4
SNI.5
Head AGITEX Mushumbi office
Longest serving local AGRITEX officer
10/11/10
10/11/10
SNI.6
SNI.7
Head DVS Mushumbi office
Head COTTCO Mushumbi
13/11/10
15/11/10
SNI.8
SNI.9
Christian Care Chief of Operations Dande
Director LGDA
18/11/10
19/11/10
SNI.10
Sister-in-charge Mushumbi Clinic
23/11/10
SNI.11
Longest-serving health officer Mushumbi clinic
23/11/10
SNI.10
Sister-in-charge Nyambudzi Health Centre
25/11/10
SNI.11
SNI.12
Headmaster Nyambudzi Primary School
Headmaster Mushumbi High School
25/11/10
26/11/10
LCI.1
07/12/10
LCI.2
Sabhuku (village head) Mataya –Nyambudzi B
village
Sabhuku Kunyeti – Kapunzambiya village
LCI.3
LCI.4
LCI.5
Sabhuku Mudzongachiso – Bwazi village
A local spirit medium
Local AFM church pastor
17/12/10
18/12/10
21/12/10
***
Six community elders in Nyambudzi B village
assisting with wealth ranking and survey participants
identification
Six community elders in Kapunzambiya village
assisting with wealth ranking and survey participants
identification
10/12/10
Six community elders in Bwazi village assisting
with wealth ranking and survey participants
identification
19/12/10
***
***
13/12/10
15/12/10
Focus group discussion schedule
* Code
FGD1-NYBV
FGD2-NYBV
FGD3-KPV
FGD4-KPV
FGD5-BWV
FGD6-BWV
Village
Nyambudzi B
Nyambudzi B
Kapunzambiya
Kapunzambiya
Bwazi
Bwazi
Composition
15 men
10 women
13 men
11 women
14 men
12 women
293
Date
08/01/11
09/01/11
16/01/11
19/01/11
23/01/11
25/01/11
Appendix 5. Inflation rates, and official and parallel exchange rates of the $ZIM to the
USD (2000-2008)
Year
official exchange rate to
1USD
parallel exchange rate to 1USD
2000
38
58-70
55.22%
2001
55
70-340
112.1%
2002
55
380-1,740
198.93%
2003
824
1,400-6,000
598.75%
2004
824 – 5,730
5,500-6,000
132.75%
2005
5,730-26,003
6,400-100,000
585.84%
2006
85,158-101,196
(250 re-valued $Zim)
100,000-550,000
(550-3000 re-valued $Zim)
1, 281.11%
2007
250-30,000 re-valued $Zim
3,000-1,000,000 re-valued $Zim
66, 212.3%
Aug 2008
30,000 re-valued
100,000,000 re-valued $Zim
471, 000, 000, 000%
Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Zimbabwe
294
Inflation rates
Appendix 6. Guiding principles for successful communal management of the commons
 Clearly defined boundaries : Individuals or households who have rights use must be clearly defined as must the
boundary of the resource itself.
 Rules governing the provision of the resource must be appropriate to local conditions: Rules for using the
resource or providing it to resource users, such as restricting time, place, technology and how much can be
used, must be appropriate to the resource itself, including availability.
 Collective-choice arrangements: Most individuals affected by the operational rules can participate in changing
the rules.
 Monitoring: Those monitoring the rules and the use of the resources are either resource users themselves or
accountable to the users.
 Graduated sanctions: Resource users who break the rules are likely to face various degrees of punishment,
depending upon the seriousness and context of the offence. Punishments are decided by other resource users,
by officials accountable to them, or by both.
 Conflict resolution mechanisms: Resource users and their officials have rapid-access to low-cost local
mechanisms to resolve conflicts among users or between users and officials.
 Recognition of legitimacy: Government supports, or at least does not challenge, the rights of resource users to
devise their own institutions.
 Nested enterprises: Resource use or provision, monitoring, enforcement, conflict resolution and governance
activities are organised in multiple layers of nested institutions, where rights and responsibilities are clearly
defined.
Source: Ostrom, 1990.
295
back to the future...
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