Socio-economic baseline study Rushinga District (Mashonaland Central Province)

Abstract

Essentially, a baseline study is a statement pertaining to the state of affairs within a specified context. In this instance, the statement which this report purports to make is about the state of development in Rushinga District, Mashonaiand Central Province. The focus of this study derives from the Food and Agriculture Organisation/ Government of Zimbabwe Cooperative Programme for People's Participation In Community Development Through Promotion of Self-Help Organisations. This is a FAO Sponsored Pilot Project in coordination with the Ministry of Community Development and Women's Affairs to promote and enhance participation in development by helping small groups of the rural poor initiate self-sustaining economic activities. The pilot project is part of a world programme of FAO supported projects sharing a similar rationale and methodology. Underlying the programme are the conclusions of the 1976 World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, which attributed unsatisfactory rural development to the inability of the rural poor to effectively participate in decisions affecting their own lives. (See People's Participation In Community Development Through Promotion of Self-Help Organizations, AG:GCP/ZIM/ 006/ITA Consultant Report).