Gender and ethnic differentiation in the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Guruve District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This paper explores gender and ethnic differentiation in Community-based wildlife management under the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe. CAMPFIRE is a national natural resource management initiative that promotes utilization of natural resources as an economic and sustainable land use option in Zimbabwe’s communal areas. Currently the programme focuses on wildlife utilization as a development intervention to improve the economic livelihood of the rural communities. The paper uses a case study of Kanyurira ward in the Zambezi Valley to explore the impact of gender differentiation within the programme. This study examines the development consequences of this initiative with reference to the differential outcomes for women and men along ethnic lines. The study reveals that the programme has gender-differentiated benefits as well as disadvantages. The study also shows that CAMPFIRE and associated development activity has initiated changes in the village life that have led women into opportunities which were formerly not available including formal education, cash payments to households and paid employment. However, decision making and leadership opportunities are biased in favour of men. The study further shows that there is differentiation among women due to their ethnic affiliation.