Sustainable Development in Southern Africa: Progress in Addressing the Challenges

This paper reviews the progress made in establishing institutional framework for sustainable development in Southern Africa, identifies the major successes and challenges in implementing sustainable development policies and programs and suggests recommendations to enhance implementation of sustainable development policies and programs

HIV/AIDS, poverty and elderly women in urban Zimbabwe

(SAFERE Southern African Feminist Review: 2000/2001 4/5: 93-106

Morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe's urban areas: policy implications for social protection

In times of tightening national budgets as a result of structural adjustment requirements, the need to make choices in a country's publicly-funded social protection programme is heightened. A greater understanding of the patterns and causes of morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe's urban areas forms an important basis for designing an effective social protection policy and programmes that may have a positive impact on the welfare of the urban poor. This study assesses the prevalence of morbidity and mortality in some low-income suburbs of Zimbabwe. Results indicate that the reported leading causes of long illness and death were predominantly AIDS related. This calls for social policies and programmes to integrate HIV/AIDS prevention and improve access to treatment for the poor. The study revealed that households are heavily dependent on informal forms of support to help them cope with adult morbidity and mortality. Policies aimed at strengthening these informal sources of support can help foster the well-being of poor families. Lower-income households are less likely to make use of nation-wide public support programmes. The resultant policy implication is that public social support schemes such as health and education support and employment guarantee schemes should be intensified and expanded to generate substantial positive welfare effects by complementing informal resources. Journal of Social Development in Africa Vol 16 No 1 2001, pp. 3-2

Agricultural research priority setting under multiple objectives: an example from Zimbabwe

Strategic priorities are assessed for the agricultural research system in Zimbabwe in a situation characterized by multiple objectives, farm-types, and agro-ecological zones. Economic surplus analysis is used to rank research programs by commodity and research program areas in total and disaggregated by large and small farms in high and low potential regions. No funding, current funding, and 50% more funding are allowed for each program in the analysis. An optimal research portfolio is developed, first with all weight placed on efficiency, and second with increasing weights placed on benefits going to smallholder farmers. Even with no additional weight placed on small-holders, research programs for both small farms and low potential areas enter into the optimal research portfolio. As more emphasis is given to small-holders, the reduction in overall efficiency gained due to research is relatively modest. Maize and cotton were the highest ranked commodity research programs of the 36 commodities considered for both large and small farms. Agronomy and soils research are relatively more important for small-holders, while plant breeding and crop protection are relatively more important for large-scale farmers. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved