Our studies of young people across our A1 land reform sites in Zimbabwe show the real challenges that young people face in getting established as independent economic actors. This requires putting together a portfolio of activities, diversifying opportunistically while also seeking a stable source of income through acquiring land. This is not easy. It is hard work, stressful and not…

When we last explored what was happening to young people across our field sites in 2016, the experience of ‘waithood’ was very evident (see our ROAPE paper for a discussion). This is a period between childhood and adulthood that can extend for years when it is impossible to establish oneself independently. You can’t get land, you have no job, you have…

There is a large literature on the economic returns to education around the world. Most of this points to the value of schooling in simple economic terms for boys and girls at both primary and secondary levels. But what happens when the type of jobs that school leavers usually get no longer exist? Under such circumstances is going to school…

Longstanding traditions around land and its use within and between families and amongst men and women are up for renegotiation in post-land reform Zimbabwe. Young people must balance cultural norms – sometimes insisted on by their elders – with the necessities of providing for the next generation in highly land-constrained settings Changes in inheritance patterns, for example, are occurring in…

As the next generation seeks out land-based livelihoods in the land reform areas and beyond, many of the standard ways of thinking about land are being reinvented for a new generation. This may be around the nature of a ‘farm’ and what place is called ‘home’. These themes are explored in this blog, as they have big implications for how…

Gaining access to land for the next generation is a struggle in Zimbabwe. There is huge demand as the last blog discussed, but there are very few simple options. Many young people have to cobble together different sources of land, perhaps waiting for a formal allocation or an inheritance. We explored how people belonging to the two cohorts linked to…

With a whole new generation of young people demanding land and livelihoods across the land reform areas, we have been asking what are young people doing to make a living and where? In our study we have two cohorts of young people linked to our core household sample across our sites. The first (Cohort 1) is all those born between…

One of the most common discussions amongst those living in the land reform areas today focuses on how will the next generation get land. Those who got the land during the land reform in 2000 are now getting older and many have died. The question of succession and inheritance is on people’s minds. This is also a big issue for…

Our research has shown how land reform has driven the growth in small towns, creating new economic linkages in a reconfigured economic geography of the country. No longer are the metropolitan centres and associated manufacturing industries driving growth, as these have declined as industries have collapsed along with the decline of the formal economy in Zimbabwe. Instead, growth is emerging…

What are the new businesses being established in the small towns of Zimbabwe? As the last blog has illustrated our long-term study of Mvurwi, Chatsworth and Maphisa shows a variety of changes, with different drivers associated. There are varying links too with a changing agriculture, but what is evident across our study sites is that land reform has shifted the…