An Analysis of the resilience building programme on household food security among vulnerable communities in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe.

Author

Mkomboni, Janet

Title

An Analysis of the resilience building programme on household food security among vulnerable communities in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Rural households around the globe are facing an escalating food insecurity accelerated by the changing climatic conditions. The Matabeleland, southern region of Zimbabwe where this study was located is not spared from this threat, specifically Beitbridge, Bulilima, and Gwanda Districts. Traditionally economic and climate change shock used to be responded to through food relief and social support, but recently it is now through a resilience programme. The Enhanced Resilience for Vulnerable Households in Zimbabwe (ERVHIZ) project is one such project which this study seeks to test whether its interventions are improving household food security. The study's main objective is to assess the effectiveness and impact of the resilience-building project on household food security in Matabeleland South. Survey data were collected from 183 households via multistage and purposive sampling across 3 districts, using the structured questionnaire. The study employed the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) to assess the food security status, and a multinomial regression analysis was employed to identify the factors influencing the prevalence rates among the sampled household beneficiaries. The key findings indicated that 61% of the household beneficiaries were food insecure, while 12% were severely food insecure and 39% were food secure. Further analysis using the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP), revealed that only 3% of the households were severely affected by shocks and still required traditional food relief approaches. The multinomial regression analysis revealed that the household head's age, livestock ownership, and household size had a positive relationship with household well-being and food security among the project beneficiaries. The study concludes that despite the resilience interventions, 12% of the sampled beneficiaries were still severely food insecure. This is supported by the Coping Strategy Index (CSI) which showed that 66.67% of the sampled population were adopting severe to mildly severe coping strategies. The study recommends that vulnerability resilience should be fully supported and adopted as a policy to address the 21st biggest threat of climate change and economic shock, as the ERVHIZ project has shown promising results under the influence of the right factors.

Date

May 2024

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Coping Strategy Index.

Household food security

Vulnerable Household in Zimbabwe (ERVHIZ

Enhanced Resilience for Vulnerable Household in Zimbabwe (ERVHIZ

Supervisor

Dr V.T Munyati