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Afrifuture Research Bulletin ‘Transforming Africa’S Future Today’

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Afrifuture Research Bulletin ‘Transforming Africa’S Future Today’ AfriFuture Research Bulletin ‘Transforming Africa’s Future Today’ ISSN: 2710-0421 Volume 1, Issue 1 2021 Quarterly Journal of the AfriFuture Research and Development Trust (www.afrifuture.org) AfriFuture Research Bulletin 2021, Volume 1, Issue 1 ISSN: 2710-0421 AfriFuture Research and Development Trust (Reg No: MA4086/2020) AfriFuture Research Bulletin Editor-in-Chief: Tom Tom (PhD) Zimbabwe Open University (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4732-7110) Associate Editor: Clement Chipenda (PhD) University of South Africa (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0112-8922) Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2021 Table of Contents Editorial Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3 Tom Tom & Clement Chipenda Research Articles COVID-19: Exploring the situation of children in Zimbabwe’s high density urban areas ....................... 6 Agness Mutemaringa Interrogating women’s contributions to economic sustainability and state responses in Africa: Nigeria’s Niger Delta area in focus ........................................................................................................ 32 Emmanuel Osewe Akubor & Beatrice Amili Akubor Sustainability of urban agriculture as a poverty alleviation strategy in Zimbabwe: A case study of Harare ................................................................................................................................................... 53 Irony Mazuruse Guidance and counselling for child and community development in Zimbabwe: Schools in focus ..... 66 Resina Banda Rural livelihoods and theileriosis in Zimbabwe .................................................................................... 74 Knobby Tomy Opinion Equity and justice for ethnic minorities: A case of Matabeleland (Zimbabwe) .................................... 81 Rabhelani Mguni 1 AfriFuture Research Bulletin 2021, Volume 1, Issue 1 ISSN: 2710-0421 Politics, security and international relations: The contemporary challenges faced by the Global South .............................................................................................................................................................. 89 Nothando Petra Magwizi Editors Article Contribution Zimbabwe political manoeuvrings and authoritarian consolidation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Reflections on the year 2020 .............................................................................................................. 101 Clement Chipenda & Tom Tom *Call for Articles - The AfriFuture Research Bulletin* ....................................................................... 130 Published by AfriFuture Research and Development Trust (AfriFuture) 5 Morwenstow Ave Cotswold Hills Mabelreign Harare Zimbabwe Website: www.afrifuture.org Email: [email protected]/[email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afrifutureresearch Copyright © 2021 AfriFuture Research and Development Trust All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without prior permission from the copyright holder. ISSN: 2710-0421 2 AfriFuture Research Bulletin 2021, Volume 1, Issue 1 ISSN: 2710-0421 Editorial Introduction Welcome! We are excited to share with you the inaugural issue of the AfriFuture Research Bulletin, which we are proud of having managed to produce under very challenging conditions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulletin, which is published quarterly, is under the auspices of the AfriFuture Research and Development Trust (AfriFuture), which is a new organization, committed to undertaking and disseminating cutting-edge, rigorous and transformational social science research. The organisation is particularly interested in research that focuses on the socioeconomic and political situation of communities in the Global South, while providing sustainable and transformational solutions to identified problems. In line with the organisational objectives, the AfriFuture Research Bulletin endeavours to offer a new and exciting platform where contributions that engage and interrogate the contemporary social, economic, and political questions in the Global South are invited. The Bulletin is a channel for disseminating nuanced, authoritative, and up-to-date research and opinions with articles being invited from any interested persons. It seeks not only to publish and disseminate contemporary scholarly articles but is also committed to providing critical and constructive feedback on submitted manuscripts. This is an integral part of its capacity building initiative; hence, all articles undergo initial editorial screening and a double-blind peer review process. The aim of the process is to improve the quality of submissions while providing guidance and support to emerging scholars. This comes in a background where young scholars in the Global South face challenges in receiving critical and constructive feedback as they seek avenues to publish their research. Unfortunately, at times, due to lack of support young and emerging scholars end up publishing in predatory journals. This is tragic, given the effort which they put in research and manuscript development with manuscripts ending up being published by mediocre publishers without peer review. This does not in any way improve their scholarship or contribution to knowledge. In this Bulletin, we have an exciting and in-depth analysis of the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children in Zimbabwe’s high-density areas by Agness Mutemaringa. In her article, she shows that children (who are often a demographic that is rarely acknowledged), have also been impacted by COVID-19, which has deepened existing development deficiencies, structural inequalities and vulnerabilities. For her, this highlights the need for a multi-stakeholder approach that is responsive and transformational. Given the ravages of COVID-19 in the past year and the challenges which it is presenting, Mutemaringa’s article is timeous and provides critical contemporary analysis of urgent urban challenges affecting children which need immediate attention. What has been the role and contribution of women to economic sustainability and what have been the state responses in this context? This is a question which Emmanuel Osewe Akubor and Beatrice Amili Akubor interrogate in their article published in this Bulletin. They employ a narrative historical approach to critically explore the experiences of women in the oil rich, but environmentally degraded Niger Delta. They show that environmental degradation in the Delta has for decades posed serious livelihood concerns for women given their central social reproduction roles in the household and community. The implications of 3 AfriFuture Research Bulletin 2021, Volume 1, Issue 1 ISSN: 2710-0421 environmental degradation are shown as being worse for women compared to men, who show an indifferent attitude to its implications. Akubor and Akubor argue that women have for decades been at the helm of the struggle against environmental degradation, resource exploitation and low yields in the agricultural sector. Despite this, critical and nuanced analysis of the challenges they experience are lacking, and it is this gap in knowledge which their article addresses. In this Bulletin, we have interesting article by Irony Mazaruse, who critically explores urban agriculture as an alternative poverty reduction strategy for poor urban households. He argues that in African cities, urban agriculture has shown the potential of increasing household food security by increasing household income as well as nutrition. For him, expanded urban cultivation in the face of debilitating socio-economic crisis facing most countries and especially the precarious urban poor is essential. Studies undertaken in different contexts show that it has far reaching positive implications on health, housing, education and welfare. It is thus important that policy makers urgently take it into consideration. ‘The wellbeing of communities globally is anchored on guidance and counselling.’ This is according to Resina Banda who explores the fundamental role of guidance and counselling in child and community development. She gives precedence to the role of schools as basic institutions of every society. From empirical data gathered from schools in Masvingo, Banda advances the view that focusing on child wellbeing through guidance and counselling is consistent with national, regional and international frameworks for good governance and sustainable development. For her this is a pivotal contribution because the future of all societies is guaranteed by children and youth. Knobby Tomy brings in yet another focal facet of socioeconomic development in Zimbabwe. He prioritises livestock health and rural livelihoods particularly in a context where the country has since late 2019, been experiencing the devastating effects of theileriosis (commonly called January disease). He argues that approaching livestock diseases from a livelihoods approach is largely missing in development literature. Using a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA), he goes on to interrogate the livelihood dimensions of the disease. He proffers valuable recommendations on how theileriosis can be controlled, accordingly reducing its impact on rural livelihoods. His contribution is highly significant in Zimbabwe and other countries of the Global South where agriculture
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