Browsing by Author "Williams, John J"
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Item An outcome assessment of a developmental project : a case study of the Dotito-Muchenje irrigation project in Mount Darwin district, Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe(University of the Western Cape, 2017) Mlotshwa, Edmore; Williams, John JThe establishment of the Dotito-Muchenje irrigation project was an endeavour initiated by the Government of Zimbabwe, to empower local people. It was done to improve the livelihoods of the people. However, despite the launch of the project, socio-economic challenges remain pressing issues. The inability to make decent livelihoods continues to affect rural farmers, resulting in the scheme being unable to be fully-functional. The problems thus undermine the capability of the project to address poverty and inequality, which was core to the project initiation. This research focuses on an outcome assessment of the irrigation project as it relates to the livelihoods of people in the Dotito rural communal area. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used in the study. Twenty-four farmers, out of a possible ninety farmers, were selected to complete questionnaires. Radom sampling was used to identify and select participants. Data collection was done using interviews, questionnaires and observations. Analyses were done using descriptive statistics. Tables and graphs were presented based on the information gathered from the farmers. The research findings show that the Dotito-Muchenje irrigation scheme partly managed to empower the local people. Some of the indicators used include: employment creation, income generation, and changes to the socio-economic livelihoods of beneficiary farmers. However, lack of support and the prevailing economic situation are among the many challenges that make it difficult for the farmers to achieve their full potential in terms of improving their livelihoods. Another challenge relates to water availability. Irrigation pumps at the irrigation scheme use electricity to supply water needed by the farmers, thus there is inadequate water supply. This is because the electricity supply has long been cut-off due to the arrears accumulated by the farmers. It has rendered the irrigation partially functional, resulting in low productivity. The low crop yield makes it difficult to fully address the food security situation for the people. While others blame the situation on the land reform, based on evidence from development practitioners and farmers interviewed, the unsuccessfulness of the irrigation could be attributed to lack of project tracking (monitoring and evaluation) by government. It is in this context that intervention by the government, non-governmental organizations and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, is recommended to ensure the viability and sustainability of the irrigation scheme and facilitate its positive impact on rural livelihoods.Item Urban Housing Policy in Zimbabwe and its Institutional Structures: Reflecting on the Housing Challenge in Harare, 1980-2020.(2021) Poshai, Leon; Williams, John JThis thesis is a contextual analysis and reflection of the urban housing policy making process in post-independence Zimbabwe, buttressed by empirical research. The focus of the thesis is on understanding the nature and characteristics of the urban housing policy in Zimbabwe and how its formulation and implementation processes are influenced by institutional structures embedded in urban councils. The thesis relates to institutional structures such as the vision and mission statement, the institutional hierarchy of authority, discipline systems, principles and value systems, rules and operational codes of conduct as well as the institutional culture. Central to this thesis is an exposition of how these institutional structures influence and regularise the activities of urban housing policy actors in Zimbabwe’s urban councils. The research proceeds from a global analytical perspective of the evolution of urban housing challenges to a conceptualisation of urban housing policy. The thesis describes how Zimbabwe’s urban areas are the main hubs of economic activities and labour magnets for the country’s economically active population – a situation that has generated housing shortages, resulting in widespread residential overcrowding and the proliferation of irregular settlements that lack basic services like piped water and electricity. Moreover, the thesis elaborates on how the urban housing situation in Zimbabwe has put urban local authorities under the spotlight as they are expected to not only be responsive to the institutional requirements but also advance proactive planning measures to deal with persisting housing predicaments in the country. Principally, these contextual measures constitute urban housing policies which are formulated and implemented as guiding frameworks for the development of programmes, projects and strategies to combat the persisting urban housing challenges. Qualitative methods namely, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Twenty-five key informants were purposefully selected and interviewed to provide analytical insights into urban housing policy formulation, its implementation and how is influenced by institutional structures. Given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, some of the key informant interviews were telephonic. The study found that while institutional structures are the functional operatives of urban housing policy decision making in Zimbabwe, they have contributed to the formulation of inconsequential urban housing policy and the implementation thereof. The research also found that urban housing institutions in Zimbabwe have a politicised and inflexible institutional structures which makes it difficult for these institutions to formulate appropriate housing policies to provide adequate housing to the people. As the research revealed, institutional structures have generated regularised channels of policy decision-making and this has become institutional weaknesses against successful urban housing policy making in Zimbabwe. This dent is compounded by limited financial resources to implement the designed housing projects. The study established that ineffective urban housing policy formulation and implementation has left the majority of urbanites with severe shelter shortages, socio-economic deprivation, thereby undermining their daily livelihoods. The thesis proposes that delinking urban housing institutions from political control and structural impediments can facilitate innovation in urban housing policy making and contribute substantively to the improvement of housing provision in urban Zimbabwe.