Experiences of Female-headed Households in the ADRA Cash Transfer Programme in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe

The social, economic, and political crises in Zimbabwe have resulted in extreme poverty and the female-headed families are no exception. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated poverty and food insecurity in rural households. This sudden shock was not anticipated, and many governments failed to sustain livelihoods for smallholder farmers who relied solely on farming activities and selling of farm produce. The state has failed to fulfil its basic mandate of social service provision to the most vulnerable sections of society. Consequently, the Basic Agricultural Assistance programme was introduced as a microeconomic stability tool to buffer income risks faced by the poor. The article aimed to discuss the experiences of female-headed households in the Adventist Development and Relief Agency cash transfer Programme in Nganunu Village in Zvishavane. A phenomenological research approach through an exploratory qualitative research design was used to get in-depth insights on the experiences of female-headed households. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Content thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Findings indicated that despite health, political and economic crises, the implementation of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency cash transfer was a success in bridging the gap left by the collapse of the social welfare system. The cash transfer programme empowered female-headed households to access agricultural inputs timeously. Female-headed households were capacitated to make decisions and improve food security in and to initiate social cohesion with other beneficiaries. The study recommended inter-sectoral collaborations between state and non-state actors for more effective programmes that cushion female-headed households from poverty.

CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED BY FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS IN UTILISING CASH TRANSFERS: CASE OF ZVISHAVANE, ZIMBABWE

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency- Zimbabwe (ADRAZimbabwe) is one of the non-governmental organizations that has been conducting a cash transfer programme to help alleviate poverty in Zvishavane District, Zimbabwe. The unexpected Covid-19 outbreak posed significant socio-economic shocks on female headed households, further exacerbated by a crippling state support for vulnerable groups. The objective of the study was to explore the challenges faced by female headed households in the Basic Agricultural Assistance, a cash transfer programme in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe. In-depth and Focus group discussions were used to gather data on the challenges that women face in the cash transfer program. Findings indicated that although the Basic Agricultural Assistance programme was introduced as a micro economic stability tool to buffer income risks faced by the poor, external factors like the political and economic crises have deterred the cash program to comprehensively reduce poverty in female-headed households. The constraining cultural and patriarchal norms deterred most women in achieving autonomy. Furthermore, cash transfers only targeted a portion of the female-headed households. Most of these women experienced difficulty in accessing markets to purchase farm implements amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper recommends that the Basic Agriculture Assistance Programme should consider grassroots approaches in project initiation and implementation. In other words, the beneficiaries themselves should be consulted and should have a say on projects to be initiated in their communities and these projects should be line with their needs.

Gendered Impacts of the COVID-19 in Mongolia: results from big data research

Based on the big data sample, we found that during the first year of Covid-19, although per month, per person expenditures of female-headed households were higher, on average, compared with male-headed households in Mongolia, but it is not because of the gender of the household head, but because these heads of households on average have more education, smaller household sizes, and living more in urban areas. They also register their expenditures in the VAT e-receipts system more consistently, which means that male-headed households' expenditures are underestimated. Overall, expenditure of both male- and female-headed households has increased in 2020 compared with 2019, while poverty slightly declined. The major reasons for expenditure increase and poverty decline in 2020 a rapid rollout of a fiscal stimulus with a sizable social protection component.

Value co-creation and co-destruction in the first cashless society in Colombia – a middle range theory approach

Purpose>The research examines the simultaneous processes of value co-creation and value co-destruction in the implementation of a mobile banking application in rural Colombia. Rural communities experience digital and financial deficits and often become the object of technology-based initiatives. In the town, vulnerable female heads of household received a government subsidy through a mobile app, becoming an experimental group for this government–private bank collaboration. In an effort to create the first cashless society in Colombia, the bank engaged the entire town and local government to create a service ecosystem, constituted by operant resources.Design/methodology/approach>This study uses a qualitative, ethnographic approach to investigate the experiences of stakeholders in engaging with a mobile banking app. The empirical data is drawn from 34 interviews, representing different layers of this service ecosystem. The study identified and analysed actor engagement behaviours that occurred in the micro-, meso-, macro- and meta-layers of this ecosystem that shaped the perception and usage of mobile payments and digital money for rural consumers.Findings>The study found that simultaneous manifestations of the co-creation and co-destruction of value present in different layers ultimately diminished the value proposition for this digital money system. We shed light on how actor engagement transitions across different layers of the ecosystem and that negative interactions in the meta-layer of the ecosystem can affect perceptions of value in the micro-layer.Originality/value>This study has contributed to the service literature by integrating epistemological cultural theory into value co-creation and co-destruction construct. In doing so, we provide a broader context for understanding how actor engagement can negatively impact on the value creation process and offer a meaningful contribution to the development of midrange theory of the value creation process.

Household Coping Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile.

Chile was severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of social distancing measures strongly affected the Chilean economy: the unemployment rate grew rapidly as well as the proportion of population temporarily excluded from the labour force. This article analyses the strategies deployed by Chilean households to cope with the impact of the pandemic at the intersection with household structure and its socio-economics characteristics. Secondary data analysis from the Encuesta Social COVID-19 (COVID-19 Social Survey), carried out by the Chilean Ministry for Social Development and Families, were used to analyse the income-generating and expenditure-minimising strategies adopted by households during the early months (March to July of 2020) of the pandemic. The results show that 60.3% of households experienced a drop in family income, 70.3% indicated that they had to use at least one income-generating strategy, and 76.6% at least one expenditure-minimising strategy during the early months of the pandemic. Indebtedness and decapitalisation characterised most of the coping strategies adopted by households. While living in multigenerational households does not protect family members from declining economic well-being, older people living in one- and two-generation households were found to be least affected economically during the crisis. They were also less likely to resort to these coping strategies, insofar as their income was mainly secured from pensions. Although female-headed households did not show a greater reduction in income than male-headed households, they were more likely to adopt income-generating strategies. This article draws attention to the possible effects of decapitalisation and indebtedness on the long-term economic well-being of households with different structures, and the resulting inequalities in their capacity to recover from the effects of the pandemic. The findings suggest that having a source of family income that is not dependent on labour market flows is crucial in times of crises.