The objective of the study was to capture the challenges that are faced by young informal traders in Bindura town, Zimbabwe. The study was motivated by the lack of attention to the challenges faced by young informal traders by the governing authorities at local and national level. We believe our study extends the understanding of the challenges faced by young informal traders, drawing on their everyday experiences and the navigation of the complex challenges they face. Deploying a qualitative research approach with in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and documentary analysis as data generation tools, the study found that young informal traders face several challenges that include lack of capital and harassment from municipal authorities as well as lack of mentoring and competition from established traders. Thus, the study established and concluded that within this difficult environment, young entrepreneurs employ different survival strategies such as raising capital from friends and relatives, relying on multifarious mentoring and coaching programmes from various sources. The paper recommends that government and private sector take up responsibility in nurturing these young entrepreneurs.

This article discusses the principles and practice of monitoring and evaluation and emphasises that monitoring and evaluation (M and E) is paraphernalia for effective development. The discourse of monitoring and evaluation in development practice and theory has gained prominence over the years. It is uncontested that the purveyors of development are increasingly prioritising monitoring and evaluation as a platform for learning and accountability. This growing importance has been caused by the growing voice of the civil society’s scrutiny on good governance, and a demand for efficient public administration. At the same time, a plethora of development funders demand that M and E be implemented as a platform for learning and accountability. Despite growing importance of M and E, there seems to be a lack of clarity on the principles of M and E. The article finds its value in locating how M and E, augmented by appropriate principles, leads to effective development. Underlined by qualitative data collection methods, the article discusses relevant principles such as learning, accountability, participatory approaches, quality assurance, and reporting in monitoring and evaluation.

This paper analyses the potential contributions of volunteers to community development. Little is known about the contribution of volunteers to community development although almost every non-governmental organisation in Zimbabwe relies on volunteers. This research used a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions to collect data from community volunteers, officials of non-governmental organisations, and government officials. Community volunteers play an important role in driving and sustaining community development. The researcher established that volunteers act as an intermediary between the community and non-governmental organisations. Moreover, activities like the targeting of beneficiaries and the implementation of activities are unthinkable without the involvement of volunteers. Despite volunteers’ importance, there are serious drawbacks that influence the effective contribution of volunteers to community development. Volunteers disable community development through corruption, polarisation, falsifying reports and a lethargic approach to work. These drawbacks contradict the ubuntu value system that underlines the concept of volunteerism. Some of the drawbacks can be rectified by incentivising community volunteers, and by recruiting volunteers with acceptable levels of literacy.

This article is a theoretical interrogation and appreciation of the relationship that hitherto exists between the dependency theory and donor aid. A number of scholars have heaped aspersions on the relevance of the dependency theory. This article argues that dependency theory is still relevant and has flared in this current epoch. Donor aid has emerged as a symbol of dependency, supporting the argument on the relevance of dependency theory. Donor aid has emerged as a nuanced form of dependency on western countries. Dependency theory, which originated in the 1950s, has Singer and Prebisch as the progenitors— and emerged as a result of the growing dissatisfaction with modernity theories that had propounded that economic growth in developed countries was similarly going to lead to unabated growth and development in poorer countries. The theory is premised on resources being extracted from poorer countries to enrich wealthy nations. The continuation of this scenario has resulted in a situation where poverty has been exacerbated among the poorer nations, while the wealthy nations are becoming richer. . Donor aid has, in a plethora of ways, enriched the rich countries while dialectically impoverishing poor countries. It is not an exaggeration that donor money that is being extended to Third World countries, has created more employment, demand for goods and services in richer countries than in poorer countries, thus perpetuating underdevelopment in the latter. Donor aid has undoubtedly, been used as a rod to whip Third World countries at variance, with self-serving interests.  On the other hand, the insatiable desire for aid has forced the poorer countries to submit to the dictates of the richer countries.

In this paper, the author applies the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) to unravel the complexities inherent in the ‘Zimbabwean Crisis’. When unravelled from the SLF, the ‘Zimbabwean Crisis 2000-2008’ portrays a decimation of various forms of capital–financial, social, human, physical and natural–and forced Zimbabweans to innovate, show resourcefulness and ingenuity in generating various forms of capital to survive the scathing crisis. Broadly, the kukiya kiya strategy has received little scholarly study and despite various survival strategies inherent in the kukiya kiya strategy. The kukiya kiya livelihood strategy prominence is seen in its adoption across the broad spectrum of society–educated, uneducated, employed, and unemployed, women, and men, young and old. The study of kukiya kiya livelihood strategy is important because it sustained thousands of households as the Zimbabwean formal sector collapsed. This reality is largely unappreciated in literature.

The study discusses the contribution of volunteerism to monitoring and evaluation (M and E) of NGO projects using the case study of a NGO in Chegutu district, Zimbabwe. While there is significant body of literature on contribution of volunteerism to social development in Zimbabwe and elsewhere, there is no literature that specifically discuss the nexus between formal volunteerism and monitoring and evaluation. The study was limited to formal volunteerism organised in Non-Governmental Organisation. It emerged that volunteers perform several M and E roles that include data collection, reporting, feedback of project success, peer to peer mentoring and beneficiary verification. These roles are embedded in the broader project functions. While performing these roles several challenges affects the outcomes of M and E roles. Low literacy levels affect effective performance of M and E roles. Similarly, desire to sustain households' livelihoods conflict with performance of M and E roles resulting in little commitment by some of the volunteers. Data in the study were collected from volunteers and NGOs officials. Data were collected using in-depth interview. The findings are presented and discussed thematically. Itai Kabonga ABOUT THE AUTHOR Itai Kabonga holds academic qualifications in Development Studies, Sociology, Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation (M and E). He has also taught several courses in Development Studies that include Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society in Africa, Gender Studies and International Development Corporations at Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University (ZEGU) and ARUPPE Jesuit University in Zimbabwe. Itai's research interests include NGOs and development, Civil society-state relations, volunteerism in Africa, Zimbabwe's development crisis since 1980.

Informal trading in the town of Bindura, Zimbabwe is a competitive venture just like in other parts of the world. The competitiveness is characterized by young traders aged 18 to 24 years being elbowed out by those established in the business, hence, the study sought to interrogate the experiences of young informal traders. Employing a qualitative research framework with an interpretive philosophical dimension, the study established that young informal traders deploy their agency to survive in such a harsh environment. Their survival is depended on developing multiple streams of income, professionalizing their trade, setting up some associations, and establishing close-knit social networks that enables them to remain in business and eke a living. The study recommends that there is a need for forging up cooperative mechanisms of working in harmony amongst all informal traders since the Bindura market is ever-growing and may accommodate them all.

The period 2000 to 2015 epitomised Zimbabwe’s relentless search for development as patronised by major policies that were meant to spur socio-economic development. Using a synthesis of qualitative collection methods – such as key informant interviews, in depth interviews and documentary analysis, the article interrogates and evaluate the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) quasifiscal activities, Indigenization and Economic Empowerment drive, as well as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET) on the trajectory of development. This period portrayed Zimbabwe as a country of contradictions, ambivalence and contestations. The article unequivocally argues that development policies in Zimbabwe were formulated by government as a reaction to political threats – and that for Zimbabwe to achieve its development goals, policies should not be a reaction to political threats; but genuine action by government to improve the living conditions of the people.