Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty (eds), Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2003, 378 pp. ISBN 81-7829-148-7, $31
The State of Municipal and Related By-Laws and their Contributions to Urban Resilience in Zimbabwe
Journal of Urban Systems and Innovations for Resilience in Zimbabwe -JUSIRZ, Aug 25, 2021
Zimbabwean cities have become vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change is impacting c... more Zimbabwean cities have become vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change is impacting city systems and populations. The shocks are contributing to urban poverty. These realities make it critical for urban planning, management and governance instruments to integrate resilience. Given that municipal by-laws are key to urban governance, their effectiveness enables urban resilience. This study analysed the status of municipal by-laws in the context of urban resilience. It used quasi-legal, organisational and socioeconomic analyses to establish the political economy of by-law development and enforcement in Zimbabwe. Data were gathered from nine urban councils across the hierarchy of urban centres. The analysis focused on the regulation of basic services (principally water, sanitation and hygiene(WASH) including solid waste) and Local Economic Development (LED). Findings reveal that Zimbabwe"s councils face serious inadequacies in these service areas, that their by-laws are inadequate and the framework and capacity to address these constraints are limited. The rapid socioeconomic changes in urban areas, characterised by informalisation in the context of climate change, limited financial and technical capacity to plan and manage urban services, make this worse.
Constitutional Knowledge, Rights-Based Development, and Citizenship in Zimbabwe
Research Anthology on Citizen Engagement and Activism for Social Change, 2022
This chapter seeks to assess the trends in rights-based development (RBD) and citizenship in Zimb... more This chapter seeks to assess the trends in rights-based development (RBD) and citizenship in Zimbabwe based on constitutional knowledge to proffer options on how the public can become constitutionally knowledgeable towards developing the nation. The chapter is informed by constitutional knowledge gathered through qualitative data from document analysis and literature on this discourse. The chapter first discusses the provisions of RBD and citizenship in Zimbabwe in light of the constitution. It assesses the trends in RBD and citizenship in Zimbabwe past, present, and the future to analyze the trends in the changes in the development of the nation, based on constitutional knowledge. Lastly, it proffers policy options on ways to nurture constitutionally knowledgeable citizenry.
This study explores opportunities and challenges for institutionalising participatory development... more This study explores opportunities and challenges for institutionalising participatory development in rural Zimbabwe and compares them with Zambia’s experiences. It defines participatory development in terms of ordinary people’s relations with the variety of organisations involved in development. The study finds that the main factors facilitating participatory development relate to inter-organisational interactions and the coordination of development activities. The interactions occur in joint and separate institutional spaces as organisations facilitate development. Initiators, regulators and participants of the interactions are many, formal and informal, local and external. Governments influence and participate in the interactions through policy formulation and direct implementation of programme activities but generally under-fund local governance institutions. Such Government involvement strengthens but also distorts local relations. Distortion is increasingly the situation in Zim...
Institutionalizing Participatory Development in Zimbabwe
The book explores opportunities and challenges for emplacing participatory development in rural Z... more The book explores opportunities and challenges for emplacing participatory development in rural Zimbabwe and compares that with Zambia’s experiences. In participatory development ordinary people’s relations with development organisations and inter-organisational interactions in joint and separate spaces as organisations facilitate development are important. Initiators, regulators and participants of the interactions are many, formal and informal, local and external. Governments shape and participate in the interactions (policy and implementing activities) but under-fund local governance institutions. Government strengthens but also distorts local relations. Distortion is increasingly the situation in Zimbabwe. People’s participation is the bottom-up influence needed for organisational interaction to be locally meaningful. The crisis in Zimbabwe has put a strain on organisational interaction & relations with people stalling institutionalization of participatory development. These fin...
When Extractives Come Home: An Action Research on the Impact of the Extractives Sector on Women in Selected Mining Communities in Zimbabwe
The fact that mining constitute a major contributor to Zimbabwean economy cannot be overemphasize... more The fact that mining constitute a major contributor to Zimbabwean economy cannot be overemphasized with the sector contributing more than 60% of the country's export earnings. However, its contributory role to the economy has been overshadowing its impact on communities, especially women. This paper, thus, is a result of an action research on the impact of mining and the extractive industry in general on women in selected mining communities in Zimbabwe. The study was commissioned by Actionaid International Zimbabwe and conducted by the Development Governance Institute between March and May 2015. The principal focus of the study was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between women and the extractive industry. In doing so, the research contributes to the design of context specific and appropriate strategies as well as actions to protect and uphold women's rights in mining communities. Further, the investigation identified the strategies adopted by wom...
Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, affecting 270,000 people. The storm and subsequent fl... more Cyclone Idai struck Zimbabwe in March 2019, affecting 270,000 people. The storm and subsequent flooding and landslides left 340 people dead and many others missing. Agriculture, schools and infrastructure all suffered heavy impacts; many people lost their homes. Chimanimani and Chipinge Districts were hardest hit. This policy brief provides an analysis of the impacts and review of the disaster response to draw lessons and policy implications for post-disaster institutional development. Increased climate change-induced hazards will worsen national vulnerability. Key policies and agencies need urgent improvement to frame more proactive disaster risk management (DRM). Stronger social protection systems, enhanced DRM funding, finalizing policy and devolved implementation structures, as well as better settlement systems regulation, are critical for Zimbabwe's ability to deal effectively with future climateinduced risks.
A regional scan of Local Government Innovations and Experiences in addressing the HIV/AIDS challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa with specific focus on urban areas
A R at ion al izat ion of a nd Prop os al fo r a Dev o lv ed In st ituti on al St ru ctu re fo r ... more A R at ion al izat ion of a nd Prop os al fo r a Dev o lv ed In st ituti on al St ru ctu re fo r Land Ad mi ni st rat ion in Z imb abw e K u d z a i C h a t i z a
This article links the decline of service delivery in urban councils in post-independence Zimbabw... more This article links the decline of service delivery in urban councils in post-independence Zimbabwe to a rise in levels of associational life. Poorer urban residents cannot easily escape poor public sector service delivery by resorting to the private market. In response to declining service delivery by councils, ratepayers form residents’ associations to do three main things. First, they confront councils and pressure them to restore delivery capability. Second, they produce those services that councils are unable or unwilling to provide. Third, they defend residents against the predatory actions of councils. However, the capacities of residents’ associations in these three areas have yet to be established. Notably, limited formal opportunities exist for engagement between councils and residents’ associations which restricts their effectiveness. This paper argues that, if supported, residents’ associations can deepen local democracy while simultaneously facilitating the repair of cou...
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 2006
Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India, Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty, e... more Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India, Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty, eds., New Delhi: Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, 2003, pp. 363.In the last decade in North America, there has been an explosion of books on the subject of civil society. Like so many other concepts in contemporary political science, the notion of civil society has been imported to analyze other polities outside the North American hemisphere, and India is no exception. However, Tandon and Mohanty's edited book presents a fresh perspective by combining academic analysis with that of on-the-ground practitioners to examine the relationship between civil society and governance. The book is divided into two parts: the first deals with the theoretical conceptualization of civil society and the second with actual case studies.
This paper examines how Zimbabwe's ruling party ZANU(PF) sought to dominate Harare from 2000 onwa... more This paper examines how Zimbabwe's ruling party ZANU(PF) sought to dominate Harare from 2000 onwards, when the city's voters turned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The ruling party's quest for control was embedded in broader changes to the state, marked by countrywide repression of the political opposition and civic organisations, securitised state institutions, and a shift into patronage and systemic corruption, in a context of repeated economic crises and infrastructural decay. ZANU(PF) deployed a mix of 'repressive' and 'generative' strategies but these have been notably unsuccessful in winning back urban votes overall. The ruling party's 'generative' patronage in this solidly opposition-supporting capital hinged on controlling land and new settlements on the periphery, together with dominance of central markets and opportunities for vending. Simultaneously, the powers of the Ministry Responsible for Local Government were used to undermine the city's council, destabilise its finances and restrict its spatial governance. Land reform and land occupations, justified nationwide as a continuation of the liberation struggle, shaped the city's expansion in distinctive ways. The paper makes two contributions to broader conceptual debates over political dominance in urban contexts. First, it advocates a geographical approach that differentiates specific urban spaces, rather than treating capital cities as monolithic. Second, it calls for attention to the qualities of political dominance and change over time. This means looking beyond top-down strategies of co-optation or coercion and open forms of protest politics to explore authority and political manoeuvres within dominated locales.
Article (Accepted Version) McGregor, JoAnn and Chatiza, Kudzai (2020) Partisan citizenship and it... more Article (Accepted Version) McGregor, JoAnn and Chatiza, Kudzai (2020) Partisan citizenship and its discontents: precarious possession and political agency on Harare City's expanding margins. Citizenship Studies, 24 (1). pp. 17-39.
This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the pub... more This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version.
Analysing Policy Responses to the Dilemmas of Peri-urbanity and Land Management in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of Harare
SpringerBriefs in Geography, 2016
The problematic of conceptualising the “peri-urban” since the 1950s has spawned a range of someti... more The problematic of conceptualising the “peri-urban” since the 1950s has spawned a range of sometimes conflicting policy practices in different parts of the world (UN-Habitat 2008).
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