Browsing by Author "Mandioma, Shamiso"

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    The nature and extent of participation by small scale farmers in the Development Aid from People to People Farmers' Club project in Mazowe District of Zimbabwe
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Mandioma, Shamiso; Penderis, Sharon
    The conventional top-down approach to development has been rendered unsustainable and is regarded as a poor strategy to achieving community empowerment and development. The past few decades have seen the promotion of bottom-up techniques whereby governments and developing agents collaborate with target beneficiaries and view them as equal partners in the development of their own communities. It is generally believed that the participation of farmers in agricultural projects improves the performance of the agricultural sector. However, despite the adoption of participatory models, agricultural societies have remained plagued by poverty. It is against this background that this research using the Mazowe District as a case study investigated the nature and extent of participation by small scale farmers in the Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Farmers’ Club in order to document the extent to which farmers have been empowered. The study made use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to gather relevant data. Broadly the findings indicate that the participation of farmers in the DAPP Farmers' Club project was substantively high. The results also suggest that the project empowered farmers to farm more productively in the case study area. In light of the findings the study recommends that governments and NGOs should follow the values and principles of the people-centred development (PCD) theory when implementing agricultural projects as it has proven to be an empowering approach. This practice may transform societies as there is an opportunity to address societal needs at grassroots level. In view of this research it can be argued that capacitating farmers through training and improving their farming skills can improve their agricultural production.
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    Participation as a developmental strategy: a critical appraisal of women’s access to participation and experiences in local government structures in the Mazowe rural district council in Zimbabwe.
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Mandioma, Shamiso; Karriem, Abdulrazak
    Despite the adoption of participatory models which emphasize full and meaningful participation of vulnerable groups such as the youth, women and children, local governments are not immune to the high levels of inequality in various contexts across the globe. In Zimbabwe, scholarship on women’s participation in local governance has mostly focused on their numerical representation and participation in elections and politics. This research focused on women’s access to participation, quality of participation and their overall participation experiences in local government structures. More specifically, it (i) identified the various participatory structures at Ward and District level, (ii) examined the nature and extent of women’s participation in the identified structures, and (iii) investigated factors affecting women’s participation in the available structures. It argued that women’s participation in local government is key for an inclusive government system that seeks to address the interests and concerns of different groups of its population. The exclusion of women, who are more than half of the country’s population in decision-making structures, denies the country the opportunity to harness its entire population’s potential and capabilities. The research documented how women are participating and the quality of their participation in the identified participatory structures. Women’s overall participation experiences in the local government structures were examined which aided the research in determining the quality and extent of their participation. It also explored the positionality and lived experiences of the rural women which brought to attention the underlying factors that have contributed to the poor and low participation in the identified structures and processes. Furthermore, it provided explicit evidence on how and why women in rural areas such as Mazowe participate poorly and at low levels due to the deep seated socio-cultural complexities and patriarchal practises inherent in rural contexts. It documented the lived experiences of women who are ordinary residents, employees in the Mazowe Rural District Council (MRDC), members of institutionalised structures (Ward Development Committees and Rural District Development Committee) with the intention of highlighting how their class and status affects their participation, and how they navigate their different roles