Byron Mutingwende

Economic hardships arising out of high levels of unemployment as a result of company closures and cyclical droughts leading to food shortages have  entrenched poverty in urban areas. It is a development that requires stakeholders to come up with ways of reducing poverty and promoting resilience in urban communities according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Its Harare Programme Office and the Institute of Environmental Studies of the University of Zimbabwe recently organized an international conference on strategies to promote resilient urban communities against rising poverty.

The minister of finance and economic development, Patrick Chinamasa, in a speech read on his behalf, noted that agricultural production in the rural areas was increasing due to progress in agricultural activities as compared to urban areas.

“Companies continue to close down, unemployment levels are high, infrastructure is deteriorating and services such as water and waste disposal are struggling to cope with increased urban populations. One third of our population lives in urban areas, and almost one half of these living below the poverty line,” Chinamasa said.

He added that the nature of urban poverty differs from rural poverty in that urban economies are cash-based.

“Food, accommodation, building materials, and even water and energy, have to be paid for. The living conditions are often overcrowded and unhygienic and disease outbreaks are common. Social networks and family ties are usually not as strong as those in rural areas. Economic activities are low, with high unemployment and under-employment,” he said.

Speaking on the same occasion, University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor, Professor Levi Nyagura, noted with concern that worldwide, more than 50 per cent of the population was now living in urban areas with the pace of urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa twice the global average, making it the highest in the world.

“Urban populations in southern Africa are particularly rising rapidly, with South Africa and Botswana having urban populations of more than 60 per cent. The Zimbabwe Census report for 2012 found that one third of the population now lives in urban areas.

“Urban areas have historically been associated with economic development and relatively greater prosperity compared to rural areas, but current poverty, vulnerability and food insecurity have become generalised in urban as well as rural areas,” he said.

Poverty in urban areas is increasing at a faster rate than in rural areas.  Results from the Poverty Income Consumption Expenditure Survey (PICES) of 2011/12 carried out by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) indicated that almost 47 per cent of people living in urban areas in Zimbabwe were classified as poor.

It was also noted that the rapid and unplanned urbanisation was responsible for many people living in squalid overcrowded conditions without sanitary facilities or  clean water. Examples of such places include Epworth and Mbare high density suburbs in Mbare.

There was also concern that children who grow up in deprived conditions are more likely to suffer from health problems, have less education, and lack the skills to support themselves in increasingly competitive global markets. Such children would end up living and working on the streets.

According to Martin Chingambu Kayembe, in a case study of children living on the streets of Mutare, there is need to train such children in peace skills, aimed at empowering them and enhancing their lives.

“Through peace education, these children can be taught to promote a culture of peace which includes the skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice non-violently as well as  to understand human rights and equity,” Kanyembe said.

The study was meant to awaken the responsiveness of all stakeholders in governance (local authorities, NGOs, families, children themselves and the private sector) about the plight of street children and to help include them as key players to support positive change in their environment.

“Positive behavioral change and community values and peace-building processes at the grassroots levels are the foundation pillars on which the security, peaceful environment, economic, social and political development of any given community can be built,” Kanyembe added.