This article examines the experiences of people in rural areas who are displaced by the construction of small dams. Scholarship on dam construction has generally focused on the impact of big dams on communities. Yet, this study argues, small dam construction projects also impact those living on the site and vicinity of small dams. Using Magunje Dam in Hurungwe District of Zimbabwe as a lens, the study traces the experiences of the changed livelihoods of communities that resisted being moved and those who were relocated to other places. By taking this approach, the study establishes the complex impact of the Magunje Dam project on the evicted people and argues that those who are affected by small dam projects sometimes suffer unwanted consequences and their challenges are difficult to remedy because they occupy the fringes of society. Their challenges go unnoticed, especially after receiving paltry compensation. The study shows that displacement and involuntary resettlement destabilise the family fabric. Through the lenses of the Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction model (IRR), the effects of dam construction on rural people are unpacked. Data was obtained through qualitative research methodologies.
This article makes a case for metaevaluation in the context of further evaluative inquiry beyond primary evaluation level and advances the plausible perspective that metaevaluation improves the quality of primary evaluations and the evidence used to support decision-making. It argues that metaevaluation is a form of evaluative enquiry that is aimed at assessing the strengths and weaknesses of primary evaluations. Through so doing, metaevaluation makes a valuable contribution toward enhancing the credibility and reliability of primary evaluations and the evidence provided to decision-makers. Metaevaluation has been utilised in different contexts in some developed countries to assess the quality of evaluations of development interventions, although scanty evidence exists of its use in developing country contexts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world in an unprecedented way. Understanding the response of the Zimbabwean government to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the informal sector economy is important. This study fills the research void on how various interventions by the government have impacted the informal sector. It demonstrates that the livelihoods supported by the informal sector have been negatively affected by the lockdown measures as well as curfews. Farm-produce vendors, entrepreneurs, second-hand clothes importers, taxi operators, barbers and hair salons were classified as non-essential services and had to observe lockdown restrictions. The study observes that these groups were significantly disrupted by the government’s response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Using a qualitative approach, the article reflects on the livelihood experiences of those dependent on this sector during this era by assessing measures that have been introduced to contain the epidemic. Using primary evidence from print and electronic media, the article corroborates the narratives shared in public forums with unobtrusive observations to report on the complex nature of fighting the pandemic in Zimbabwe’s informal sector. An in-depth document analysis as well as evidence from print and electronic media adds to the existing literature on the government’s informal sector policy response to pandemics. It gives an evaluation of the strategies implemented and how the people in the informal sector respond to such policy initiatives. This study explores the experiences of people engaged in informal projects in their quest for socio-economic empowerment given the coronavirus challenge and restrictive measures implemented by the government to curtail the spread of the disease.
Migration, enterprise and the related language and culture dynamics are critical to South Africa and Zimbabwe. In the past, some scholars were of the view that the language and cultural communities created by migration pose a threat, and others argued that they are advantageous. This article presents a single-factor analytical approach to issues, which suggests that co-existing modalities should be worked out for the host citizens to accept the migrants without reservations. This acceptance is imperative as its negation results in some contexts to the flaring of ugly xenophobic manifestations. The argument presented in this article is pertinent to African languages and education, the African Union, the United Nations, civic, humanitarian organisations, respective governments, interested stakeholders and language communities, amongst others. It provides insight on how to manage cultures and morals among migrants of diverse categories. The article used a mixed research methodology. It reviews ideas on migration globally and in Africa in particular, analysing how migration contributes towards emerging language and cultural societies or communities. A sample of 100 respondents was used for this study. The paper suggests that there should be unity, deregulation and liberalisation of movement of people across the continent for trade and skills-sharing to improve sustainability. The article intends to guide African leaders to co-exist and to encourage fair competition for continental expansion, poverty alleviation and development of positive international language policies. It is one of the recent attempts to expound on the existing perspectives on migration dynamics and the formation of viable diasporic language communities in Africa and highlight their contribution towards ubuntu.
Based on documentary analysis, this article argues that lessons of violent conflicts are rarely appropriated positively for nation-building in the context of post-conflict African societies. The article further stresses that the reasons often projected as causes of ineffective nation-building, such as multiple ethnicity and neo-colonialism, are unjustifiably projected as causal factors. It argues that diverse ethnicity remains a dormant destructive force until operationalised for political gains through misappropriation and deployment of collective memories. In the African context, post-conflict societies adopt the mixed approach of selective amnesia which emphasises amnesty, reconciliation, rehabilitation and reintegration as necessary for nation-building. Experience, however, suggests that the operationalisation of this approach is always marred by inconsistencies and repression. Consequently, repressive mechanisms suppress violence and achieve relative stability. True reconciliation which is critical for nation-building is never achieved. Among loser ethnic groups (hereafter loser groups), resistance to selective amnesia and simultaneous preoccupation with collective memory of victimisation, discrimination and injustice continue to reinforce sentiments of group exceptionality and separatist impulses rather than national consciousness. Therefore, cautious expression of citizenship among segments of the loser groups continues to attract mutual suspicion and distrust from leadership of post-conflict states. It is concluded that the challenge of social contradictions in post-conflict societies is serious because neither the state nor loser groups positively deploy memory of conflict for nation-building. A new reconciliatory approach drawn largely from lessons of history is recommended for post-conflict nation-building efforts in post-conflict African states. Positive appropriation and deployment of memory for nation-building ensures amnesty and restoration without repercussions; and remembrance without resentment.
