The paper contributes towards deciphering and decoding the misery of the urban poor in light of the COVID-19 scourge. The paper unpacks urban poverty in light of the corona virus. The emergence of the COVID-19 and the lack of any vaccines requires physical distancing as preventative measures to contain and reduce the spread of the virus. Governments across the world, including in Anglophone Sub Saharan Africa have implemented lockdown measures. The COVID-19 pandemic is happening within settlements where the majority of the population lives from hand to mouth. In Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa because of urbanisation and increased urban poverty, COVID-19 scourge has had a huge impact on the urban poor. The COVID-19 is likely to devastate economies and the community. For rapidly growing, densely populated and poorly planned settlements, the situation is tragic for these inhabitants. Nation states lockdown and social and physical distancing in response to the pandemic have escalated their misery. The paper adopts a critical review of literature anchored in case study analysis, document analysis and scanning from reports. Results point to redefining the way humanity has related, functioned and conceptualised realities. There is need to go beyond prevention from infection as majority of urban dwellers are in the informal sector or unemployed. For the urban poor, strategies for social distancing may not be possible or effective. People are being asked to make choices between being hungry and risk of getting infected. The paper recommends planning response at national, regional and local level bearing in mind informal settlements, high densities and forms of overcrowding which have been placed as hotspots for the virus. There is need for rebuilding societies, during and beyond COVID-19 calling for immediate disaster risk planning adaptation and transformation to promote resilience.
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This chapter intends to have answer the questions: How did Ian Smith structure his government and economy and survive sanctions for sixteen years (1965-1979) and become innovative? Why, under almost similar conditions, did Robert Mugabe fail to bring the economy do its toes? In cases, what was the role of knowledge societies and what role did they play to bridge the gap between society and them towards meaningful development? The study uses desktop review as the basis of getting data and information useful in building this theoretical case study of Zimbabwe in the period 1965 to 2018. The robustness of an economy under a stringent economic environment is a function of its ability to tap and harness the prowess of its knowledge societies. It is recommended that strong links between the private, public, and knowledge sectors are required and this must happen in an environment with trust, transparency, accountability, rule of law, and commitment translating into a powerful connubio for transformation.
This chapter explores how female entrepreneurship is a growing phenomenon in Africa. Particularly, the chapter critically examines the use of the instrument of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in as far as it has influenced business growth and social mobility across the region. The implications are that, largely, it is an instrument that gives agency towards achieving gender parity at business and household levels, respectively. In trying to answer pertinent questions, the study engages country-based case studies. The countries used include Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Cameroon. These have been chosen because of their differential demographic, political economies, ideological, and religious foundations. Some have experienced serious and tectonic macro-economic challenges which may have worked to cement or to destroy efforts in building female entrepreneurship let alone the utility of ROSCAs as a tool towards business stability and wealth building.
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