Crime in technology resource constrained environments has been shown to adversely affect economic growth by deterring investment and triggering emigration. To address this secure reporting channels are being investigated to encouraging anonymous crime reporting. In this paper, we present a system (CryHelp App) developed to enable residents of a university community situated in technology resource constrained environment to facilitate secure and covert crime reporting. We focus primarily on the usability of the application. The system was developed on the basis of user centric iterative approach. Deployment and evaluation results of our prototype system demonstrate that overall the system scored a 77.06% usability rating with a standard deviation of 0.05 for contributing scores on System Use, Information Quality and Interface Quality. This is indicative of the fact that users found the system to be very usable.

The frequency of drought presents huge challenges to rural farming communities in rural Africa. To circumvent negatives of drought, rural Zimbabwean farmers have devised coping strategies some of which are detrimental to the cattle enterprise. Using the sustainable livelihoods framework, this article sought to examine prevalent coping strategies in Umzingwane district in Zimbabwe, some of which lay a foundation for building resilience drought. Qualitative approaches underpinned by descriptive survey design guided data collection processes with structured and non-structured questionnaires administered to unravel drought coping behaviours of rural farmers. The findings reflect that farmers largely rely on moisture-sensitive coping strategies, an indication that rural farmers have not embraced contemporary cattle management practices. The coping strategies reflect a poorly engaged farming community which has been relegated to mere spectators in the industry, despite owning a significant fraction of the national herd. Communal farmers are encouraged to embrace savings clubs, insurance and fodder banks concepts to complement natural grazing and decisively deal with drought by spreading the risks and investing in proactive processes.

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The prevalence of malnutrition in children below the age of 5 years in rural Zimbabwe, resulting from low income and the inability to meet food and medical expenses, marks huge disparities between rich and poor households. Efforts to improve child health and nutrition status culminated in different strategies being employed, chief amongst them is the enhancement of access to financial capital for vulnerable communities through improved women participation in village savings and loan (VSL). The study sought to examine the influence of women’s participation in VSL and its impact on child health and nutrition in rural Chimanimani. Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation and the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) framework anchor discussions on the participation of women, VSL financial resources usage by women, contribution of VSL to food diversity for children and ultimately to food consumption patterns before and during women’s participation in VSL. The study was largely qualitative and explored the descriptive research design to collect data by using semi-structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The findings show that the majority of participants used funds from VSL to purchase food, invest in income-generating activities and finance medical expenses. Village savings and loan contribute to an increase in food consumption score and meal dietary diversity for children, and at the same time it improved child care, health and nutrition in the rural Shinja community. The study concluded that genuine participation of women in VSL positively influenced the improvement in children’s health and nutritional diversity and that the VSL model is a multifaceted tool, which can be intertwined with other interventions to contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals.

Cash transfers are increasingly becoming a preferred mode of alleviating human suffering particularly in drought-affected communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The transition from conditional to unconditional cash transfer programming highlights strides that seek to promote local involvement and accommodate consumption choices of vulnerable recipients. This article sought to ascertain ways through which vulnerable societies’ voice and influence are magnified in unconditional cash transfer programming. In addition, the benefits of cash transfers and its contribution in building drought resilience of communities benefitting from World Vision interventions in Umzingwane District were explored. Through the descriptive survey design, data was collected using structured and unstructured questionnaires. Study participants were chosen using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The findings showed that unconditional cash projects are beneficial in allowing recipients to prioritise deployment of scarce financial resources, influenced entrepreneurship within the locality and manipulated social capital. The article contends that building local resilience to drought was not feasible because of low cash allocations, which were inadequate to sustain household food needs, and this offered less space to invest in non-food items that support resilience processes. The article concluded that life-saving assistance including unconditional cash programming limit vulnerable populations from voicing their aspirations and influencing critical project decisions that have the potential to transform their resilience to drought, hence the need to deepen local participation in humanitarian and developmental projects.