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Livelihoods in Crisis: Challenges for Rural Development in Southern Africa [Introduction]

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posted on 2025-01-29, 11:45 authored by Ian Scoones, William Wolmer

Livelihoods in southern Africa are in crisis. One of the worst ever food crises has hit the region, with over 14 million reported to be at risk. Newspapers carry appeals from charities for support, and TV images of food queues and malnourished children are commonplace. Yet, southern Africa is the region where the development success story was supposed to unfold. This was the bread basket of the continent, where economic reforms were apparently generating growth and investment and where the great hopes of democratic transition were supposed to show quick dividends. According to the script, the crisis was not supposed to happen.

The research on which this IDS Bulletin is based has attempted to examine how various rural development and governance initiatives, concerning wild resources, land and water, have played out in practice in a series of rural areas in three southern African countries: Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. By looking empirically and in detail at what has and has not happened on the ground, questions are raised about the nature of the current livelihoods crisis, its origins and potential solutions. What emerges, perhaps not surprisingly, is a complex story connecting livelihood change with the dynamics of politics and power, where easy technical or managerial solutions are not immediately evident.

History

Publisher

Institute of Development Studies

Citation

Scoones, I. and Wolmer, W. (2025) 'Introduction: Livelihoods in Crisis: Challenges for Rural Development in Southern Africa', IDS Bulletin 56.1A: 36–49, 10.19088/1968-2025.107

Editors

Melissa Leach Ian Scoones

Series

IDS Bulletin

Volume

56

Issue

1A

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

IDS Item Types

Article

Copyright holder

Institute of Development Studies

Language

en

IDS team

Rural Futures

Pagination

36–49

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    Volume 56. Issue 1A: Environmental Change, Development Challenges – Revisited

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