Abstract:
Despite considerable financial investments made since independence in 1980
to achieve rural development, there is not much tangible improvement in the
lives and livelihoods of individuals, families and communities in Zimbabwe.The crux of the matter is lack of collective community action. Community
collective action is a crucial social capital that can stir rural development. We
argue that collective action has a huge potential to achieve sustainable people
centred development. The study adopts a case study approach, analysing the
role played by community collective action in rural development in
Chimanimani Rural District (CRD), Zimbabwe. A sample of 220 respondents
were conveniently selected. Likert scale data was randomly collected from five
out of 23 wards of the CRD. A descriptive data analysis was done using the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0. Emerging from
the study, failure to invest appropriately in efforts designed to strengthen
community collective action appears to be the missing link in rural
development in African communities, including the CDR. The study
concluded that community collective action is the major factor influencing
rural development. It is a resilience builder that promotes trust among
inhabitants of a community. The study recommends that development
planners, scholars and policy-makers should go back to the drawing board and
consider community collective action as a resilience strategy in development.
Description:
The journal is a forum for the discussion of ideas, scholarly opinions and
case studies of community outreach and engagement. Communities are
both defined in terms of people found in a given locale and defined cohorts,
like the children, the youth, the elderly and those living with a disability.
The strongest view is that getting to know each community or
subcommunity is a function of their deliberate participation in matters
affecting them by the community itself. The journal is produced bi
annually.
