CUZ ePublications (Catholic University of Zimbabwe)
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Gender Differences in Workplace Diversity and Inclusion: A Study of Higher Education Institutions in Zimbabwe
Full text linkThe objective of this study was to investigate the intricate interplay between gender dynamics and workplace diversity and inclusion within the higher education sector. Utilising a mixed methodology, the study employed online surveys and virtual interviews to collect data from 320 women across ten higher learning institutions in Zimbabwe. The findings of the study revealed that women encountered challenges in various aspects, including achieving a work-life balance, meeting familial expectations, the absence of paternity leave, a dearth of women in leadership positions, and instances of sexual harassment. Within their professional environments, women encountered obstacles such as biases, stereotypes, inadequate support, and barriers impeding their career advancement. The study recommended the full implementation of gender-inclusive policies and practices, the promotion of genderresponsive leadership and mentorship, and the fostering of an inclusive campus culture through educational initiatives. This research significantly contributes to a deeper comprehension of the role gender plays in shaping inclusive environments and provides valuable insights for developing strategies to create equitable and diverse workplaces
A Systematic Review of Digital Strategies for Equitable Climate Adaptation in Southern African Cities
Full text linkThis research examines digital technologies adoption for equitable climate preparedness in Southern African Development Community (SADC) cities. In this review, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology was applied to 23 studies in 11 SADC cities to study smart city technologies (SCTs) as tools of equitable climate adaptation. Results found Internet of Things (IoT) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as key smart city tools in SADC cities, aiding equitable water systems and flood assessment respectively. However, most interventions remained limited to short-term absorptive resilience strategies, largely due to systemic barriers such as fragmented governance, financial constraints and limited community engagement, undermining long-term effectiveness and equity. The findings further revealed that participatory approaches, such as community-led GIS mapping, tended to produce more inclusive and context sensitive outcomes, while top-down deployments often excluded low-income populations. The study identifies four strategic priorities that can strengthen SCT-led climate adaptation. These are, governance reform, innovative financing, community participation and capacity building. These priority areas can be utilised to turn SCT interventions from the current disjointed and mostly donor-dependent initiatives towards more effective and equitable climate adaptation responses. This review advances SADC urban smart technology discourse, supporting equitable climate adaptation planning
Theoretical Implications of Gendered Subject Selection and Participation in Zimbabwean A-Level Schools: A Case of Masvingo District
Full text linkThis study examines gendered subject selection and participation in Zimbabwean A Level education through the lens of James Lull’s Theory of Gendered Hegemony (TGH). Its objectives were to: distinguish male and female learners’ subject perceptions; consider the influence of gender stereotypes on subject selection; review schools’ attempts to address gender imbalances; examine how learners’ gendered perceptions influence their participation; and suggest curriculum strategies for improving gender equity. While TGH highlights how cultural hegemony, media representation and ideological control reinforce traditional gender roles in education; the current study goes further by analysing empirical findings from Zimbabwean schools. Two purposively identified schools participated for an embedded case study involving gender-balanced cohorts of twelve learners per school, as well as five teachers. After conducting learner Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), one-on-one teachers’ interviews and document analysis, the study introduces the Gender Dynamics Framework (GDF) as a real-world model emerging from field data. GDF identifies learner-centred dynamics, societal influences, teacher interactions and resource availability as key elements in shaping gender disparities. This framework offers a transformative approach to fostering gender-equitable learning environments, an approach that updates TGH postulated by Lull in 2011
Cultivating Resilience: Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovations and sustainable land use in Chimanimani district of Manicaland Zimbabwe
Full text linkClimate-smart agriculture has emerged as an innovation, offering an alternative viewpoint on sustainable farming and community development, agroecology, biodiversity and conservation in the face of increasing macroclimate change risks and shocks. This research evaluates the transformative impact of the Community Food Nutrition Security and Health Promotion Programme (CFNSHPP) using a comprehensive methodology informed by a solid theoretical foundation, to attain the research results. The research utilised a convergent parallel mixed methods approach, incorporating focus Group Discussions (FGDs), qualitative Key Informant Interviews (KII), and survey. The principles of agroecology and the sustainable livelihoods framework served as the underpinning theoretical framework for the study. The researchers sampled at least 40 farmers in Chimanimani, 10 KIIs and stakeholders to document the perspectives and real-life experiences, creating a clear picture of their journey toward climate justice, resilience and copying strategies. The research revealed that, there has been a significant shift, with smallholder farmers implementing a range of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) techniques, approaches and methods like integrated crop-livestock eco systems, biodiversity, conservation agricultural ecosystems, and agroforestry. It revealed that smallholder farmers experienced increased crop yields and soil health, new revenue streams and increased household food security, as innovative and tangible results. The study highlights the role played by social capital and community-based institutions in boosting farming communities' resilience and copying strategies. The study identified the need for robust monitoring and assessment protocols, capacity building in Climate smart agriculture, social cohesion approaches and restricted access to agricultural inputs as hampering the attainment of food security by the farmers. The research revealed that policymakers and development professionals need a roadmap that highlights the importance of growing CSA programs, fortifying supply chains, and promoting community-driven strategies. This study provides optimism by asking stakeholders across Sub-Saharan Africa to adopt climate-smart agriculture as a strategy for attaining climate justice, food security, and sustainable development. The Caritas Mutare model is a prime example of how resilience and modernization driven by the community can change lives in the face of changing weather patterns
The Perception of Students and Lecturers on the Benefits, Opportunities and Challenges of the Use of ICT Gadgets during Lectures
Full text linkTechnology has set a very diverse platform for teaching and learning for lecturers and students. We might not be able, like we could in the past, tell anymore who teaches who or who learns from whom.
Information Communication Technologies (ICT) gadgets now imported in the lecture rooms/theatres, have somewhat changed the texture of teaching and learning. In a university like the Catholic University of Zimbabwe (CUZ), where students and lecturers are encouraged to bring with them their ICT gadgets and where internet floats freely and unlimited all over campus through the courtesy of WIFI, so many concerns ensue. One stands to benefit from such a study on issues of multi-tasking, attention, concentration, focus on defined activities and the whole engagement of teaching and learning. This study focused on the perception of students and lecturers on the benefit, opportunities and challenges brought by the use of ICT gadgets in the lecture room for teaching and learning by students and lecturers. The research was conducted at CUZ campuses. A quantitative and qualitative paradigm guided the study. The research population was made up of two distinctive groups, that is, lecturers and students. The sample of participants comprised 64 students and 30 lecturers. Participants were selected using a random stratified sampling taken from three faculties. The questionnaire with a Likert Scale and a semi- structured interview schedule were used to gather data for this study and the analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Ver.23.0.0. Descriptive statistics were used while qualitative data was thematically interpreted. The key results of the study indicated that ICTs promoted ‘edutainment’ during lectures and there is a lack of integration of ICTs gadgets use during teaching and learning, among others. This study concluded that CUZ should aim to promote responsible ICTs usage during lectures, ensuring that each lecture progression stage, as much as is feasible, infuses usage of such gadgets. There is also need for a policy framework on the operation and usage of ICTs gadgets during lectures. It was therefore recommended that CUZ comes up with strategies of combining and infusing curriculum with ICTs and show how the integration will improve teaching and learning. It is also recommended that CUZ embraces the inevitable transformation brought about by ICTs in lecture rooms
Impact of the Multi-Currency System on the Manufacturing Sector in Zimbabwe
Full text linkThe introduction of the multi-currency system in February 2009, in which a number of foreign currencies were adopted for use as legal tender, was meant to rein in devastating hyperinflation that had beset the Zimbabwean economy since 2000. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the multi-currency system on the manufacturing firms in Zimbabwe. The study used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire was used to collect data from 50 respondents out of a sample of 100 from 25 manufacturing firms. This sample was conveniently selected. The response rate of 50%, was adequate to give the desired study results. The study found a number of major benefits from the multi-currency system to the manufacturing sector. These included the stabilisation of prices, elimination of hyperinflation and fall of interest rates. Consequently, the firms were able to properly plan and budget for their operations. Other benefits included improved availability of raw materials, ability to increase capacity utilisation and increase in sales and profitability. The sector preferred the continued use of the multi-currency system, particularly the United States dollar, to the reintroduction of the Zimbabwean dollar. The study recommends that the government of Zimbabwe should continuously reassure the nation that the multi-currency system will not be removed too soon. The manufacturing sector should also engage government to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to improve liquidity, which is critical for the sector’s survival
The Impact of Handicrafts on Economic Development: A Case Study of Bulawayo Kraal in Binga, 1990-2000
Full text linkThe study examines how commercial basket weaving in Bulawayo Kraal Village in Binga District in Zimbabwe during the nineties contributed to the economic development of the community. Binga district is faced with a stagnant economy, poverty and lack of basic infrastructure. Governmental and humanitarian aid development strategies since independence have largely been ineffective in improving the economy of the region hence there is need to explore how indigenous knowledge systems such as the production of handicrafts can bring economic development. The paper shows key findings from qualitative data obtained from in-depth interviews with basket-makers of Bulawayo Kraal and traders who used to buy Tonga baskets for resale. The data gathered established that commercial basket weaving in Bulawayo Kraal as a local initiative generated income for the people and as a result improved the economy but the community remained largely underdeveloped. The research revealed major challenges faced by basket makers leading to the decline of the trade but identified the potential of handicrafts in the economic development of rural economies with low agricultural potentia
The Myth-Reality Nexus In Shona Oral Traditions In Zimbabwe: Mediating Contradictions And Sustaining Societal Values
Full text linkThe Karanga and the Kalanga, due to language similarities between them, morphed into one ethnic grouping known as the Shona during the 19th and 20th century ethnic creation during the colonization process. Common among the Shona people is the identification of a particular clan with a myth or totem of origin, and other specific myths that are there to ensure political, physiological, economic, religious and social equilibrium. Some legends are portrayed as mythical, yet they remain very relevant to the contemporary societies as if they represent significant episodes of past lived reality. The Shona epistemological and ontological presumptions built and generationally sustained around the philosophy of ‘ubuntu’ are predicated on a system of myth transmission, validation and modification to ensure societal acceptance and group identity and cohesion. This article analyses selected myths that are universal to the Shona people so that contemporary societies develop an understanding and appreciation of how and why values in different myths have managed to survive through generations. Focus is on the inextricable link between myth and reality in social phenomena to determine the extent to which they have influenced Shona oral traditions over time and space. Most, if not all oral traditions, are replete with ambiguities that arise from the different interpretations of myths that specific groups of people give to them in their attempt to reconstruct the past as it really happened. The connection between myth, reality and oral tradition is discussed and historical probabilities that have become fact from a transcendentalist perspective are highlighted through this interpretive study. The position of this study is that myth and reality can often and contextually be used interchangeably to describe original traditions of the Shona people and that variations within the different oral narratives can be resolved and contradictions reconciled
The Impact of Service Quality On Customer Loyalty To CIMAS In Zimbabwe
No full textThis paper presents the findings of a study carried out to assess the impact of service quality on customer loyalty to medical aid service providers based on a case study by the Cimas Medical Aid Society. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to research applying both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The population sample was drawn from the University of Zimbabwe employees and students who are registered with Cimas through the society’s open fund local packages. The research findings showed that members are satisfied with the services they are getting from the society. Most of the members are not willing to switch from Cimas to another medical aid service provider. Most of the members seem to be dissatisfied about incurring shortfalls and the fact that they are sometimes made to pay cash upfront by medical services providers before they can be attended to. The study recommends that Cimas should eliminate the issue of shortfalls and cash up-fronts. Communication with members and customer care are areas that Cimas should improve upon. The society should expand its healthcare facilities in Harare to the Central Business district to ease congestion on existing facilities. It should also extend its services to small towns and rural areas. Cimas should also engage in loyalty programs to retain its customers and gain more market share. Such programmes could include sponsorships at tertiary institutions like universitie
Development of an Afrocentric Effective Leadership (AEL) Instrument for Zimbabwean SMEs
No full textSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are fundamental to a country’s economy. However, the challenge is that there is a high failure rate among SMEs which can be attributed to lack of effective leadership. This paper seeks to present and validate an Afrocentric Effective Leadership (AEL) instrument to measure effective leadership in Zimbabwean SMEs. A survey was conducted with quantitative data collected from 241 respondents from Bulawayo’s Central Business Area (CBA) chosen through proportional stratified sampling. The AEL instrument was validated using exploratory factor analysis. A total of ten factors resulted, namely, leadership style, effectiveness of the situational leadership theory, leader characteristics, follower characteristics, culture, ubuntu, traditional leadership, history of the country, stage of economic development of the country and effective leadership. The perception of the existence of effective leadership in African SMEs so that early interventions are implemented to avoid high failure rates