Browsing by Author "Sithole, M."

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    A rights-based analysis of disaster risk reduction framework in Zimbabwe and its implications for policy and practice
    (2013) Bongo, P. P.; Chipangura, P.; Sithole, M.; Moyo, F.
    This paper examines closely the institutional arrangements for disaster risk reduction from a rights-based perspective. In Zimbabwe, the disaster risk reduction framework and the ensuing practice have not yet accommodated some of the most vulnerable and excluded groups, especially the terminally ill, people with disabilities and the very poor. Top-down approaches to disaster management have largely been blamed for lack of resilience and poor preparedness on the part of sections of society that are hard hit by disasters. Often, disaster risk reduction has also been modeled along the needs and priorities of able-bodied people, whilst largely excluding those with various forms of impairments. Against this background, this paper is based on field research on people’s disaster risk experiences in four districts of Zimbabwe, with a special emphasis on the disaster risk reduction framework. It provides a critical analysis of the disaster risk reduction framework in Zimbabwe, focusing on the various forms of disadvantages to different categories of people that the current framework has tended to generate. The paper thus examines the current disaster risk reduction framework as largely informed by the Civil Protection Act and the Disaster Risk Management Policy Draft as revised in 2011. Crucial at this stage is the need to interrogate the disaster risk reduction framework, right from formulation processes with regard to participation and stakeholders, particularly the grassroots people who bear the greatest brunt of vulnerability, shocks, stresses and trends. In conclusion, the paper stresses the potential benefits of adopting an inclusive, rights-based thrust to disaster risk reduction in Zimbabwe.
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    Does Urban Agriculture help improve women`s resilience to poverty? Evidence from low- income generating women in Bulawayo
    (2014) Sebata, N.; Mabhena, C.; Sithole, M.
    This article analyses how women have used Urban Agriculture (UA) as a resilience strategy to poverty in Bulawayo`s high density suburb of Cowdray Park. Women, who are naturally the primary care givers tend to suffer the most in urban areas as quite often they have to bear the responsibility of food provision at home. The article focuses on how UA contributes to food security, employment, income and empowerment for women engaged in the practice. The research for this article is largely qualitative and uses primary data collected from 30 respondents using questionnaires, 5 key informant interviews, 2 focus group discussions and observations. Secondary data from government and non-governmental organisations documents was also used. The results indicate that UA contributes significantly to food availability and access for women engaged in the practice. However nutritional contribution is low and less diverse as farmers concentrate on growing maize than other crops. Income generation is also very low as women concentrate on subsistence production. This article further discusses the relative empowerment function of UA to women. It argues that despite problems encountered by women farmers such as marginalization of UA as a land use activity, shortage of water and lack of institutional support, UA still improved the socio- economic status and empowered urban women. The article therefore recommends that local authorities set aside land specifically for UA and provide institutional support such as sinking of boreholes and provision of inputs
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    Dynamics of configuring and interpreting the disaster risk script: Experiences from Zimbabwe
    (2013) Bongo, P. P.; Chipangura, P.; Sithole, M.; Moyo, F.
    People in Zimbabwe have been faced with disasters in different forms and at various levels. When people experience hazard events and disasters, they perceive these phenomena through lenses that are largely shaped by their local day-to-day experiences and some external influence. As they do this, they develop their own local conception of hazards and disasters, and they tend to model their response or preparedness through this. This article argues that on the basis of this premise, each society therefore develops its own unique and localised way of interpreting the disaster, which comes in the form of a ‘script’, that needs to be deciphered, read, analysed and understood within local priorities and knowledge systems. The hazard may be the same, say, fire, but as it occurs in different communities, they configure and read the fire script differently, hence spawning different response and prevention strategies. The way people anticipate, prepare for, and respond to a particular disaster stems from their perception of it, based on their own local conceptions of reality. The article argues that effective disaster risk reduction must focus on people’s holistic understanding of the unfolding scenario, thereby feeding into disaster risk early warning systems. For effective understanding of the utility of early warning systems, the socio-cultural processes involved in the ideation of the disaster cannot be ignored. It is also critical to examine people’s past experiences with external early warning systems, and how much faith they put in them.