Remittances in Rural Zimbabwe: From Consumption to Investment?

__Abstract__ When remittances become widespread and stable in a rural village, they adopt a critical role in supporting local development. They contribute via the promotion of businesses and employment. Productive consumption creates opportunities for investment in growth oriented SMEs, whether their owners are receivers of remittances or not. This study used a new ethnographic technique to “follow the mone

Remittances in rural Zimbabwe: From consumption to investment?

When remittances become widespread and stable in a rural village, they adopt a critical role in supporting local development. They contribute via the promotion of businesses and employment. Productive consumption creates opportunities for investment in growth oriented SMEs, whether their owners are receivers of remittances or not. This study used an ethnographic technique to “follow the money”, consisting of recording several rounds of transactions in a village in rural Zimbabwe after the reception of cash from abroad. In this paper we argue that remittances contribute to local development in Ward 2, Tsholotsho district in diverse ways. These include promotion of micro-enterprises and employment generation in fishing, brick moulding, fetching firewood, building and weeding, among others, that non-receiving households offer receiving households for a fee. The study concludes that, through remittances, households’ livelihood security is increased, albeit differentially. Receivers form a consumptive class with limited motivation to run new businesses and mainly focus on upgrading existing agricultural activities. Non-receivers form the pool of the labour available to be engaged by recipients when they need to hire extra labour at low wages and working conditions

Local economic development and migrant remittances in rural Zimbabwe

The paper explores the impact of migrant remittances on local economic development in a locality where more than half of the households have been recipients for at least five years. The study has taken place in rural Zimbabwe and uses an ethnographic method devised for this research. The method was termed “follow the money” and consists of a scrutiny of several rounds of economic exchange of goods and services in the locality, starting when households receive the cash. Consistent with previous research, the study found that remittances boost the consumption of receiving households and have a limited but positive effect on non-receiving households. Part of the cash transfers are used for equipment and investment, mostly in traditional agricultural activities. This study highlights that remittances are responsible for the creation of a significant number of jobs locally, although insecure and low waged, and a small number of growth-oriented businesses, mostly by non-recipients and oriented to the local market. The study highlights the potential for government intervention to further enterprise development with the last group of entrepreneurs in order to localise the longer-term effects of remittances

The southern African poultry value chain : corporate strategies, investments and agro-industrial policies

Abstract: Following various regional investments in the last decade, production and participation in the poultry value chain in southern Africa has increased. One of the factors that determines entry into, and success in, a global value chain is the governance structure. This paper adopts a modular approach to analyse the governance structures in the poultry value chains in Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A key finding is that various stakeholders have an influence on the regional poultry value chain in southern Africa, with the sources of influence depending on the formality of structures within the value chain

Comparative Cost of Early Infant Male Circumcision by Nurse-Midwives and Doctors in Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND: The 14 countries that are scaling up voluntary male medical circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention are also considering early infant male circumcision (EIMC) to ensure longer-term reductions in HIV incidence. The cost of implementing EIMC is an important factor in scale-up decisions. We conducted a comparative cost analysis of EIMC performed by nurse-midwives and doctors using the AccuCirc device in Zimbabwe. METHODS: Between August 2013 and July 2014, nurse-midwives performed EIMC on 500 male infants using AccuCirc in a field trial. We analyzed the overall unit cost and identified key cost drivers of EIMC performed by nurse-midwives and compared these with costing data previously collected during a randomized noninferiority comparison trial of 2 devices (AccuCirc and the Mogen clamp) in which doctors performed EIMC. We assessed direct costs (consumable and nonconsumable supplies, device, personnel, associated staff training, and waste management costs) and indirect costs (capital and support personnel costs). We performed one-way sensitivity analyses to assess cost changes when we varied key component costs. RESULTS: The unit costs of EIMC performed by nurse-midwives and doctors in vertical programs were US$38.87 and US$49.77, respectively. Key cost drivers of EIMC were consumable supplies, personnel costs, and the device price. In this cost analysis, major cost drivers that explained the differences between EIMC performed by nurse-midwives and doctors were personnel and training costs, both of which were lower for nurse-midwives. CONCLUSIONS: EIMC unit costs were lower when performed by nurse-midwives compared with doctors. To minimize costs, countries planning to scale up EIMC should consider using nurse-midwives, who are in greater supply than doctors and are the main providers at the primary health care level, where most infants are born

Antiretroviral Therapy outcomes among adolescents and youth in rural Zimbabwe

Around 2 million adolescents and 3 million youth are estimated to be living with HIV worldwide. Antiretroviral outcomes for this group appear to be worse compared to adults. We report antiretroviral therapy outcomes from a rural setting in Zimbabwe among patients aged 10-30 years who were initiated on ART between 2005 and 2008. The cohort was stratified into four age groups: 10-15 (young adolescents) 15.1-19 years (adolescents), 19.1-24 years (young adults) and 24.1-29.9 years (older adults). Survival analysis was used to estimate rates of deaths and loss to follow-up stratified by age group. Endpoints were time from ART initiation to death or loss to follow-up. Follow-up of patients on continuous therapy was censored at date of transfer, or study end (31 December 2008). Sex-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios for different age groups. 898 patients were included in the analysis; median duration on ART was 468 days. The risk of death were highest in adults compared to young adolescents (aHR 2.25, 95%CI 1.17-4.35). Young adults and adolescents had a 2-3 times higher risk of loss to follow-up compared to young adolescents. When estimating the risk of attrition combining loss to follow-up and death, young adults had the highest risk (aHR 2.70, 95%CI 1.62-4.52). This study highlights the need for adapted adherence support and service delivery models for both adolescents and young adults

Positive attitudes to pediatric HIV testing: findings from a nationally representative survey from Zimbabwe.

Early HIV testing and diagnosis are paramount for increasing treatment initiation among children, necessary for their survival and improved health. However, uptake of pediatric HIV testing is low in high-prevalence areas. We present data on attitudes towards pediatric testing from a nationally representative survey in Zimbabwe

Remittances in rural Zimbabwe: From consumption to investment?

When remittances become widespread and stable in a rural village, they adopt a critical role in supporting local development. They contribute via the promotion of businesses and employment. Productive consumption creates opportunities for investment in growth oriented SMEs, whether their owners are receivers of remittances or not. This study used an ethnographic technique to “follow the money”, consisting of recording several rounds of transactions in a village in rural Zimbabwe after the reception of cash from abroad. In this paper we argue that remittances contribute to local development in Ward 2, Tsholotsho district in diverse ways. These include promotion of micro-enterprises and employment generation in fishing, brick moulding, fetching firewood, building and weeding, among others, that non-receiving households offer receiving households for a fee. The study concludes that, through remittances, households’ livelihood security is increased, albeit differentially. Receivers form a consumptive class with limited motivation to run new businesses and mainly focus on upgrading existing agricultural activities. Non-receivers form the pool of the labour available to be engaged by recipients when they need to hire extra labour at low wages and working conditions

Upgrading wineries to biorefineries within a Circular Economy perspective: An Italian case study

In the challenge of transforming waste into useful products that can be re-used in a circular perspective, Italian wine industry can represent a suitable model for the application of the bioeconomy principles, including the valorisation of the agricultural and food waste. In the present study, a comprehensive environmental assessment of the traditional production of wine was performed and the potentiality of a biorefinery system, based on winery waste and aimed at recovering useful bio-based products, such as grapeseed oil and calcium tartrate, was examined through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The wine company "I Borboni", producing Asprinio wine in the Campania Region (Italy), was proposed as a case study. The hotspots of the linear production system were identified and the bottling phase, in particular the production of packaging glass, resulted to contribute to the generation of impacts at 63%, on average, versus 14.3% of the agricultural phase and 22.7% of the vinification phase. The LCA results indicated human carcinogenic toxicity, freshwater eutrophication and fossil resource scarcity impact categories as the most affected ones, with normalized impacts amounting to 9.22E-03, 3.89E-04 and 2.64E-04, respectively. Two side production chains (grapeseed oil and tartrate production) were included and circular patterns were designed and introduced in the traditional production chain with the aim of valorising the winery residues and improving the overall environmental performance. By implementing the circular approach, environmental impacts in the global warming, freshwater eutrophication and mineral resource scarcity impact categories, in particular, resulted three times lower than in the linear system. The results achieved demonstrated that closing the loops in the wine industry, through the reuse of bio-based residues alternatively to fossil-based inputs within the production process, and integrating the traditional production system with new side production chains led to an upgrade of the wineries to biorefineries, towards more sustainable production patterns. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Circular Economy and Green Chemistry: The Need for Radical Innovative Approaches in the Design for New Products

The idea of a circular economy (CE) has gained ground over the past ten years as a means of addressing sustainable development and getting around the limitations of the current and linear dominant production and consumption patterns. The primary goal of a CE is to encourage the adoption of closing-the-loop production methods to improve resource use efficiency, modify chemical processes, and increase product and material lifespan. According to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which focuses on 17 Sustainable Development Goals, 14 of which call for the appropriate application of green chemistry (GC) concepts and patterns, the role that chemistry may play in the shift toward more sustainable models is critical. By serving as the foundation for novel products made from renewable feedstocks and designed to be reused, recycled, or recovered with the associated minimum energy requirements, green and sustainable chemistry could be the key to unlocking the economic potential of the CE toward new product design and ultimately solving waste management problems. The aim of this perspective paper, while using a variety of literature sources, is to essentially capture the main issues associated with the CE and GC paradigms and how these two approaches can merge toward sustainable business models and the production of new materials. This integration focuses on reducing waste, conserving resources, and minimizing negative environmental impacts, while also considering economic viability. However, the obstacles to achieving implementation of the CE and GC principles are investment, environmental education, and legislation. To advance toward the circular economy and green chemistry, international agreements should be reconsidered to provide an appropriate framework, including the creation of incentives for businesses and individuals to adopt circular practices, the establishment of education programs to promote the benefits of circular practices, and the development of regulations to support the transition to sustainable production and consumption patterns