ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in some unprecedented economic and labour market shocks that have caused food and nutrition insecurity, particularly for the informal traders. Yet there is a dearth of scientific evidence on the dimensions of food and nutrition security resilience among the informal traders during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. This study applied ethnographic research among informal traders in purposively selected provinces of Harare and Masvingo in Zimbabwe in a period of 20 months since the beginning of COVID-19 in March 2020. In addition, documentary analysis and key informant interviews with policymakers, civil society organisations, academia, development partners, and the private sector were also conducted to supplement ethnographic research. The study found that COVID-19 disproportionately impacted on the income and livelihood strategies of most informal traders in Zimbabwe than the rest of the people, because of the hash implementation of the measures to reduce the spread of the pandemic. This paper recommends that it is crucial for the government to strengthen its social protection systems and build resilience capacities of the informal traders. These resilience capacities may be in the form of business rescue packages, infrastructure and other assets, social safety nets, and the enhancement of traders' networks with suppliers, service providers, and customers. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.