livelihoods diversity study in zimbabwe_popular

“I am doing my own thing!”

LIVELIHOODS DIVERSITY STUDY IN ZIMBABWE

Prosper B. Matondi

October 2011

Study commissioned by Oxfam, Harare, Zimbabwe

Livelihoods Diversity Study, 2011

i

“I am doing my own thing!”

LIVELIHOODS DIVERSITY STUDY IN ZIMBABWE

Prosper B. Matondi

October 2011

Study commissioned by Oxfam, Harare, Zimbabwe


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By way of Introduction...

Zimbabwe has gone through a difficult socio-economic development process in the last 10 years.

Today the issues of livelihoods have taken centre stage, simply because the country desperately

needs to forge forward through mastering the courage to find practical and workable solutions to

improve the lot of people‟s lives. Through focusing on the economic dimension of how people live

their life, we argue in this popular version that there are lots of possibilities at multiple levels not

yet explored that could help people address the economic challenges they face. This is the import

of our sharing the potential solutions towards shaping Zimbabwe‟s future and the prerequisites

to achieving a profitable future for Zimbabweans.

Unemployment in Zimbabwe remains very high, while job creation has remained depressed in

both the private and public sectors. The result is that the majority of people are engaged in

transitional economic activities, such as the road side selling of airtime cards and a range of

commodities (vegetables and processed foods), retailing imported goods, within the context of

what can be characterized as ad hoc economic activities. These activities can enable individuals

just to survive and get by, but they remain the potential of sowing seeds of future conflicts,

particularly for youths with very little opportunities and disillusioned by the shrinking prospects.

At the same time, NGOs and development agencies still remain stuck in promoting short-term

humanitarian or emergence assistance, with development interventions being small in scale and

reach, within a typical fashion of “keeping rural people busy but poor”. The point being that

outside assistance has been critical for Zimbabweans, but it remains far short to get Zimbabwe

moving and growing its economy and the livelihoods of its people. In this context what should we

be doing as a nation?

We attempt to answer this question in this popular version of a major survey we undertook in 3

provinces of Zimbabwe. The full report is referenced as Prosper B. Matondi, 2011. Livelihoods

Diversity Study in Zimbabwe, Oxfam, Ruzivo Trust, Harare. In this popular version, we discuss a

summary of the key findings in the different sectors, the driving force for livelihoods, the

prerequisites, the role of government, private sector, NGOs in livelihoods support. We end by

providing recommendations of what can be potentially done to get people‟s economies back on

track. At the end, we believe that through knowledge sharing and dialogue we are able to link

unconnected actors to become exceptional crossroads of possibilities and exchanges of

experiences.

Harare, 2011


1

UNDERSTANDING LIVELIHOODS DIVERSITY IN

ZIMBABWE


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A1.Context of Livelihoods in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe has been characterized as an agro-based

country, with agriculture contributing about 14

percent of the Gross National Product before 2000.

In general, Zimbabwe has hidden livelihoods

opportunities that have largely been unexplored

because of the view that agriculture is central to the

livelihoods of the people. While indeed, agriculture

should be in this position, it has been observed that

there is a lack of reliable data about rural

populations, which makes it difficult for government

to design policies to expand economic opportunities

for the rural poor. At least half to three quarters of

rural Zimbabwean people engage in non-agricultural

activities to supplement their agricultural earnings.

Given that such a large population is into a myriad

of economic earning activities, there is a need to

understand such activities and what they mean for

local people and communities.

A2. Understanding Livelihoods

All about livelihoods Livelihoods are becoming a key feature in human

life, but understanding what constitutes a livelihood

is complex. The different ways of supporting one‟s

life by engaging in formal or informal trade, business

or any income generating activity is what comprises

a livelihood. It also entails managing and coping

with relationships in the family and community,

dealing with uncertainties and at the same time

responding to new opportunities. However at best,

when people talk about livelihoods, they tend to

limit it to economic welfare or activities that

generate an income for living, usually narrowly

restricted to agriculture. While this is important,

livelihoods are very broad and encompass many

components that must be explored. These

components constitute what since the 1990s has

been popularized as the Sustainable Livelihoods

Framework, developed by the Institute of

Development Studies of the United Kingdom.

Economic dimension of livelihoods Livelihoods are the way people live, and to meet

their needs people pursue different forms of

economic activities influenced by a range of factors

that are personal (meeting basic needs, talent,

personal history in family or simply by accident) due

to personal development (education, skills

development) and context (access to resources

such as finance, enabling government policy on for

instance empowerment or

indigenization/affirmative action).

A3. Livelihoods Diversity Concepts

Livelihoods Diversity Livelihoods diversification means engaging in a

range of activities based on capabilities and

resources one has at their disposal. Livelihoods

diversification has various dimensions that

encompass: a) diverting from a core generating

income activity to provide people with alternative

options for survival through production for food and

income; b) it also implies that when options are

limited or when a household cannot sustain

production, they may search for alternative survival

means: c) diversification implies being innovative or

creative by utilizing a core resource underpinning

the socio-economic reproduction of the household

at a particular period of time; e) in business

etiquette diversifying could be rebranding a key

economic activity to exploit new markets or

opportunities because the lifespan (in terms of face

value) of a product has outlived its usefulness; f)

value addition by processing or semi - processing of

goods to increase income earning opportunities as

well as mitigation of risks is a key element of

diversification.


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Why diversify livelihoods after all? Rural households engage in multiple activities and

rely on diversified income portfolios. It is widely

believed that a capability to diversify is beneficial for

households at or below the poverty line. Having

alternatives for income generation can make the

difference between minimally viable livelihoods and

destitution. The activities people adopt and the way

they invest in asset building depend in part on their

goals and priorities. However, they are also

influenced by the type of vulnerabilities they face

including shocks (drought, conflict, economic

structural adjustment, health and disease (e.g.

AIDS) overall trends (in for instance resource stocks,

population density) and seasonal variations (in, for

example agricultural output). These factors

influence people‟s vulnerability to change or

constrain their capacity to accommodate it. The

institutions and structures (governance, leadership,

markets, and tenure) that exist also determine

people‟s options. In aggregate, these conditions

determine their access to endowments and

livelihood opportunities and the way in which these

can be converted into outcomes. In this way, poverty

and the opportunities to escape from it depend on

all of the above.

The downside of livelihoods

diversification Livelihoods diversification has been attacked for its

negative influence, especially on agriculture. Yet,

contexts differ as examples in Zimbabwe show that

communities in semi-arid drought prone areas could

be better off pursuing other means of livelihoods

than concentrating on agriculture (cropping) that

has been a typical failure every season. On one

hand, livelihoods diversification has generally been

seen as a coping mechanism for the poor, hence

some people may shun the concept. However, at

some level, livelihoods diversification is about

switches from a coping to an accumulation strategy

pursued by the wealth and many middle income

households. Typically the poor lack assets for

greater accumulation, hence they may exploit a

resource simply as a basis for survival. On the other

hand, wealthier people possess skills and asset

endowment that yield far greater returns than

poorer households.

Prerequisites for livelihoods diversity Livelihoods diversity has several elements and

differs from place to place and over time, meaning

that a livelihood system is not static. There are

micro and macro-factors such as policy and

legislative regimes, cultural issues, access to

information, technological innovation, income levels

and resources available that influence livelihoods

diversity. To exploit livelihoods opportunities there

are certain conditions that are necessary, that

include peace, political and economic stability.

People and their organisations should have the

ability and confidence to participate in their

communities and in the nation-state. Globalization

has also an influence on livelihoods diversification,

given the development of communication systems

(Information Communication Technologies – ICT),

which now connects people and economies distant

from each other.


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A4. Importance of Livelihoods Diversification Diversification of incomes sources reduces the risks

of dependence on and failure in one enterprise.

These can be summarized as follows:

Dealing with risk and uncertainty: because of

the fear of a single activity failing to achieve the

intended output or income, one may venture

into other activities to increases opportunities

for success in the activities as opposed to

relying on one. Addressing seasonal stresses

that may come due to climatic shifts, or are

part of seasonal weather cycles.

As a coping measure: these activities emerge

either to cope with insufficiencies or in

response to stresses and shocks. These may

include a failed harvest, lack of a market for

products sourced elsewhere, loss of a job,

raising money to meet expenses accrued from

sudden or chronic illness, death and related

stresses. In the process lead to utilization of a

skill or knowledge. It may well imply also being

a mechanism for transition to new activities not

as a substitute of the existing activities but as

an addition. In this case investing in livelihoods

can save lives in the short and long term

because it means building the resilience of

communities to manage risks such as

droughts, floods, pests and other natural

calamities. This means that communities that

are sufficiently capacitated can mobilize

internal resources and systems to cushion

each other from adversity.

Livelihoods can be an empowerment process

for current and future generation: building the

wealth of the household usually is based on the

capacity of that household to take risks in

searching for alternative livelihoods. It has

been found that risk-taking households survive

adversity and have a propensity for wealth

creation. There is a saying that „wealth begets

wealth‟, meaning that once born into a wealth

family, the possibility of maintaining that

tradition is high, with new generations being

innovative to expand the wealth of the family

through diversification processes.

Local economic development: not everyone is

and should be a farmer and life is more than

farming. It has also been found that

communities producing the same commodity

for the same market tend to be poor, because

prices of that commodity are depressed.

Diversifying livelihoods means that households

in the community do different activities that are

complementary through internal and external

exchange. This creates stronger communities

that when well organized they penetrate

external markets, which brings in money into

that community.

Stronger and confident communities: a

community with a diversity of livelihoods tends

to be vibrant in terms of its social standing, is

confident in terms of handling adversity at any

time. The level of civic engagement is high. This

means that the community has a key objective

of protecting its livelihoods from any form of

erosion – internal or external.

“Not everyone should be a farmer;

life is more than farming.”


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ECONOMIC BASED LIVELIHOODS ACTIVITIES

Agriculture remains the primary livelihood activity for most Zimbabweans, but what other options are there

for diversification outside this sector?


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B1. Diversification within the Context of

Agriculture

Agriculture as a livelihoods option Zimbabwe is an agro-based country and the

commodity chain from production, processing and

marketing provides the largest scope for

employment and income generation. At the same

time it provides the staple food and is a source of

direct nutritious food for the families In Zimbabwe

agriculture is highly valued and tends to get

monetary preference, especially in the public sector

creating a monolith user of subsidies, compared to

other livelihoods activities. The subsidies in

agriculture have the unfortunate impact of affecting

other livelihoods sectors and throttling the

manufacturing sector (if there is an emphasis of

import of inputs). Crop (maize) production in

particular is viewed as panacea to all livelihoods

problems of the people in Zimbabwe. A distinctive

characteristic of rural households in Zimbabwe was

that families in all natural regions attempted to

secure their livelihoods from a mixture of activities

that ranged from crop and livestock production.

Farmers produce a variety of crops that includes

maize, cotton, tobacco, small grains, cotton,

sunflower, soybeans. Market gardening is also an

important preoccupation, because the people in

these districts have access to urban markets. Yet,

livestock is seriously undervalued in the drier parts

of the country. From a diversification perspective the

food supply chain showed specific gender

inequalities. In both the crop and livestock chains,

there were more male suppliers than female agro-

produce suppliers in niche markets such as

supermarkets and hotels.

Agricultural based opportunities Given that agriculture dominates employment and

income, a key factor in improving access to

employment in rural areas would be to increase

agricultural productivity. However, productivity

cannot be increased without addressing the

challenges of soil infertility, inadequate access to

water, lack of inputs, inadequate extension. In order

to enhance agricultural based opportunities,

development agencies should consider the

following:

• Provisions of resources to better off farmers

with scope for creating employment for the

poorest in a strategic and carefully managed

manner;

• Value addition should be given top priority

especially for agricultural related projects. In

this case drying of vegetables for export,

branding and packing of agricultural produce

such as small grains (millet, sorghum,

rapoko) has gained a niche market. A good

example is the Maltabella product range of

processed small grains has gained a

significant market share because of

consciousness in health eating in view of the

uncertainty over GMO processed foods that

have flooded the Zimbabwean market.

Horticulture products can be processed into

pastries, jams, tomato juices, dried tomato

leaves, preserved soups, etc. This means

investing in the area of drying equipment,

refrigeration, tinning, vacuum packing and

other necessary ancillaries.

• In the area of livestock, promotion of dried

meat (chickens, beef, goat) and raising

health awareness of these products would

help promote livelihoods for the poor.


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o Communities should be trained in value

addition and branding to penetrate such

markets;

o Poultry projects took communities by storm

and suddenly there is a market glut, yet there

is no organisation training poultry producers

in value addition of chickens (promoting agro-

ecology production) and branding chicken

cuts for selling.

o In the area of livestock, promotion of dried

meat (pork, beef, goat) and raising health

awareness of these products would help

promote livelihoods for the poor.

o

In the fishing sector, while some efforts have

been made in support of post-harvest

handling processes, there has been

insufficient attention to the upgrading of the

technological capabilities of micro, small and

medium entrepreneurs engaged, especially

women. The littleness of investment in this

sector is manifested in the absence of

sustained efforts to develop the capacities of

local co-operatives in post-production

management processes with a commercial

orientation. The rudimentary activities

currently in place, at all the levels of the

value chain demonstrate the existence of

great potential still to be tapped within the

fisheries sector overall.

• Investing in commercial agriculture opens

opportunities for investors to participate in

Agro goods supply chain within the tourism

industry. Health facilities, boarding schools

and towns and hotels and restaurants often

require regular supplies of fresh food in large

quantities. Men have a broader knowledge

base of agricultural techniques for quality

production than women. For example

techniques for drip irrigation and green house

production that guarantees quality are

particularly important to participate

competitively in the tourism supply chain.

• Building the capacity for market linkages for

specific agricultural produce (vegetables) and

poultry through skills and training;

• Facilitating access to market information

through designing platforms for information

processing exchange and use. The use of ICT


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would go a long way given the broader

cellular connectivity in most parts of the

country. Kubatana has developed a potential

systems for commodity information using cell

phones that can be pursued by development

agencies.

B2. Rural Micro-enterprises and Services

Soft traditional informal activities While in the colonial period the soft rural enterprises

such as sewing, crocheting, cooking, baking, were

popular with women, they suffered a near death

during the ESAP period simply because the country

opened to imports which almost throttled the

clothing industry as an example. At the same time

the development of supermarket chains selling

processed food, equally killed the informal baking

activities led by women. It was a progression from

the ESAP to the Post-ESAP period, when women

entrepreneurs dominated 80 percent of SMEs.

Many of the women who participated in the soft

informal activities in Zimbabwe have never been

able to progress from groups to formalised

businesses.

Traditional beer brewing is also a „money spinner‟

especially after harvests, when people have more

time for leisure and cash. This is mainly because of

the ease of entry into informal sector activities due

to a relatively low need for initial capital input,

technology and skill. In addition, the informal

sectors activities are based on income rewarding

hard work, hence their appeal. Yet, the NGOs

continued to push for projects in this line simply

because of the nostalgia over the past success and

also as a means to reach the poor in rural areas.

Thus the donation of sewing machines became a

popular past time for politicians and NGOs to

various groups in rural areas. The sewing activities

have been harmed by the further opening up of the

country to legal and illegal imports of new and

second hand clothes. At the same time, the rapid

economic development of Asian nations and

especially China has had the knock-on effect of

killing the textile industry in Africa due to the low

„prices‟ based on the labour intensive but low wage

“Chinese” production systems. Generally, African

countries without strong trade controls have their

local industries badly affected to the extent of

collapse due to the market flooding of goods.

Rural business as a livelihood option The rural business sector accommodates many of

rural populations and plays multiple roles in rural

communities. This sector has the potential effect of

providing important practical lessons for many of

the rural enterprises in terms of how to run

businesses (livelihoods activities) on a profitable

basis. However, the talents and skills of the

businesspersons have rarely been tapped to inform

people running rural income generating activities.

Skills have largely been sought elsewhere, yet the

rural businesses provide living examples of how to

run an enterprise that could benefit people in rural

areas, if their skills and talents were to be tapped.

The mere fact of familiarity of the environment

provides an advantage for rural businesspersons. A

key issue is why do they succeed when everyone

fails and is mired in poverty? Success in such space

has a specific meaning that needs to be explored in

terms of how that can be translated into enhancing

people‟s engagement with livelihoods. Some of the

rural businesses grew in the last few years due to

chance. In the past, before 2000, it was normal to

trace how people entered formal rural business. In

many case, inheritance was the entry point for

business. However, following the economic chaos

from 2000, people could take chances by taking

advantage of opportunities.


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Rural artisanal services There are a number of people involved in rural

services whose key tool is their skills and the handy

tools for building, thatching, brick-making, repairs

(fencing, fixing home gargets like ox-carts etc). Rural

artisanship is a traditional pre-occupation meant to

ensure that communities have access to different

people who could build, thatch, mould bricks, and

repair things. Many of the rural artisans are usually

farmers, but use their skills to get complementary

income. Some of them work during non-agricultural

seasons (building, thatching) and they do not

consider this to be their key pro-occupation, but

claim that it enhances their status and image in the

community. The following were noted to be

common:

Skilled Artisans: brick layers, thatchers, well

diggers, who are spread in different villages

and the villagers as their clients. The skilled

artisans were largely full time workers with a

few performing their trades only during the dry

seasons. The reasons some of them ended up

in these trades range from unemployment,

need for extra cash etc.

Service Providers: usually found at rural

shopping centres and located at the backyard

of shops (welding, car repairs, electronics).

The artisans are involved in a multiple

activities. They operate small-scale units to

produce and distribute goods and services

mostly within their own communities. These

backyard industries, specifically provide

irregular income from self-employment

Grinding mills are a common source of income generation in the rural and peri-urban areas


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Services sector & rural livelihoods dimension

The service economy was expanded beyond what it

was known for traditionally from independence in

1980 to the 1990s it was generally known that the

services sector was formalized, with strict

regulations. Therefore, one could identify formal

banking institutions (many of an international

nature), finalized supermarket chains operating side

by side with indigenous businesses all servicing the

same market. Yet, over time, opportunities emerged

for middle persons who largely have been seen as

parasites in certain sectors of the economy like

agriculture to play a different role. These have been

termed “makorokoza” for reaping from others

without hard work. In general “makorokoza” plays

the role of middle person through buying and

reselling goods from places of availability to places

without. Prices vary widely depending on time place

and who is trading. Exploitation of such price

difference is a major source of profit that largely is

seen as immoral by those who feel prejudiced.

In general, the services sector became “the in-thing”

as the country has literary become a service

economy. The service sector grew due to the impact

of new technologies, but also due to its response to

the informal sector that is now the largest consumer

of services largely for deal making. For instance, the

growth of business and livelihoods through selling

various cell phone paraphernalia including

handsets, recharge cards, repairs, and internet

accessories and so on has boosted this sector. In

rural areas, providing energy charging services

through power provided by the Zimbabwe Electricity

Distribution Company (ZEDC), contributes to income

diversity for those with electricity has significantly

spread livelihoods diversification, especially in the

last 2 years.

Equally, from the time of ESAP the transport sector

was deregulated, and the public bus system has

found it difficult to complete with individual taxi

operators. This opened opportunities for both rural

and urban people. Some people formally employed

diversified into this activity. This saw the growth of

the private taxi business, which penetrated even the

rural areas as the conventional bus system in rural

areas collapsed at the height of the economic crisis.

The taxi industry has had downstream benefits of

youth employment, as touts, loaders, and drivers.

Petty commodity and cross-border trading

activities

Zimbabweans are involved in cross-border trading.

They travel to sell and purchase goods from several

countries that include China, Brazil, India, Dubai,

and Malaysia etc. The commodities purchased can

be classified into two types the high–end market

and the low-end market based on the market the

goods are targeting. The majority of traders

participate in the low-end market.

Low-end market The low-end market informal cross-border trade is

one of the economic activities that have been

flourishing in rural areas for a variety of reasons.

One of the factors contributing to this phenomenon

is the interaction and mutual reinforcement

between the so-called “labour-supply push” and

“low-income-demand pull.” What is referred to as

the “labour-supply push” is characterized by: (i) high


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unemployment, resulting in an increasingly cheap

labour supply; and (ii) the search for alternative or

complementary income earning opportunities as a

result of eroded income levels, decreases in the

labour force in productive enterprises and lack of

skills to enter into the shrinking formal sector. The

“low-income-demand pull” on the other hand has

the following features: (i) the existence of a large

number of poor consumers with low effective

demand for basic consumer goods offered in the

formal sector; and (ii) the existence of suppressed

demand for goods normally offered by the

commercial network and inefficiency of formal

suppliers who quite often face tremendous liquidity

problems. However, some of the cross border

activities are based on rural entrepreneurship and

ingenuity found in the art and culture industry.

There has been an upsurge of trading activity, much

of it conducted by women, but over the last 2 years

men increasingly entering this activity. With the

collapse of formal trading systems, individuals

stepped in to provide the goods and services

creating an informal economy that has effectively

dwarfed the formal one. Flea Market operations

have multiple scale as re-sales to distant rural areas

is the norm. This means that there are three or

more layers of middle persons such that the same

commodities are sold several times before they get

to the final consumer. Chronic shortages of virtually

all commodities on the formal market have made

the trading of almost anything profitable. Traders,

who now have been formalized through licensing by

local authorities, are sourcing for scarce goods

within or outside Zimbabwe for re-sale. The flea

market operators were located right in front of the

premises of shops, capturing the market of the

owners who are charged more. The business

operators felt that local authorities were punitive to

the established business and discourage entry for

people, which encourages illegal operations.

We found that the majority play “all manner of hook

and crook” (kukiyakiya) to get the commodities. In

most cases, bargaining/negotiations is a key means

to make a successful sale. There is no standard

pricing for any goods. In this industry, people source

and sell scarce commodities in the uncertain

environment such that people have to constantly

change the types of commodities they trade in

response to market demands. The import of

groceries from outside the country was negatively

affected by the change over to the use of multi-

currencies in 2008. Slowly, the formal retail sector

started to take over through volume and reduced

pricing making imports of such goods unviable.

However, since 2008, a significant change towards

consumer goods price stabilization was brought by

the stabilization of the supply of fuel, which used to

be a major driving force for high pricing.

High-end market Cross-border trade has a long history in Zimbabwe

but has been taken to new heights over the last

couple of years in terms of coverage and the type of

goods involved. In addition to the traditional

destinations like South Africa, Botswana,

Mozambique, Zambia, international destinations

like Dubai and China especially with expensive and

cheap quality goods of all kinds. However, some

high-end middle and upper classes targeting the

high end markets have also emerged bring mostly

expensive goods from USA, United Kingdom and

some European countries. In the study areas we did

not find any high-end traders, and instead the

majority is into low-end activities as discussed

above. There is an expectation of the growth of the

high-end market in areas such as Zvishavane

because of mining.


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Opportunities to diversify based on the

following:

Pull factors: Hope for better income, preference

for self-employment, skills in the individual or

family background in business and also lack of

alternatives and suffering;

Opportunities factors: availability of new

technology making enterprises more profitable;

Growth in markets (and demand for agricultural

products) alongside the general development of

the economy; Development of transport and

communications (improved access to growing

markets - local, national and international);

Resource factors: own savings; an idea of what

they want to do, human Capital; natural

resources in the area.

Constraining factors in the informal sector

The sector faces huge challenges, with finance

being a key, yet there are also social challenges that

face mostly women as described below. Operational

challenges are:

General challenges: business education and

business experience; Sufficient resources and

capital; Little or no access to credit for

expansion; most suffer from poor infrastructure,

insecurity, extremely competitive markets, and

an unfavourable institutional environment; there

is little information on “new” micro- enterprises

such as technology firms, business process

outsourcing; lack of innovation and lack of

access to key tools for success in business;

Information on what activities to do (or toolkits)

Inadequate knowledge on securing business

knowledge: rural women in particular face

challenges on knowledge searches simply

because they play the role of mothers with

greater responsibility at home, thus limiting their

networks;

Problems of scale of operation: the majority of

women operate at a subsistence income

generating level and therefore do not qualify for

the majority of financial assistance from

financial houses,

Inadequate knowledge on securing credit: for

example presentation of viable business plans,

even when they have them, they are subjected

to expensive short term funding (typically 30-90

days maximum, with interest hovering from 10-

20 percent). In general cross-border traders find

it a challenge to acquire loans from banks, they

are in most cases required to register as

companies in order to be eligible for loan

application. This is a huge challenge since

registration is also expensive.

Marketing problems: The women traders might

face tough competition from established

businesses. They might also decide to sell

certain products without carrying out sufficient

market research on products and as such risk

being exploited.

Challenges of a social nature includes the following:

Lack of economic security: They lack benefits

such as pension, medical insurance or social

security, which means when not healthy,

business is negatively affected and ability to

recover and get back may take longer;

Health problems: Due to the various transport

constraints sometimes they use unsafe

“the talents and skills of businesspersons have rarely been tapped

into, to inform people running rural income generating activities”


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transport means and also tend to have heavy

baggage making them prone to backaches

among other health problems;

Stereo-typing of cross-border traders: In most

cases cross-border trading is associated with

promiscuity, hence some women are denied the

opportunity to trade regionally or internationally

by their spouses;

Lack of adequate trade documentation: Most

women travel to countries outside to sell their

products without proper documentation and

face deportation and imprisonment if caught by

authorities and in the process lose their goods;

Gender bias resulting in attitude problems:

insensitivity and prejudice of loan officers as a

result of their own backgrounds and

socialisation;

Non-existent or insufficient family support: while

men tend to be drawn into the world of

individual pursuit, women due to the threat of

abandonment and divorce operate more

commonly in human economies based on family

and other mutual support networks. In general,

rural women indicated in the interviews that

face cultural constraints to start non-traditional

types of enterprises. They tend to start

enterprises related to the home based

industries like soap making, candle making,

bread baking, dressmaking, and other domestic

related activities.

Informal sector recommendations

The informal trade sector dominated by flea

markets is regarded as a transitional economic

activity, yet given the political challenges of

Zimbabwe it seems that the sector will remain for

some time. However, the informal trade though

populated by many people trying to eke a living for

their families have not received attention by

development agencies and the private sector. It is

for this reason that organizations can ride on this

sector based on the opportunities it provides

(income, employment, as well as high population

providing a scope for educational awareness and

campaigns in the areas of gender rights and HIV and

AIDS). The specific recommendations are that:

• Many of the traders lack skills in financial

management: the development agencies

should design training course of business

and financial management, project

management, by-laws and regulations,

negotiations skills, health, leadership;

• Financing mechanisms: the „pooling of cash”

(marounds) should continue to be

encouraged and a way established for linking

these to financial institutions. This is because

they provide a unique way of raising cash for

projects, while they can reduce transaction

costs because the groups are based on

relationships and therefore trust.

• Training on collective action: though co-

operatives seem unpopular, NGO

interventions are based on groups hence it is

necessary to train beneficiaries on

leadership, group formation, group dynamics

that could help the entrepreneurs in

procurement process, shared responsibility

for infrastructure development and

maintenance.

• Informal sector traders be organized to lobby

for policy change through providing training

to their members;

• Capacitating the entrepreneurs to spread the

message on HIV and AIDS, gender rights,

resources rights etc, given that in this sector,

different categories of people (young old,

literate and semi literate, men/women) are

finding a real income base for their families.


14

B3. Nature Based Rural Enterprises

Natural Resources Sectors Diversification for the poor has generally been into

the use of natural resources for their income

earning:

• Commercialization of indigenous trees: in

some areas hardwoods such as Mopani tree

offers economic opportunities for individuals

and communities, as well as Rural District

Councils. However, communities complained

that local people are prejudiced from

benefitting from the resource by private

companies that work with RDCs. It is

necessary that dialogue commence so that

local communities as well as the companies

can benefit from empowerment through equity

shares.

• Timber and Non-timber forestry products:

Binga and surrounding environments are

populated by master wood carvers and

carpenters, with a tradition of making the

popular wood products. In general trees

provide two sets of products:

o Timber products: these include Tonga stools,

chairs, aprons, doors, drums etc. We found

that the Tonga drums brought the creativity of

the Tonga people (which must be paid for in

business terms), which bestows a variety of

personal benefits including a sense of identity,

self-reliance, self-awareness, empowerment,

confidence and cultural esteem. The drums

are acquired not just by tourists, but are now a

feature in modern home decors, are bought by

schools for use in cultural performances.

o NTFP: Fruits processing and sales (seasonal),

grass commoditization, honey processing

drum making, provides opportunities for

income earning for rural families. The issues

of NTFP relates to commercialization, which at

times elicits conflicts of various proportions in

communities and families. This is because,

such resources can generate an income that

can divide people who view such resources as

being owned by everyone. This is the reason


15

o why government introduced the prohibition of

the sale of NTFP for commercial purposes.

Opportunities for economic development

projects based on value addition. In this

context, development agencies can work with

communities to explore a range of resources,

such as processing natural resources into oils,

drinks, jams and jellies. Honey for instance

can provide numerous benefits to families in

the form of honey (consumption and sale),

wax for candle making etc. Equally trees such

as marula and plans such as moringa,

provides scope for the processing of

cosmetics and medicines that can widely be

accessed and generate income for rural

people;

• Small-scale mining: One of the key livelihoods

activities that have progressively taken the

country by storm is illegal mineral exploitation.

Many people find the activity as an easy way

to earn money, for the tools of the trade (pick,

shovel, and a dish) are easy to acquire for

alluvial gold panning. In some cases, gold

panning is widely done during off agricultural

season. This was initially mainly to

supplement household income, but for some it

is now a key livelihood strategy, because they

make more money out of it. In fact, the firming

of the international prices on minerals in

general has contributed to the growth of this

activity. Yet historically government has not

been fully interested in re-organizing panners

into organized forms for the purposes of

mining in a mutual reinforcing relationship. In

fact when ordinary people try to do small scale

mining, they have to endure more policing and

roadblocks, interference in their lives, have

their land taken away, be subject to

imprisonment for petty thefts of small

quantities of mineral products and so on.

• Fishing: fishing is a key economic livelihood

activity in places with water, such as in the

Zambezi valley. The Tonga people have been

known as riverine communities engaging in

fishing, fish processing and selling, while also

many were employed in the sector deriving

their own livelihoods. The sector has specific

gender inequality issues that the people noted

should be addressed.

• Tourism related sectors: riverine communities

also employed a large number of people.

There are numerous tourist facilities that have

been established to carter for fishmongers, or

tourists who frequent riverine areas in the

Zambezi valley for instance.

• Wildlife resources: According to the study

findings, communities blessed with wildlife

still implement Community Management

Programme for Indigenous Resources

(CAMPFIRE). Under the programme,

communities are encouraged to conserve

wildlife. The revenue generating activities such

as hunting are used for community

development. Meat from killed animals is left

for communities to share and hunters take the

trophy (normally the head with its horns) and

skin. There should be local benefits of many of

the products and by-products from wildlife.

• Other natural resources: selling of soil (river

sand and top soil) for building, procuring and

selling quarry stones, selling manure in urban

areas, selling fire wood to both urban and

rural areas, selling poles.


16

Recommendations on the Natural Resources

Sector

This sector provides the greatest scope for the poor

because it has low transaction costs at the

production level, given that resources are usually

“free” as they are abstracted from the commons. In

addition, technical skills are acquired locally

meaning that the activities do not lend themselves

to complex mechanization. Perhaps the only

difference will be with eco-tourism, which requires

the setting up of expensive infrastructures by local

standards such as a chalets and services for the

convenience of the potential tourist. We recommend

the following for the exploitation of the resources:

• Making and marketing natural resources

products: development agencies can work

with communities to explore a range of

resources, such as processing natural

resources into oils, drinks, jams and jellies.

Organisations such as the Southern African

Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE) and Phyto-

Trade has successful helped women to market

fine products (essential oils, soaps,

shampoos) made from marula, and other

natural resources products to lucrative

markets in Europe and Asia.

• Fisheries industry: Women fish traders noted

that training has been inadequate and that

they have not been fully organised to be able

to raise capital for their activities. It is

recommended that development agencies

design comprehensive training programmes,

towards the empowerment of the fish

mongers, processors, traders, rather than the

piecemeal and one off training programmes

that have been offered to date. In addition, the

youths should be engaged into this sector,

given that many of them are not participating

because of the risks and prohibitive costs.

• Mining sector: the issue of indigenisation and

economic empowerment with respect to this

sector is receiving attention. At the same time,

the government is giving out Mining license to

specific groups such as Youth and Women, yet

the generality of the people have no

information about what is going on.

Development agencies have shied away from

this sector, for it is regarded as too political,

yet the sector provides the greatest scope for

the economic empowerment of the people.

Development agencies in mining areas could

provide soft skills (training, capacity

development, basic information) for the

people to appreciate this sector. Given that

the sector, is a cash spinner, youths would

find it attractive to get organised so that they

can approach the authorities with for license if

they are organised. Such organisation comes

from skills training and linking up the youths

to relevant technical bodies that deals with

mining related issues.

B4. Cultural Products and Services

Diversity and benefits from the sector Culture can be a potential income earner in many

ways. In general, the tendency has been to support

the hard products part of

• Performing arts for livelihoods: in the form of

music, dances, and poetry can be a basis for

income generation. We found that a few

African countries such as South Africa

(kwaito), Burkina Faso (Djembe), Kenya, and

Democratic Republic of Congo (Kwasa

Kwasa), have pushed for recognition of

indigenous music and dance as a basis for

wealth creation as it is seen as a past time

activity. It is only when indigenous music,

dance, theatre and poetry is identified by


17

foreigners, especially from Europe that it gains

significance. Performing arts is an important

medium for communicating HIV and AIDS

through drama and choir. Youth groups could

benefit from penetrating forums such as HIFA,

regional festivals, and international ones using

their culture as the medium for entertainment.

• Curio making and marketing: the culture

sector provides scope for high income earning

by creating market opportunities for curios,

particularly baskets. The master wood carvers

used to have potential markets to make

money at the height of Zimbabwe tourism

days. This activity is highly dependent on

biomass;

• Basket weaving and marketing: A major

livelihood activity of basket weaving provides

important opportunities for women and youth

through income earnings. Individuals and

groups could get mileage through obtaining

regular buyers from South Africa, Harare

through the Harare International Festival of

Arts (HIFA).

• Green tourism: there are possibilities for

Green Tourism that combines nature,

agriculture, with cultural tourism. The

environment of major urban areas can provide

opportunities, as children and adults and

cities could visit through school or weekend

tour packages.

Challenges faced in the sector There is little support for the crafts industry because

the tourism sector that used to be the anchor

collapsed in the last ten years. However, the

opportunity costs to enter the sector are very low

given that artists depend on their talents or

knowledge and local resources whose abstraction is

from zero to minimal. The availability of the products

in local areas mean that the technologies used in

the collection generally require minimal use of

capital resources (if any), but require larger units of

labour per output obtained. Organisation should

help market cultural products and handcrafts made

from wood and grass.

Recommendations for the sector We therefore recommend that:

• Training on production processes are required

so that artist entrepreneurs do not over

harvest the resources they depend on. The

Binga Trees Trust for example has been

training communities of woodland

preservation as they carry out their arts

businesses and programmes of that nature

should be scaled up.

• Market linkages be developed for artists. In

often cases, artists have largely depended on

tourists coming to them; however, there is a

need for development agencies to facilitate

communities to explore external markets

(HIFA, ZITF, shows, regional and international

markets). The strategy should be to build the

confidence of the artists to be able penetrate

these markets. For instance, the stone

sculpture industry survived the crisis because

they managed to penetrate such markets.

Development agencies could also explore


18

linking up and networking using the platform

such as National Associations. For instance

the National Handicraft Centre was

established to address market access barrier

to SMEs involved in Craft. Situated in Harare,

the centre provides shop floor space for

individuals and craft groups, support towards

product development and pricing and market

linkages.

• Performing arts (poetry, songs, music and

dance) have not received adequate attention,

yet there are numerous forums where

communities can generate an income.

Examples include the following:

o Arts calendars such as HIFA have

provided important avenues for

communities. Ntengwe through

community film-making has

penetrated international markets and

this model should further be

promoted. Development agencies can

provide communities with information

and strategies in which they can

penetrate, because more often the

communities lack basic information.

o Many hotels, eating houses with a

traditional food niche provide space

for arts groups to provide

entertainment, and development

agencies promoting performing arts

could consider penetrating such

tourism, besides exporting performing

arts to the region and other countries.

Training and confidence building of the

communities and the groups will be a

key strategy.

Tonga baskets weaved in Binga have sold lucratively at local and international craft fairs


19

GENESIS OF LIVELIHOODS DIVERSITY


20

C1. What Causes People to Diversify? In the last 20 years, diversification in Zimbabwe has

been a progressive process responding to different

forces and imperatives. In the 1990s those who

diversified and created self-employment were

lauded for their courage to be entrepreneurs. In

fact, when asked one‟s line of business, the

response would be “I am doing my own thing”. Yet,

today those who diversified into low market end

businesses such as flea markets may be looked

down upon by society. Why has society shifted

attitudes? First, people diversified probably in large

numbers due the difficulties caused by Zimbabwean

politics that negatively affected the economy.

Therefore, people sought any means available for

their own survival. Young professional people who

have been made redundant as companies closed

rely on providing services in the informal sector (car

services, home repair services, building and

plumbing, electric repairs). People are no longer

confined to specialization and are multi-skilled in

activities that raise money for themselves and their

families. In most of the urban areas the selling of

seasonal fruits (oranges and bananas), roasted dry

maize (maputi) and ground nuts, roasted maize

cobs, seasonal vegetables (tomatoes, leafy veggies),

cigarettes, juice cards (mobile phone recharge

cards), newspaper vending, furniture disposal,

selling of sand, quarry, bricks, are some of the

common informal activities that have moved into

the suburbs away from the formal vending sites.

Second, people who were rendered jobless by the

policy changes, diversified to deploy their talents to

make money, and maintained core activities while

doing other things. A case in point was double and

triple jobbing to make ends meet. For instance,

some commercial sex workers would engage in

buying and reselling during the day and engage in

commercial sex work during the night. Others would

work at a company during the day, and by end of

day and during weekends they would engage in all

sorts of repair. At times they would poach the

company customers, and even steal repair parts for

their private work at home and undesignated areas,

as a means of survival. Third, others diversified

because they are talented in the trade they are

engaged in. Fourth, some people in rural areas

diversified, because agriculture was not providing

the returns for them to meaningfully survive.

Agriculture outputs markets had too many controls

to the extent that farmers failed to break even or to

raise enough for their survival due to the nature of

the pricing regimes. Farmers thus diversified their

cropping regimes to avoid the controlled crops, but

also invested outside agriculture into other business

ventures. Fifth, people diversified due to new

opportunities emerging, for instance the discovery of

diamonds in Manicaland provided people

opportunities to provide services to the miners.

C2. What areas do people diversify to?

Rural livelihoods are based on a wide range of

portfolios, and these have rapidly changed in the 10

years. Zimbabwe‟s economy is largely agrarian

therefore, most people were involved in this sector

before venturing into other livelihood activities.

Adults (men and women) tended to be stick to

agriculture and they diversify to support agriculture

than the other way round. Diversification was also

“I am doing my own thing”


21

regarded as temporary for some, until such a time

that it was viable to continue their agricultural

activities. The proportion of men who entered the

agriculture sector rose in the last 5 years reflecting

the difficulties in formal employment, associated

with the economic crisis. Education was noted as a

key factor determining what livelihoods activities

that people do. In general, we found that rural

communities also support each other through

providing labour paid in kind in various ways such as

labour exchanges, use of implements, in the form of

goods and services etc, which lessened the burden

in certain physical activities. Vending also carries

the largest proportion of people employed in the

sector with women being in the majority. Reasons

for this include minimal requirements for starting up

vending enterprises, for example, low capital

injection, proximity of suppliers and produce as well

as minimal skills required to conduct the activity.

This is followed by the crafts industry. The livelihood

activities are distributed along gender lines with

more men taking up activities such as brick laying,

brick making, thatching, welding and carpentry;

activities which are more physically demanding and

are thus synonymous with the male sex. On the

other hand, women are involved in traditionally

„female‟ activities such as sewing, interior décor.

C3. At what stage do people diversify?

It seems that after years of doing a certain activity,

people try out different other thing either because

they are bored, are not making money, or they have

found a new opportunity. In Zimbabwe, most of the

business people have been operating for the past 5-

10 years. Those with more than 10 years of

business experience follow closely behind which

means that more people tend to settle within their

respective trades for relatively long periods of time.

More women stay in business for longer periods of

time than men. This can be attributed to the fact

that, unlike men, women have more responsibilities

and factors to consider before shifting enterprises.

In addition, men seek ventures that yield speedy

returns therefore, they shift enterprises more

frequently than women.

C4. Attributes in livelihoods diversification A vocabulary dominating: “courage”, “talent”,

“searching for kurarama (living/surviving)”, were the

key attributes that dominated economic livelihoods

diversification. In general, we found that people

participated in different livelihood activities due to a

variety of reasons. These include:

Doing everything (Buya

tinapangana/babazonke! or kukiya kiya):

generally entrepreneurs had no lines of

specialty. Women predominate in trade (flea

markets, vegetable sales), where as men

dominated the rural businesses, services, yet

they are also the majority in agriculture;

Education: they use literal levels as a tool for

exploring opportunities, finding out the inability

of different enterprises and how to manoeuvre

systems as they go look for goods to resale.

Physical fitness: for travelling is a key

requirement, which the young were able to do

to move voluminous goods in difficult transport

systems – for instance through using

„magonyeti‟ (haulage trucks); The mean age

being 18 to 45 years.

Skills: a key example is skills requirement was

in the area of fishing because to catch the fish

one needed to be skilled in fishing and

understanding water and its contents. For

performing the performing arts, wood curving

etc, one needed specialist skills for the

business to make sense;

Courage: the will power to be able to do

something was commonly referred in the study


22

as underpinning the success of livelihoods

activities. In Binga the fishers noted the ability

to survive the marauding crocodiles and hippos

as a key attribute.

Hard work: Much of the rural livelihoods

activities requires hard work, with high levels of

organisation (kurongeka).

Labour: we found that a very few of the

businesses employ outside labour – the owner

is the sole owner and have a few employees

who usually are related to the owner; Many are

casual workers, trainees, and, especially in

rural areas, family members.

Risk takers: the young tend to be risk takers by

going to unexplored and unfamiliar places.

They have specific preference of activities that

usually use their education.

The young tend to be risk takers by venturing into unexplored “livelihood” territories


23

PEOPLE IN ECONOMIC BASED LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES

More women are undertaking diverse livelihood activities across the country


24

D1. Who are the people diversifying their

livelihoods?

The survey reveals that there is diversity in most

people‟s sources of income as people do not sorely

rely on one enterprise for survival. Much of the

livelihoods activities are dominated by own

proprietorship, even though at times family

members may contribute to the initial capital or to

labour. A number of household members usually get

to support a potentially viable venture involved in an

activity. This could apply to families with their own

business venture such as a shop or milling plant or

a family that relies on agriculture and whose labour

is provided by members of the household. In

general, we found that the productive age group of

18 to 45 years dominated the rural micro-

enterprises. On balance, there were more women

than men in many of the dominant activities, yet in

the lucrative sectors in income terms, there was stiff

competition and women shied away.

The petty commodity trade business was one of the

major absorber of school leavers and those made

redundant from work before retirement age. The

limited opportunities forced them into the

commodity trade business. On the other hand, the

elderly, especially women tended to be absorbed in

weave baskets business. The women in Binga

explained that the younger women would source for

the raw materials and elderly women would do the

weaving at home. Gender roles were apparent. Men

were the fishers as they used all manner of

equipment from wooded homemade rowing boats to

fishing Riggs. In this sector, women were relegated

to the fish processing (cleaning, drying, selection) of

which school children also helping during the school

holidays. Marketing was also a key pre-occupation

of women. The petty commodity trade used to have

more women, but recently more men, especially

between the 18 and 45 years increased in that

sector. On the other hand, men dominated illegal

mining activities, with crop production being family

oriented, but women and children providing the bulk

of the labour. Men dominated in the ownership of

large livestock (cattle, donkeys), with women owning

small stock.

D2. Gender dimension of livelihoods Agriculture in the last 10 years has been

unattractive for many people who lost jobs in the

last 10 years and from a gender perspective, the

mere fact that land is controlled by men provide

complexities in the entry of women in non-

agricultural sources of income. It must be

underlined that many livelihood diversification

strategies are frequently gender specific. In the

search for income earning opportunities, rural

dwellers have embarked on major socio-economic

transformation. Social boundaries are being

redrawn to maximize on livelihoods opportunities

and the scramble for the opportunities has

transformed the age-old gender and generational

division of labour. In fact, women are undertaking a

similarly wide range of diversification activities as

men, but in many contexts, men are able to avail

themselves to diversification opportunities that are

not open to women due to cultural constraints.

Women try to renegotiate this to protect themselves

against the break-up of the household. The reality is

that the same women engaged in petty trade,

natural resources commercialization dabbles in food

production activities, which creates an antagonistic

situation. Mapping when (during any one season)

and where women are positioned in household

livelihood cycles based on the time for particular

activities is significant for establishing the point of

entry for government and other development

agencies.

http://network.idrc.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=41523&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC#44b


25

D3. Youths and livelihoods diversity In Zimbabwe youths took the so-called parallel

market activities by storm at the height of the

economic crisis. Youths were partaking diversified

livelihoods activities by default simply because there

was no alternative source of employment. Over time,

the capacity of government and the private sector to

absorb youth for formal employment came to a

standstill, and many also migrated to seek for

greener pastures in the neighbouring countries and

beyond. At the same, time with the increase in

discovery of minerals, such as gold and diamonds,

the highly migratory youths criss-crossed the

country, especially between 2006 and 2008 looking

for opportunities. Yet, the formalisation of the

economy from 2009, closed the loopholes that

made youths make a lot of money through

unproductive changing of money or reselling goods

at very high prices. Many of the youths, have largely

been relegated to the reselling of juice cards, while

others try out „anything‟ that provides them with an

income.

Rural youth's prospect of finding decent work has

not grown in the last 2 years. Yet, in more diversified

economies, rural youngsters have better options to

find work outside of agriculture, especially if they

have the required education and/or vocational

skills. Such employment opportunities will often be

located at a distance from their home villages. Thus,

apart from education and skills, rural youth often

migrate in order to access non-agricultural

employment opportunities. Young people in

Zimbabwe are generally better educated than their

parents' generation and are likely to be more open

to change. Therefore, focusing on livelihoods

diversification, including broader empowerment

programmes can provide youths with leeway to be

gainfully engaged in livelihoods activities.


26

WHAT IS THE RESULT OF INVESTING IN LIVELIHOODS

DIVERSITY?

Realising meaningful income from livelihood activities is the ambition of many


27

E1. Income dimension of diversification In some contexts, rural non-farm activities can

contribute to the smoothing of household income

within a season, because income earned can

complement farm income. Many livelihood activities

such as pensions, off-farm work and remittances

are critical to maintain adequate levels of well-

being. In some cases, farming was the principal

livelihood but was supported through sales of

livestock, remittance payments or waged work. In

other households, these support payments were the

only means of cash income, as poorer households

had few livestock and limited access to the means

of farming. Non-farm income was used for the

purchase of agriculture; inputs at a time when donor

and government input subsidies had been

withdrawn for the able-bodied and productive age

groups. Those in the informal sector placed

themselves on “moral high grounds” of being the

“Diaspora” for their own relatives at home who

depend on them for inputs on their activities.

Therefore, flea market operators fund agriculture.

However, they may not by the nature and scale of

their earnings send regular remittances. They

contribute to major one off or seasonal purchase for

their families. The income derived from different

enterprises in particular petty commodity trade was

exaggerated.

E2. Asset dimension of livelihoods There was a mixed experience on how the income

gained from agriculture and non-agricultural sources

was used. While, a significant proportion of

respondents indicated that they did not acquire

assets during the past 10 years, we found that after

2008 asset acquisition seem to have increased.

Investment in crop inputs usually follows, and then

livestock (small stock at first then cattle). In

addition, building or improving a home are also

relatively common but secondary to daily needs and

human capital expenses. It was thus necessary to

explore how remittances are contributing to

livelihoods diversification. Money from other sources

outside agriculture was mostly used to for daily

survival, acquisition of kitchenware, and farm

equipment. Households draw their modes of

livelihood from quite distinct portfolios of activities.

They have different asset bases, with the poorest

households most limited in terms of capital assets.

Those with capital asset bases and demonstrate

flexibility in how they create positive livelihood

outcomes and increased well-being. The ability to

mobilize and use capital, skills and assets

productively provides the biggest scope for wealth

creation and off setting any risk for both poor and

better off households. On the other hand, the

negative livelihood outcomes for the poor, means

that they require long term and strategic

intervention than just giving them free handouts.

The respondents suggested long training in different

thematic areas with start up capital as key to

changing their circumstances.


28

PREREQUISITIES FOR SUCCESS IN ECONOMIC BASED

LIVELIHOODS ACTIVITIES


29

F1. Sourcing of capital for livelihoods

diversity

Capital from formal institutions Entrepreneurs in the various enterprises have never

had access to finance from formal institutions and

that the money they get has been from their social

networks or the previous employment activities.

There was no difference in response from rural

entrepreneurs, flea market operators in urban or

rural areas, as farmers. This is no surprise given

that in the field sites there were fewer and no

banking institutions physically, which meant that

access to bank was a problem in the first place. A

variety of reasons why rural entrepreneurs shunned

the banks were given as:

Fear of the elaborate paper work

requirement (typically noted as filling forms);

Fear of failing to pay back loans and losing

assets (collateral demands by financial

institutions);

The demand for „viable‟ project proposals

backed by collateral thus limiting lenders to

only those with assets i.e. the rich

The hyper-inflation experience until 2008,

created distrust and lack of confidence in

the banking system, making it difficult to

trust financial institutions.

The answers above reflect concerns of people who

have lost confidence in the banking sector and who

are willing to work invest and look after their

families outside formal channels. In fact, a new

parallel economy has emerged, which is difficult to

account and trace in terms of its contribution to

communities and the nation.

NGO and donor capital NGOs and donors were hailed as having made

significant contribution to communities at a time

when government and families had very little

capacity to manage on their own. However, it was

noted that their support was firstly in food provision

followed by agricultural inputs. The presence of

donor money in business was strikingly absent, with

reference to vouchers for agro-dealers emerging as

a frame to support agriculture that only started in

2010. In general rural businesses were optimistic

that it was a noble form of intervention to

resuscitate their businesses, but was regarded as

too narrow in scope around agriculture. Amongst

donors interviewed, we did not get a firm

commitment to support diverse work on livelihoods,

with much of the promises tilted towards agriculture

or related sectors.

Personal capital generation: marounds Micro-finance schemes called “marounds” or

“mikando” organized by individual women have

become the most popular means for raising capital

for “projects” that range from agricultural (poultry),

petty trading, investing in illegal mineral (gold)

purchases, repairs, food processing (honey and

spices) and marketing, imports of cheap goods and

selling at inflated prices. Marounds, comprised of

between three and twenty people who would each

contribute portions of their daily profits. The money

is given to one member of the club, on a rotational

basis. As noted from the focused group discussion,

marounds became a more convenient way of saving

in stable environment where income-earning

opportunities are low, or where financial markets

are not fully operational. The participants could

adjust the amount of the contributions at the

beginning of each cycle. It was also easy for

members to opt out of one cycle and rejoin in the

next one depending on their financial situation. In

discussing the role of “marounds” indicate that

these schemes have been thrust upon the members

by worsening economic circumstances. Rural people

have weak linkages to banks and other formal-


30

sector of loans. This means that the “marounds” are

filling a specific gap in rural areas. Even when

donors help with capital, there is still a need for

banks to play an active role with the support of

government through providing confidence in capital

markets.

Remittances as a source of capital for

diversification

The downturn in the Zimbabwean economy and

growing lack of waged work opportunities in major

towns and cities obviously had a significant impact

upon people‟s daily lives as remittances were

almost universally reported as having been

important at some stage in people‟s lives. The bulk

of remittances were used primarily for consumption

and then for investment in human capital including

education, health, and better nutrition. We

established during the qualitative interviews that the

proprietors of flea markets had assistance from one

or two relatives in the Diaspora. The assistance was

either temporary (one off) and the cash made

available was directly invested in acquisition of

goods. For the food send, it did not directly

contribute to the business, but provided „breathing

space‟ for the cash they had for food was then

invested in the acquisition of goods for the

business. More in-depth surveys will be required

because our analysis is based on a few interviews.

Capitalisation through barter trading The barter system served multiple purpose, chief

which was enabling exchanges, but also serving as

part of accumulation of capital, especially for rural

business persons. The barter system was preferred

because: (i) there is minimum amount of a bio-

resource required to participate in barter system, (ii)

food crop produce or fish can be used during

exchange, (iii) plants and animals both could be the

important material during exchange, (iv) sometimes

cultural items (such as Tonga mats or stools) and

handicrafts play a significant role to make exchange

for services or groceries, (v) exchanges are not

based on the design and visual quality of products;

preference principle factors are the traditional

values of the bio-resources, (vi) exchange is based

on reciprocity and complementarities and (vii) barter

is based on open access system (monopoly to

exchange bio-resources are considered to be

unethical). During the time of crisis access to barter

system depends more on good relationships. The

way barter system works suggests that exchanges

contain the following elements based on

relationship: (i) redistribution based on the degree

of relationship, (ii) percentage of demand,

traditional norms and access strategies of bio-

resources by a particular tribe and (iii) self

sufficiency based on subsistence economy which

helps to minimize over- exploitation of bio-resources.

F2. Role of technology The ability to mobilize technology (assets) was a key

driver of diversification. Therefore informal

partnerships provided opportunities for people who

did not have trade tools, creating a chain of benefits

along the product chain, in this case mining. In view

of capital challenges, the miners pointed that those

with money need to be encouraged to form

partnerships to procure equipment. However, rules

are prohibitive, and for instance in the mining

sector, the mineral detectors were regarded as an

offense by the police, classifying them as

encouraging illegal panning that finds its way to

illegal markets and not to the state. From an


31

environmental perspective, the current gargets used

for instance in tree cutting, of individual fishing

(rowing wooded boats), tended to be appropriate

and seem not to be the main culprit in over use of

nature resources. It is when fishing Riggs (large

boats) or fuel power wood cutters are introduced

that there is significant damage. Thus introducing

technologies has to be approached cautiously.

It also must be noted that technology change can

be negative on the growth of indigenous rural

businesses. Labour-intensive household

manufacturing of baskets, pottery, and roof

thatching, „have since died out, displaced by the

import of cheap plastic pails, iron vessels, and

corrugated roofing from urban factories. For this

reason, household manufacturing may die out in

rural areas. The demise of low- productivity

household manufacturing explains, in part, why

employment in services and commerce frequently

grows faster than in manufacturing. Changes in

consumer spending likewise contribute to faster

growth in services and commerce. Consumption

data indicate that as incomes rise, rural households

increase spending on such services as education,

health, transport, prepared foods, and transport

faster than they do on local manufactured goods.

F3. Communication and transport There is no question that the introduction of cell

phones has revolutionalized livelihoods in

Zimbabwe. People are no longer connected by

physical means as they can easily communicate. In

fact, stiff competition among phone service

providers has significantly lowered the prices of the

gargets, but also of the service charges. When

network connectivity was available, a

businessperson could check the availability and

prices of goods they require before embarking to

order. This has largely compensated for the scarcity

of transport and costs in most parts of rural areas.

In general, transport tends to be operated by less

capital-intensive methods such as scotch arts,

bicycles, and donkeys. There were a few

conventional long buses that were being used for

multi-purposes of carrying goods for the business

people and passengers. Due to the bad roads, the

wear and tear reduced the life span of the buses,

yet the operators charged social fees for the

services.

F4. Skills requirements In many conversations with petty commodity

traders, rural business people, rural artisans, youths

and cultural artists, the dominant undercurrent to

succeed in any livelihood activity is when one has

the skills in whatever enterprise one is engaged in.

The issue of skills has been side stepped in

livelihoods diversification because there is a

dominant view that Zimbabwean rural people

require inputs (seeds and fertilizer) or access to

credit. While, this is critical in the medium to long

term, the communities are better off with greater

access to skills across the livelihoods activities that

they do. A few organisations that are highly

centralised such as SEDCO and Empretec were

noted to provide skills training, as well as NGOs

through their interventions. However, the challenge

was that skills development tended to be short-

term, narrowly focused on a theme/sector, and

thinly spread only to beneficiary communities.


32

Skills training by NGOs were not comprehensive

enough, as did not reach many entrepreneurs, while

some had specific geographical areas they

concentrated in.

Government has its own training centres, for youths

in particular but these were not of reach to non-

youths, while the curriculum tended to be too

narrow. In fact years of economic declined had

rendered many incapable of delivering skills

development in a meaningful sense. In Zimbabwe,

the need for human capital development following

more than 10 years of under investment by

government, private sector and donors is

imperative. Most rural income diversifiers have no

formal training in what they do and many depend on

the job training.

F5. Market Linkages and challenges The issue of market linkages has become stylish in

many forums and workshops, without a clear

practical solution of how it has to be done. The

discussion has been pitched theoretically, while it

has largely ignored the broader context of what the

problem is and how to solve it. It was noted that

market linkages has also been abuzz with NGOs, yet

the realities is that there is need to re-examined

broader market challenges that related to mostly

poor market infrastructure, without significant

investments in probably two decades or more.

Entrepreneurs still depend on the same market

infrastructure designed a long time ago that is

incapable of meet their business expectations.

• Capital and markets: for markets to be

functional and responding to the needs of

entrepreneurs, there is a need for functional

capital markets that in the case of Zimbabwe

remains distant for a variety of reasons

discussed earlier. It has become common to

hear the language that “the country has no

liquid”, hence capital markets have largely

remained depressed creating a situation of

peddling small “dollars” for small projects that

usual cannot meet market demand;

• Mismatch between supply and demand:

Zimbabwe is concentrating efforts on the

supply side in many sectors of the economy,

yet the demand side (in terms of capacity to

purchase and utilize services and goods) has

rarely received attention. The results is that

there is no creativity or innovation in the

market place as people do more or similar

things all the time, creating business failure in

the process.

• Natural factors: physical conditions can be a

setback to the carrying out of livelihoods

activities. These come in different forms such

as the lack of roads (to facilitate the

movement of inputs and outputs for particular

livelihoods activities). The development of

cottage industries linked to agriculture have

not been realised, simply because agriculture

has not thrived in areas such as Zvishavane

and Binga dues to poor soil fertility,

topography dominated by mountains, heat

due to a coal belt beneath, and unreliable

rainfall (climate change). These natural

challenges can be overcome through broader

infrastructural developments that make

economic sense when there is a particular

resources of higher premium benefits than the

costs of the infrastructures as seem to be the

case in the development of the road in new

coal producing areas of Binga.

• Prohibitive policies and regulations: (e.g.

mining laws, by-laws) were noted to be a

hindrance that affect negatively on livelihoods

activities. Many of the laws (and attitudes)


33

were derived from the colonial period, when laws were discriminatory against black people

• and restricted them from getting into own

businesses. Government has done much, but

not enough to reform the laws. Hence, at

times, government at their convenience uses

the laws and applies them because they have

not been changed. For instance, operation

murambatsvina clearly had legal instruments

backing the actions of the state, even though

the context and manner in which it was done

could be interpreted as too harsh. It is

therefore urgent that laws be reviewed and

reformed to reflect the changed nature of the

Zimbabwean society.

• Poor services: lack of electricity and power

cuts, intermittent access to water and other

services underpinned by high tariffs for

unavailable services negatively affect

businesses. For instance, this significantly

reduces options for diversity especially into

activities that require electricity such as

welding. While generators are the closest

alternative option, the costs are often a

deterrent.

• Market access challenges: the long distances

to markets often leads to losses for those into

market gardening as their produce may be

spoilt by the time they reach the market. In the

end most producers end up limiting their sales

within the local areas. Market flooding also

reduces bargaining power for profitable prices.

Other producers however, also try to seek

alternative markets in other areas. For

produce such as sweet potatoes, the option of

bread often reduces possible buyers. Women

may not be allowed to go to the main urban

markets due to fear of abuse, robbery or risks

involved in night travel. For female-headed

households, the women noted that it is more

convenient to join groups so that they can go

to the market as a group rather than as

individuals for inputs they require in their

informal businesses.


34

POSSIBLE AND REQUIRED INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

FOR LIVELIHOODS

Zimbabwe must work for the benefit of all...


35

G1. Central government mechanisms The broad goal of central government is to ensure

that rural development is spread within the

resources available throughout the country. To this

end government allocates resources directly to

Ministries that broadly touch on livelihoods.

However, in view of the rise of the informal sector as

key in the economy, there have been numerous

challenges in terms of how the state (both central

and local government) would respond to this sector.

Local and central government bureaucracies are

schooled in orderliness, rules and regulations that

may be anti-livelihoods of the poor. With the

progressive informalization of the economy

government faced a dilemma. First, they did not

want disorder and wanted people to follow rules and

laws. Yet, there was a view that government itself

was also breaking its own laws in various sectors of

the economy as seen through the litigations against

it by entrepreneurs seeking claims to resources or

demanding services. Second, government wanted

people to have an economic foundation for their

families, and indigenization and economic

empowerment also meant tacit encouragement of

the informal sector. However, there was no national

framework for the approval of the dissipated

livelihoods activities in all sectors of the economy

and geographical areas, which presented a

governance nightmare for the state.

response, the government then tended to be

punitive to those in the informal sector as seen

through policies on “Operation Murambatsvina in

2005” targeting illegal structures mostly in urban

areas, including home industries, flea markets,

backyard rentals buildings, road side sales. This was

followed by “operation chikorokoza chapera in

2007” focusing on the small scale and panning

sector of mining. Then, the “price control”

machinery was put in place that though targeting

the formal business (especially) retail sector,

destroyed the product line of the informal sector.

Though government was implementing

constitutionally allowed rules and regulations, this

tended to throttle the informal sector that it also

wanted to grow to demonstrate the positive

outcomes of the indigenization and economic

empowerment policy. The halt to the state heavy

handedness came with the formation of the

inclusive government, introduction of market forces

and a liberal attitude that came into government.

This liberal stance, came from the reality that

economically people had become destitute as the

economy had grinded to a halt.


36

G2. Local authorities The RDCs play a co-ordinating role of local affairs,

including the granting of permits and licenses to

entrepreneurs in various sectors of the economy.

They are charged with the formulation of by-laws in

guiding people in their work, and the commons ones

derived from the national statutes include health

and safety by-laws, environmental etc. In addition,

the local authorities collect user fees from

entrepreneurs be it as individual proprietors of

business of various types and scales of operations.

In turn the expectation is that local authorities also

provide services in the form of water, waste

removal, road maintenance etc. They are

complemented by central government and

parastatals in the provision of such services. The

unfortunate part is that revenue collection as

described above has not been matched by service

provision, which has irked rate-payers,

entrepreneurs and even farmers resisting to pay

anything to the councils.

Over the years the revenue base of the local

authorities had been negatively affected by the

economic structural adjustment programme that

promoted privatization of most of the authorities‟

functions resulting in a lack of a revenue base for

them. They further suffered from 2000 because

government interfered with their functions to deliver

services at highly controlled rates. The local tax

base (commercial farmers, service companies such

as banks, manufacturing, industrial and retailing)

was reduced as financial service providers pulled

out from rural areas after the land reform

programme. It is this context that explains their

inability to assist with providing better services to

informal sector business. At this stage, many are

simply collecting revenue for services not provided.

Developing the capacity of local authorities through

human resources, capital development and

investment in greater ICT capacity is long overdue.

G3. Community leadership supporting

systems Efforts at engaging in rural livelihoods depend on

community support at many levels and leadership is

critical. Leadership for development requires the

mastery of representing people when they demand

for better services, access to capital, development

of infrastructure and so on as part of getting public

services for their enterprises to succeed. In this

context, traditional and elected leaders have a role

to play. While the traditional leaders are the

custodians of the land, and are responsible for

cultural rituals, they equally determine how people

accessing certain areas that may have resources,

allowing for use of certain products such as trees.

The traditional leaders are there for key in ensuring

the sustainable utilisation of local resources.

Elected leaders should play the role of representing

local entrepreneurs in local authority forums such

as RDC, while also interfacing with both the Public

and Private sectors in service provision.


37

WHAT IS THE WAY TO GO WITH ECONOMIC BASED

LIVELIHOODS DIVERSITY?

A clear roadmap for livelihoods diversity in Zimbabwe is required to help the poor and vulnerable move

out of poverty


38

H1. A people based approach to livelihoods

development In Zimbabwe, there is no single patent recipe for

livelihoods diversification. There is need for flexibility

and transformations that are commensurate with

the capacities of communities concerned. Engaging

in livelihoods has a potential to help the poor to

move out of poverty while also making a

contribution to strong communities. However, for

livelihoods diversity to work for poverty reduction

there is need to decipher local practices so as to

sufficiently know what poor people are doing by

themselves to overcome poverty or to cope with it.

Quite often NGOs and donors are entangled in some

chimerical vision that guides programme strategies–

– the latest trend, the newest model, the theory that

happens to be in the ascendant at that time.

Nevertheless, such programs tend quite often to

replace and displace local effort.

H2. Match demand and supply

Matching people‟s livelihood options to the market

is essential if people are to develop those livelihood

strategies to the point where they feel safe and

satisfied within them. Likewise, being aware that too

many people following the same employment or

income earning activity in one area can quickly

change market conditions in the negative. If

supported, the enterprises should be able to

generate local employment and improve local

incomes. Such enterprises should have gender

equity as a priority given that many women

participate in these enterprises.

F3. Capital and technical issues

Rural entrepreneurs have established their own

ways of raising resources for their businesses and

these ways require to be supported based on their

own ways, but in a manner that they can also be

attractive for financial institutions. While venture

capital development is one way to go, there are also

other areas such as micro-finance that can be tried

out. This means that development agencies can link

different lending groups to existing micro-finance

institutions.

H3. Enhancing partnerships and collective

action Creating partnerships and leveraging resources

from government, private enterprises, and

development agencies would be an effective

strategy for rural development. This will streamline

the problems of resources wastage as agencies who

if they do not collaborate may end up investing in

the same enterprises, which may not make an

economic sense. In order to leverage resources

Private-Public-Partnerships (PPPs) should be

encouraged as a basis for scaling up enterprises

through capital, skills and technical capacity

mobilisation. This cannot be simply done with the

current range of activities that largely are in the area

of reselling or being appendages of companies

providing services such as in the communication

industry for instance. One way in which rural people

can build capacities and collective strength for

enterprise development is through organizing.

Disadvantaged groups within communities can

derive residual strength if they act in unison.

Through collective action, without inhibiting

individual talent, they gain confidence, knowledge,

voice and abilities to regard themselves as partners.

Coalitions and alliances forged through marketing of

products that build beyond the local community and

enable groups to join with others sharing their

interests and concerns. It is such that they should

not emerge to alienate some members of the

community interested in the same resources for

equally good reasons as those who are participating.


39

H4. Capital and venture capital for rural

development Rural entrepreneurs have established their own

ways of raising resources for their businesses and

these ways require to be supported based on their

own ways, but in a manner that they can also be

attractive for financial institutions. While venture

capital development is one way to go, there are also

other areas such as micro-finance that can be tried

out. This means that development agencies can link

different lending groups to existing micro-finance

institutions. There is a need to try out venture

capital that can be facilitated to enter into capital

venture relationship with the arts entrepreneurs,

initially handling all complicated post-production

activities but gradually capacity building and

handing over these functions to the community

entrepreneurs to manage as they gain experience.

We feel this is more effective than trying to make

livelihoods diversifiers simultaneously experts in

production, marketing and processing of

commodities and bearing all the risk. As part of the

micro-finance programme there is need to create

household insurance products which are generally

under provided in all rural areas but which we feel

are necessary to reduce risk exposure of rural

entrepreneurs.

H5. Strengthening development institutions Whilst these are critical in rural development, they

remain inadequate to meet the needs of local

people. In fact, state financial resources rarely reach

the local people to develop themselves as they are

usually used for the odd infrastructural development

(schools, roads, and clinics) here and there without

any meaningful change in the livelihood status of

the household. One key intervention is for

communities to get tax concessions/relief from the

state or that tax contributors (from the district

working elsewhere) have a percentage of their

contribution going to where they come from. It is

thus critical that there be organizational capacity at

government and civil society level to facilitate

community empowerment through livelihoods

diversification. Where this is not possible, then there

is need to lobby for policy and legislative changes so

that the poor are not marginalized from the spaces

and resources that they depend on.

H6. Facilitating learning and linking by

communities

Rural people can identify rural enterprise and there

is a need for capacity building to make their

enterprises viable and profitable. Therefore

providing people with new livelihood opportunities

may overcome an existing problem but does not

necessarily give them the capacity to adapt to future

challenges. Building skills to help individuals and

communities innovate in the face of future changes

in their environment is key to long-term survival and

growth. Building innovation skills and, more widely,

providing support for continuing livelihood

development is important. In terms of skills

development in livelihoods, there is little point in

building skills not in demand. In fact facilitating

communities to exchange is the surest way in which

communities can learn, as they can copy (borrow)

practical ideas that they can implement in their own

areas.


40

H7. Influencing government policies Effective and efficient resources utilization will

depend on the collaboration between development

agencies and state institutions in ensuring that the

various interventions by the different agencies

complement each other in a synergized way. There

are a number of multi-stakeholder initiatives

involving different donor agencies, governments,

NGOs, the private sector and civil society

organizations doing more or less the same things all

the time and everywhere. The enterprise

development based on exploitation of local

opportunities and natural resources has largely

been focused on people than equally developing the

leadership capacity in government and traditional

leadership to provide support. In fact, RDCs at times

do not have the capacity to support rural

enterprises, yet stick to out dated bylaws and crude

enforcement mechanisms that have not changed

with the times.

H8. Livelihoods policy Local people should also be able to influence the

policy environment. This means that the governance

structures should exist and be of reach for local

people to channel their concerns to the highest

policy making institutions. Policy engagement by

rural people would ensure that they get the best

concessions (through policy benefits and resources)

from the state. The macro-economic environment is

critical in that it affords the community the enabling

mechanisms that support rural enterprise

development. A livelihoods policy that runs across

central government ministries should be central in

identifying the supporting and co-ordinating

mechanisms for a diverse range of livelihoods

activities so that there is minimal policy conflicts.

Key consideration should be how an enabling

environment can be created for people to exploit

local resources, how they can benefit from state

resources allocations, appreciation of the laws that

create the enabling framework for people to exploit

opportunities etc. Given that many livelihoods

issues are spread in many ministries (agriculture,

transport, youth empowerment, local government,

economic planning, SMEs, industry and commerce,

tourism, education and culture etc), it is a mammoth

task for ordinary citizens to know what takes place

in each of the line ministries. Development agencies

can be a portal for rural people whose access to

these ministries is limited due to a variety of factors.

livelihoods diversity study in zimbabwe_popular

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