The purpose of this article was to examine the implementation of rural women’s livelihoods towards economic empowerment of women in Chivi District of Zimbabwe. A drought-ridden and semi-arid district because of climate change, Chivi District receives very low annual rainfall which impacts negatively on agriculture as the main rural women’s livelihood among others such as craftwork, pottery, gardening and poultry projects. Using a case study approach that triangulates interviews, focus groups and documents, the article found out that women faced numerous challenges. The findings of the study revealed that in their quest to reduce poverty and economically empower themselves, women encountered the lack of access to competitive markets, micro-insure rural women’s livelihoods, lack of access to credit facilities, lack of entrepreneurial education and training, effects of climate change, limited use of technology to stimulate rural women’s livelihoods. The article concludes that to achieve economic empowerment through resilient rural women’s livelihoods, access to competitive markets and entrepreneurial education supported by adequate funding is fundamental.

This study explored the effects of COVID-19 on higher and tertiary education in Zimbabwe. The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-COV-2) in December 2019 disrupted traditional forms of teaching and learning centred on face-to-face and in-class instruction. Governments enforced social distancing measures characterised by stay-at-home strategies and the closure of schools and other learning facilities. This study discusses the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on higher and tertiary education in Zimbabwe, especially the varied approaches and its pedagogical future. The study explores the challenges and innovations brought out by the pandemic in relation to provision of higher learning at Great Zimbabwe University. The challenges of access to the internet for both lecturers and students, lack of essential learning gadgets such as laptops and smartphones for both students and lecturers, the capacity of the university to keep its learning sites working flawless, the challenges of non-submission and or late submission of assignments by students resulting to the aforementioned challenges and other challenges will be under scope in this study. The study also consider innovations that the university did amidst the pandemic that promoted higher learning. These various interactive forces transformed learning at Great Zimbabwe University. This study is thus an interpretive assessment of the various changes that took place in higher learning institutions. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0930/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

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This paper examined the role of women in livelihoods for the reduction of poverty in drought risk areas of Zimbabwe, case of ward 5, Bikita district. There is an increase of rural women’s participation in economic activities to reduce poverty. The persistence of drought and economic collapse in Zimbabwe influenced the increased participation of rural women in productive activities. Rural women have become breadwinners in most households and have since adopted various livelihood activities to survive. These livelihoods should be able to cater for their daily household needs. A case study design was employed in this study. The study used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews as data collecting instruments. Livelihood activities found included seasonal farming, gardening, and money saving schemes, informal trading, and informal trading. Challenges faced contained within, persistent droughts, economic crisis, lack of economic opportunities, poor access to productive resources, erratic climatic changes and poor infrastructure and technological facilities. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0726/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The paper reports findings from a study that explored health communication strategies employed by the media on the state of preparedness by the Zimbabwean government during the COVID 19 crisis by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Television (ZBC-TV). The study adopted secondary data analysis. Data were collected using secondary sources. The study was influenced by the framing theory. The study found out that ZBC-TV used songs, road shows, commercial ads, dramas, musical shows on reporting the pandemic. The archival documents also revealed that ZBC-TV have used periodical updates as health communication strategies to educate the public about COVID 19. ZBC-TV also used Facebook showing staff from the Office of the President and Cabinet receiving the Covid 19 vaccine at the same time applauding positive response from Harare Metropolitan Province as front line workers surpassed the target under the first phase of Covid-19 vaccine roll out plan. The study concluded that the health communication strategies employed by ZBC-TV have been effective in increasing the societal awareness about health issues. ZBC-TV managed to reach out to the masses using both the television and by making use of the new media communication technologies. However, press censorship has been a challenge in publishing information concerning COVID 19 as the media house is not allowed to publish anything that tarnishes the image of the government. It is based on such evidence that the study concludes that ZBC-TV at some point distorted information to paint the picture that the government is doing all it can to contain the spread of COVID 19 and ensuring the safety of the public. The study recommends that the ministry should ensure freedom of information publicity, in which media houses, including ZBC-TV is not controlled by any political party of government. The government should also privatise ZBC-TV so that it will be answerable to the public and not few government officials. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0895/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>