Supported By 2 Foreword The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) successfully carried out the seventh Urban Livelihoods Assessment (ULA) in August 2019 under the overall coordination of the Food and Nutrition Council (FNC). This report provides updates on pertinent urban household livelihoods issues such as demographics, housing, education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, energy, social protection, food consumption patterns, food and income sources, income levels, expenditure patterns, debts, coping strategies and food security. The purpose of the report is to give both Government and Development Partners the much-needed empirical evidence for planning, programming and decision making which in turn will result in targeted urban community interventions. We would like to express our profound gratitude to ZimVAC for successfully conducting this survey, without under-estimating the active role played by the food and nutrition security structures at both provincial and district levels. All their efforts are greatly appreciated. This whole process received financial support and technical leadership from the Government of Zimbabwe and its Development Partners. Without this support, the 2019 Urban Livelihoods Assessment would not have been successful. We would also like to thank the urban communities of Zimbabwe as well as the local authorities for cooperating and supporting this assessment. We submit this report to you for your use and reference in your invaluable work. We hope it will light your way as you search for lasting measures in addressing priority issues keeping many of our urban households vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity. George D. Kembo 3 FNC Director/ ZimVAC Chairperson Table of contents • Foreword 3 • Acknowledgements 5 • Introduction and Background 6 • Assessment Methodology 12 • Household Demographics 18 • Education 34 • Social Protection 38 • Urban agriculture 42 • Incomes, expenditure and remittances 50 • Markets 69 • Food consumption patterns 72 • Child nutrition 90 • Shocks and hazards 99 • Food security 104 • Housing, energy and WASH 110 • Access to information 146 • Fortification 160 • Conclusions and Recommendations 166 4 Acknowledgements • Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) • National Aids Council (NAC) • Ministry of Finance • Mavambo Trust • Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) • Child Line • Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement • AMALIMA • Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare • World Vision • Ministry of Health and Child Care • Save the Children • Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing • Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT - Mutare) • Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development • SOS Children’s Village • World Food Programme (WFP) • ADRA Zimbabwe • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) • Restless Development • United States Agency for International Development (USAID) • Catholic Relief Services (CRS) • United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) • CP Trust • World Health Organisation (WHO) • CADS • Meteorological Services Department (MSD) • WHH • SADC RVAA • Sizimele • CARE International • Melana • Plan International • Aquaculture • Red Cross • Urban and Rural Local Authorities • OXFAM 5 Introduction • ZimVAC, a consortium of Government, Development Partners and Academia, acts as a technical advisory committee which focuses on designing and implementing a national Food and Nutrition Security Information System. • ZimVAC was established in 2002 and is chaired by FNC, a department in the Office of the President and Cabinet whose mandate is to promote a multi-sectoral response to food and nutrition security challenges with the vision of ensuring that every Zimbabwean is free from hunger and malnutrition. • ZimVAC undertakes urban and rural Livelihoods Assessments to generate information to be used for policy formulation and programming by Government and its Development Partners. • ZimVAC supports Government, particularly FNC in: • Convening and coordinating stakeholders on national food and nutrition security issues in Zimbabwe • Charting a practical way forward for fulfilling legal and existing policy commitments in food and nutrition security • Advising Government on strategic directions in food and nutrition security • Undertaking a “watchdog role” and supporting and facilitating action to ensure commitments in food and nutrition are kept on track by different sectors through a number of core functions such as: • Undertaking food and nutrition assessments, analysis and research, • Promoting multi-sectoral and innovative approaches for addressing food and nutrition insecurity, and: • Supporting and building national capacity for food and nutrition security including at sub-national levels. • To date, ZimVAC has conducted seven urban livelihoods assessments since its inception, the 2019 Urban Livelihoods Assessment being the seventh. 6 Background • The assessment was carried out in an environment where the Government had set in motion a Transitional Stabilization Programme (TSP) in a bid to set the economy on a recovery path after years of stagnation. The TSP has been set to run from October 2018 to December 2020 with the aim of operationalizing Vision 2030 which seeks to transform Zimbabwe into an upper middle-income country with a monthly per capita income of USD 3 500 per person. • The programme focuses on the following factors: • Stabilizing the macro-economy, and the financial sector; • Introducing necessary policy and institutional reforms to translate to a private sector-led economy; • Addressing infrastructure gaps and launching quick-wins to stimulate growth. • Stimulating domestic production, exports, rebuilding and transforming the economy to an upper middle income status by 2030. • As Zimbabwe is going through a radical economic transformation that is supposed to see the country becoming a middle-income economy by 2030, a number of challenges militate against this positive trajectory. 7 Background • The economy faced the following challenges: • Lack of decent and secure employment, • Liquidity challenges for both local and foreign currency, • The use of alternative modes of payment leading to multiple prices of the same commodity and price distortions, • Fast changing prices of basic commodities resulting in depressed purchasing power of the vulnerable populations in the country which was exacerbated by stagnant salaries and wages. • The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Zimbabwe is worth 23 billion US dollars (ZimSTAT, 2018) and the Food Poverty Line (FPL) for an average household of five persons was $639.63 as of July 2019. • At least 38% of urban households are considered to be poor and 6% extremely poor. 8 Assessment Purpose To provide an update on livelihoods in Zimbabwe’s urban areas, for the purposes of informing policy formulation and programming appropriate interventions. 9 Assessment Objectives • To estimate the urban population that is likely to be food and nutrition insecure in the 2019/20 consumption year, their geographic distribution and the severity of their food insecurity. • To describe the socio-economic profiles of urban households in terms of demographics, access to basic services (education, health services and water and sanitation facilities), income sources, incomes and expenditure patterns, food consumption patterns and coping strategies; • To identify shocks and challenges to food and nutrition security in urban areas. 10 Technical Scope The 2019 Urban Livelihoods Assessment collected and analysed information on the following thematic areas: • Social protection • Education • Food consumption patterns and dietary diversity • Income and expenditure patterns • Livelihoods coping strategies • Savings and debts • Health and nutrition • Water, sanitation, hygiene and energy • Markets • Agriculture • Food security • Shocks and hazards 11 Assessment Methodology 12 Assessment Process • The assessment design was informed by the multi-sectoral objectives generated through a multi-stakeholder consultation process. • An appropriate survey design and protocol, informed by the survey objectives, was developed. • The assessment used android based questionnaires as the primary data collection instrument. • The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing coordinated the recruitment of enumerators and mobilisation of vehicles. • ZimVAC national supervisors (Provincial Social Welfare Officers included) and enumerators were recruited from Government ministries/departments, United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisations and underwent training in all aspects of the assessment (background, data collection tools, assessment sampling strategy and assessment supervision). • Each enumeration team had four enumerators and two anthropometrists. • Primary data collection took place from 8 – 22 August 2019. • Data analysis and report writing ran from 26 August -2 September 2019 • Other relevant secondary data sources were used to contextualise the analysis and reporting 13 Sampling • The sample design was such that key livelihood indicators, particularly food insecurity prevalence, could be reported at domain level with at least 95% confidence. • The sample was drawn from 37 reporting domains made up of cities, towns, service centres and growth points. • It focused on urban households residing in the medium-density, high density, and peri-urban areas of Zimbabwe. It covered Urban Council Areas (UCAs), Administrative