Safety Net Complementarities: An in-depth analysis of the safety nets provided

in Zimbabwe and their possible contribution to the labour market, economic

growth and poverty reduction.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL – CONFERENCE VERSION

To be presented at the PEP general meeting, Santa Cruz, Bolivia on May 5-8, 2014

By

Mr. Tapfuma R. Jongwe Ms. Chipo Muchabaiwa Ms. Beatrice Musavengana Mr. Everton Mlalazi Ms. Maurine Tanatsa Muparadzi Dr..Jephias Matunhu (PhD) Lead Researcher

Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

The main research area of focus is on safety net complementarities put in place in

Zimbabwe to promote income growth and poverty reduction among the poor. The

research will thus seek to explore three programs Basic Education Assistance

Module (BEAM), Assisted Medical Treatment Order (AMTO) and Harmonised Social

Cash Transfer (HSCT) their target populations, their implementation plans and their

effectiveness. In the context of Zimbabwe over the years the government and donor

organizations have supported safety nets mainly in the areas of Health and

Education and other social services. Often time the general public is not aware of

these services and this research seeks to recognize ways of raising awareness of

these programs and expected/existing outcomes through feedback from the

beneficiaries and the effects these programs have on the general population. This

research will also assist policy makers in formulating relevant safety nets as well as

coming up with policies and programs that complement available safety nets. This

research will also assist with the types of safety nets needed for the Zimbabwean

rural and urban contexts to prevent over-dependence on such programs and to

promote productive lives for all. The research will use primary data that will be

collected during the research period through methods such as questionnaires and in-

depth Interviews among other research methods. Additionally the research will also

utilise currently available secondary data which has already been collected and is

used for reference such as information from current or previous safety nets,

government publications and journals.

BACKGROUND

Social protection’ is one of the ways to reduce and/or alleviate the impacts of poverty

and people’s vulnerability to it. In many developing countries the employer plays a

large role, with the insurance-related aspects of social protection thus provision of

social safety nets maybe limited to workers in the formal sector (large firms and the

public sector) and excluding many in the urban informal and rural agricultural

sectors. Employee related social protection includes schemes such as medical aid,

old age pension, compensation in the cases of accidents at work, and education

support among others. This strategy creates a dichotomy between those within the

protective system and those outside it. In these countries, the levels of per capita

income and of inequality that result from the functioning of the market economy

always leave some people in poverty and/or vulnerable to emergencies; social

protection policies are designed to alleviate these problems (and, where possible, to

contribute to pro-poor growth). It then becomes apparent that the urban informal and

particularly the rural peasants require social protection mechanisms which come

from the Government. The major focus area for this research is whether the social

safety nets being provided by Government in Zimbabwe have an income-creating

effect or not.

Of particular interest are the social protection initiatives that overlap with labour

market processes and hence affect labour outcomes. Such overlaps take different

forms according to where a given policy is on a spectrum from pure protection (no

impact on the person’s/family’s capacity to earn income) to pure income growth

promotion such that the protection provided comes exclusively from the higher

income. Some social protection interventions, though, may directly diminish income

earned, such that the net benefit due to the programme is less than the transfer

involved. A further relevant distinction is that between social protection whose

income-creating effect occurs immediately—for example, employment-generating

public works programmes—and those whose income-generating effect comes later,

as with conditional cash transfers (CCTs) designed to keep the children of low-

income families in school longer or school lunch programmes whose main impact

may be a reduction of malnutrition and a healthier person over his/her lifetime. These

distinctions by no means fully capture the causal interactions between social

protection programmes and either personal/family income growth or the overall

economic performance of an economy.

The social protection briefing note series number 4 of March 06 by DFID notes

that, Social protection can have a positive impact on growth in developing countries

in a number of ways. It can finance investment in health and education, protect

assets that help people earn an income, encourage risk taking, promote participation

in the labour market, and ease the pain of economic transition. There are inevitably

trade-offs. For example, if taxes are raised to pay for spending on social protection,

tax payers may have less incentive to work and save. However, social protection, in

reducing poverty and inequality, can also lead to greater social unity and a more

stable environment for individuals to work, save and invest. Governments must be

careful to strike an appropriate balance between economic incentives and greater

provision of social protection. Nevertheless, social protection is a potentially

important part of a strategy to increase sustainable, poverty-reducing growth.

BEAM, AMTO and HSCT

To reduce Zimbabwe's deep socioeconomic disparities, the government that came to

power at independence in 1980 invested heavily in health and education and,

through parastatals, in rural development and the productive sectors. The

Government, through the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS) now

called the Ministry of Public Services, Labour and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) chose

to be the sole provider of social services which marked the provision of free

education up to primary level as well as free health assistance to a certain extent.

Although social indicators improved, particularly in health and education, per capita

income stagnated. The Ministry of Public Services, Labour and Social Welfare

(MoPSLSW) has a number of social protection mechanisms already in place,

including Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), Assisted Medical Treatment

Order (AMTO), and the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) program, social

insurance for the poorest children and their families, and child protection services for

children at risk of violence, exploitation and abuse. These social safety nets provide

a multi-dimensional approach to targeting child and family vulnerability and aims to

reduce disparities and inequalities related to poverty, exclusion and abuse.

BEAM: Established in 2001 as a key component of the Enhanced Social Protection

Programme (ESPP), the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) is based on a

policy and legal framework that is designed to provide quality education to children,

including specific policies aimed at supporting orphans and vulnerable children

(OVC), as well as a number of international agreements to which the Government of

Zimbabwe (GoZ) is a signatory. BEAM is a demand‐side response to the cost

barriers affecting the ability of OVC to access education due to increasing poverty

levels in the country. BEAM is now one of the four pillars of the overarching National

Action Plan (NAP), currently in its second phase (NAP II), which is intended to

reduce household poverty through cash transfers, improve access to child protection

services and improve access to basic education and health services. The Child

Protection Fund (CPF) is the multi‐donor funding mechanism supporting NAP II, and

this is where programme allocations for BEAM are now located; the Project

Management Unit (PMU) responsible for BEAM is located in the Department of

Social Services (DSS) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS). Until

the end of 2008 BEAM was wholly funded by the GoZ. With the advent of

hyperinflation, BEAM resources became negligible and failed to reach the intended

objective of supporting access to education by the poor and most vulnerable.

Revived in the period 2009‐2011, BEAM disbursed US$60.2 million directly to

schools to cover tuition fees and levies in primary and secondary schools and

examination fees in secondary schools; 45% of this amount was provided by donors.

Donor funding beyond this time is uncertain, but the GoZ has committed US$16

million for 2012 for secondary school students.

Assisted Medical Treatment Order (AMTO): Under the Health Assistance

Programme, government pays health fees for very poor households through the

Hospital Referral System. Beneficiaries are given medical treatment vouchers are

given by the Department of Social Services. The vouchers are used in government

hospitals. A major challenge the programme has faced over the years is that the

AMTO do not cover treatment at private health institutions. With shortages of drugs

at referral hospitals, the purpose of the programme faces a challenge as patients find

themselves stuck with prescriptions of drugs they cannot afford to buy. In this regard,

the availability of drugs in public health institutions is critical to the provision of safety

net to indigent individuals.

The Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT): was introduced in 2011 by the

Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS) to “strengthen the purchasing power

of 55 000 ultra-poor households who are labour constrained through cash transfer”.

The programme aims to enable beneficiary households to increase their

consumption to a level above the food poverty line, to reduce the number of ultra-

poor households and to help beneficiaries avoid risky coping strategies such as child

labour and early marriage. The programme is also expected to lead to improved

nutritional status and to improved outcomes for children in health and education. The

research brief on the Impacts of the HSCT on community dynamics in Zimbabwe

noted that, “The transfer has increased the creditworthiness of beneficiary

households and enabled many of them to reduce casual labour, increasing work in

their own fields, which in some households was complemented by increased

investments in productive inputs (e.g. fertilizers)’. It will be interesting to interrogate

the impact of the HSCT on peasantry labour, whether; the provision of these

unconditional transfers has indeed translated to household heads spending more

time in their fields.

Social protection interventions seek to reduce the vulnerability of poor people and

more so vulnerable children. There are several social safety nets whose purpose is

to cushion vulnerable and poor families. Zimbabwe’s social safety nets are premised

on the Social Welfare Assistance Act of 1990. Some of these safety nets worked

very well at their inception. However, the socio- economic situation that later

prevailed during the late 1990’s onwards, compromised the delivery of assistance to

poor families.

RESEARCH GOALS, RATIONALE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

While we are aware of other social safety nets in areas of Health, Education, HIV

and AIDS such as the Health Transition Fund, The Education Transition Fund and

the AIDS levy respectively. For the purposes of this research, we propose to only

focus on social safety nets in the Department of Social Services (DSS) which are

BEAM, the HSCT and the AMTO. The research comes at a time when Zimbabwe

has just concluded its constitution making process, and has a new policy guideline

for economic growth and development called the ZIM-ASSET. The constitution

clearly outlines the need to provide Zimbabwean people with basic services, and

considering the economic challenges that the general populace face it is apparent

that the state will continue providing social protection to its people. As such, the

social protection mechanisms in place require to be reviewed in line with the tenets

and spirit of the new constitution. Also, the ZIM-ASSET is founded on the very basic

principles of indigenous empowerment, which put the general person in Zimbabwe at

the centre of development. It however remains to be seen whether this is mere lip

service, in which case the rich elite will continue to benefit at the expense of the

ordinary Zimbabweans.

Some of the researchers in this team are people who have been involved in the

implementation, monitoring and evaluation of various social safety nets in Zimbabwe.

We draw experience from our contact with these programmes, and at this stage

would like to then see if there are any complementarities between these social

protection mechanisms and the labour market. For example, the AMTO is a public

health assistance scheme for the poor and vulnerable in Zimbabwe. The AMTO is a

medical aid scheme that was set up by the Department of Social Services to assist

the poor and vulnerable after the inception of ESAP as a result of which the

government withdrew free medical assistance to the Zimbabwean population at

large. In a review of the AMTO earlier this year, it was noted that it has many

loopholes which are mainly exacerbated by inadequate funding for the scheme. Of

particular interest are the negative perceptions and general knowledge gaps that

exist amongst both beneficiaries and service providers on the AMTO. The AMTO is

widely regarded as the solution to the plight of the poor and vulnerable members of

the society. While it was noted that the AMTO is an important social protection

mechanism, most beneficiaries believe the system is no longer reliable and has a lot

of inconsistencies. There is limited knowledge on the existence of the AMTO system

as a health assistance scheme for the poor and vulnerable among the vulnerable

populations especially in the remotest part of the country. Also, an opportunity for

this research is to probe the existence of a policy that supports and provides legal

basis for the implementation of the AMTO.

Considering the minimal knowledge that some potential beneficiaries of safety nets

have and also considering the somewhat negative perceptions that some

Governments often have towards safety nets like cash transfers the value of this

research as an informant to the policy makers in regard to the views of the people in

the grass root communities can thus not be undermined. In the case of Zimbabwe it

is a matter of public knowledge that the currently available safety nets are by far not

sufficient to reach to all the people who deserve to benefit from such safety nets. For

example the BEAM Evaluation Report (2012), indicated that “784 000 (28%) of

primary school pupils are in need of support, but only 456 400 (16,3%) had accessed

it, for secondary schools, 192 000 (24%) of 800 000 students required Beam support

but only 140 000 (17,5%) received it.” The research will thus try to establish the

impact that such safety nets have had against those that require the nets but cannot

access them. As such the research can thus be used as a lobbying tool to the policy

makers as it will also reveal the reality that is on the ground.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In Zimbabwe, the social protection mechanisms are meant for the vulnerable and

poor households, and these are mainly the unemployed people. It is important to

note that the income levels of those that are working are very low such that they also

require social assistance. This research will be done particularly to assess whether

there any complementarities between Zimbabwe’s social protection mechanisms and

the labour market and economic growth. This is because, the larger population in

Zimbabwe is unemployed, with ZIM-STATS and other CSOs citing that Zimbabwe’s

unemployment is at 80%, it will be prudent to analyse the social protection

mechanisms for the poor, vulnerable and unemployed in Zimbabwe. Key questions

that will be interrogated during the research include but are not limited to;

How effective and efficient are the Social Protection Mechanisms in providing

pedestals for economic growth and development for the poor, vulnerable and

unemployed in Zimbabwe?

How are these social safety nets create or increase income at household level

How are these social safety nets creating a sense of dependency by the

benefitting households on Government and Non-Governmental

Organisations?

How is corruption affecting service delivery?

EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

The research will use a non-experimental design (comparative design) which seeks

to have an in-depth understanding of the complementarities between social safety

nets and the labour market, and subsequent economic growth. We acknowledge that

this research will be a pre-test post-test in that it seeks to assess social safety nets

which are already being provided by the Government of Zimbabwe. The methods

that will be used will mainly be aimed at describing (using descriptive statistics)

current and existing characteristics of the sampled populations such as perceptions,

attitudes, achievements, challenges and relationships that have been created in the

duration of these programs. It will be critical to compare the situation for populations

who have benefitted from these safety nets with that of populations who have not

benefitted from the same. We realise that the exclusion of some members of the

population in Zimbabwe could be either because they do not fit in the eligibility

criteria to benefit or they may have been omitted due to the other exclusionary

factors such as distance, bureaucracies and the irregularities in the vetting exercise.

We will use complimentary methods for obtaining both primary and secondary data

which include;

Literature Review: Beyond setting the contextual background to the study, the

review will seek to assess the HSCT, BEAM and AMTO programs/schemes in terms

of efficiency and effectiveness. We will conduct a systematic and structured review

of formal and informal documents from the DSS that are related to the social

protection mechanisms under review. The review will also provide a strong basis for

the development of an appropriate research design, and development of suitable

data collection instruments. In order to ensure comprehensiveness, the literature

review will be guided by an analytical framework that we will develop. The analytical

framework will seek to interrogate major themes such as the relevance of the social

safety nets, their functionality, general perceptions by service providers and users,

policy makers and other stakeholders. Also, it will be critical to review the labour

trends in Zimbabwe and how they relate to the social protection mechanisms. We

will engage and use our networks within the ministry of Labour and Social Services

for us to access documentation for the various schemes. In addition we will review

best practice from a variety of internet sources and other publications that will add

depth to our understanding of the issues at hand.

Analysis of Secondary Data on Social Safety Nets

We will collect quantitative data on the HSCT, BEAM and AMTO programs. We

understand that the Department of Social Services has a register of households

which are classified as poor and vulnerable, who must benefit from the cash transfer

program. In our view, these households should also be beneficiaries of BEAM and

AMTO programs; as such we will seek to assess what proportions of those on BEAM

and AMTO are on HSCT respectively. We will also seek access to data on

employment, health insurance trends and school attendance ratios. We will use the

registers NATIONAL distribution of the beneficiaries we will assess and look at

disaggregation based on gender, with a focus on the urban and rural variable on the

beneficiaries.

We will use records from the MoPSLSW on BEAM, AMTO AND HSCT from the

Department of Social Services. As we will conduct a comparative study, we will also

make use of the registers to also pick our non-beneficiary population based on their

record of those legible for inclusion in the safety nets but are not benefiting. We will

thus determine the following for both beneficiary and non-beneficiary populations

1. Sample levels; national sample, provincial and district level sample

2. Disaggregation by gender

3. Rural and urban samples

Sampling

We will select six (one urban beneficiary community, one rural beneficiary

community, one urban non-beneficiary community and one rural non-beneficiary

community) per each of the social protection programs, making a total of six

communities for the entire research. Of these six, three will be selected from the

Northern Region ( Harare, Mashonaland, East, West and Central, and Manicaland

Provinces) and the other three will be selected from the Southern Region (

Bulawayo, Matebeleland North and South, Midlands and Masvingo Provinces). Of

these, we are targeting 3 levels for data collection, district, provincial and national.

Probability sampling techniques will be applied.

Survey Sample

Using data from the DSS, the total number of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries to

be visited in each province (by district sample) will be computed using a statistically

acceptable weighting procedure. The following key stratification variables will be

used during the sampling process: location (urban vs. rural) and (beneficiary vs.

Non-beneficiary) numbers in each province and district.

The evaluation will utilise a mixed‐methods approach in which both quantitative and

qualitative data will be collected and triangulated. Quantitative data will be obtained

as secondary data from the DSS. Qualitative data will be obtained through in‐depth

interviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative and qualitative approaches

are fundamentally complementary, and provide opportunities for deductive and

inductive approaches to data analysis in order to gain insights into the social

environment in which BEAM AMTO and HSCT’s have operated.

Survey Instruments

In depth Interview Guide for Stakeholders: We do acknowledge that key

stakeholders are important contributors to the research as they provide a more

technical perspective on the social safety nets under review. To guide the process, a

generic interview guide, which will be adapted for each of the stakeholders will be

developed and used to conduct the interviews. Stakeholders will be drawn from

Government Departments such as the DSS, policymakers, relevant NGOs, local

community leaders and service users. Key stakeholder organizations and

government departments that will be interviewed, will include, but not limited to

donors, the DSS, the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.

Focus Group Discussion Guide with Beneficiaries: We will conduct FGDs with a

few purposively selected beneficiaries of BEAM, HSCT and AMTO to gauge their

perceptions and experiences on these social safety nets. We will assess issues such

as perception, access, knowledge, turnaround time, credibility and reliability among

others. The FGDs will consist of between 6-12 participants.

Stakeholder Meeting: On the basis of preliminary review findings, we will facilitate a

stakeholder consultative workshop. The workshop will be used to mainly provide

feedback on the research findings as well as being a basis for consensus building.

The workshop will be conducted in a highly participatory manner using a combination

of small group round table discussions and plenary feedback sessions.

Data Analysis

The evaluation will yield two types of data: quantitative data from the secondary data

sources and qualitative data from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.

While these two sources of information will be triangulated at the interpretation

stage, appropriate data processing and analysis procedures will be used for each

type of data as described below.

Codes for responses to all closed questions will be developed first, including

questionnaire identification numbers (QINs) for easy tracking. All quantitative data

will be captured using CSPro by our team of experienced data capturers. CSPro is

a specialized data capturing software package that combines the features of

Integrated Microcomputer Processing System (IMPS) and the Integrated System for

Survey Analysis (ISSA) in a single windows environment. CSPro enables the user

and data-capturing manager to easily monitor and control the data capturing process

in situations where multiple data capturers are used.

A critical feature of the CSPro is that it allows for double capturing. It processes the

data on a case basis and the data are stored in ASCII text files described by data

dictionaries. It also contains a powerful common procedure language (CPL) to

implement data entry control and edit rules. Once the data dictionaries have been

written up and the codes are created, the interface created within CSPro makes data

entry process easy and error-proof. Thus, effective quality control mechanisms

that we have used successfully in many projects will be implemented throughout the

data coding and data cleaning processes.

Data cleaning will involve:

Running frequencies on each variable and making sure there are no out-of-

range values in the data

Running internal consistency checks on the data

Prior to analysis, it will be necessary to also reverse-code some of the responses

from the questionnaire in order to ensure directionality consistency. The project

leader will take direct responsibility for the data cleaning and data analysis phases

of the project. A series of reliability analyses will be performed on that data. This

will enable us to test the internal consistency of the data using the Cronbach’s

alpha coefficient. All data will be captured in the data capturing room at IRiZ offices.

The CSPro data will be uploaded directly into SPSS for analysis. A range of

descriptive and inferential statistical techniques will be used to analyze the data so

as to provide answers to the research questions. The data analysis will involve the

following:

Computation of descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median, variance,

standard deviation, graphs, etc.) for each variable, not only to crosscheck data

accuracy, but also to check whether or not the data satisfies the requirements

for subsequent parametric data analysis techniques that may be used to draw

inferences from the data.

Data reduction techniques (e.g. computation of composite scores for the sub-

scales in the questionnaire), and identification of sub-scales that emerge from a

data set.

Running a series of statistical inference procedures that are aimed at

understanding associations and relationships among variables and the extent to

which these associations relate to and/or differ as a function of the various

demographic variables included in the study.

Qualitative data will be analysed in one of two ways. Some of the data may be

coded and converted to quantitative data. However, most data from open-ended

questions, IDIs and FGDs tends to be “non-codable”. Such data will be subjected to

a thematic content analysis procedure in order to identify key themes emerging from

the data. Use of content analysis will permit the research team to identify theme

cores and nodes that emerge from the data, allowing the researcher to proceed from

the particular to the general. If necessary, software packages may be used to

facilitate the analysis of qualitative data.

The research will use a dual pronged approach that will rely on secondary data

sources but at the same time will also try to gather primary data through in-depth

interviews and Focus Group Discussions as highlighted in section 3. Considering

that the research will focus on available social Safety nets like BEAM, HSCT and

AMTO, it is paramount for the research process to carry out a desk study of the

government policies that govern the mentioned safety nets. In addition the research

will also look into official reports of the said safety nets as such reports can help

inform the research process with such data as the beneficiaries of the safety nets,

the numbers reached, the finances involved, gaps that need attention as well as the

impact of the safety nets among other issues. Besides the reports from the

government, the desk research will also gather data in regard to the identified Safety

nets from other related and relevant stakeholders. For example Non-Governmental

organisations that are supporting the government in regard to the identified safety

nets can be of great input to the research thus their reports can also be used.

Organisations like the Department for International Development (DFID) are also

contributing significantly to the BEAM scheme and their reports can also provide

pertinent data that can inform the research process.

This approach will enhance the research process in that by gathering both primary

and secondary data, the research will be able to gather data on safety nets that have

been compiled over the years. This will indeed inform our research process as we

gather more information on safety nets in Zimbabwe. While the secondary data

sources highlighted above will provide such data as, the geographical trends of

safety nets in Zimbabwe, establishing the micro socio-economic impact, that the

currently available few functional safety nets have had, establishing the current

policies on safety nets and to what extent they are being implemented as well as the

perceived impact of such safety nets, it is imperative to note that there is need to

also gather new data on safety nets in Zimbabwe. Such data will be gathered

through in-depth interviews with key stakeholders like senior government officials,

NGO personnel that are directly working in line with the identified social nets as well

as community members and some direct beneficiaries of the identified social nets.

The research will also gather new data through Focus Group Discussions that will be

carried out with some of the beneficiaries of the currently available safety nets. For

example a focus group discussion may be contacted with some school pupils that

are currently benefiting under the BEAM scheme.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

It is important to note that research ethics will be adhered to strictly and not just

during the data mining process but during the whole course of the research process.

The research team will sign confidentiality forms. Some of the ethical requirements

that will be adhered to during the research will be as follows:

Obtaining informed consent from all adult participants and assent for children

before participating in the study

Voluntary participation in the research and explaining that participants have

the right to withdraw from the study without any negative consequences

Ensuring the confidentiality of personal level data through a number of

mechanisms (assigning participants to control identification numbers, making

sure that no interviewers conduct interviews in their home areas etc.

Ensuring anonymity of participants by not writing their names or any other

personally identifying information on record forms or anywhere else where

their details can be accessed by people who are not involved in the project,

etc.

Secure data handling at all stages, (data will be kept under lock and key and

data files will be password protected)

Conclusion

Considering that the researchers will get into contact with a lot of stakeholders from

government officials to community members the research will thus be informed in

regard to some alternatives that can be put in place to complement safety nets or to

empower communities so as to completely move out of safety nets. Within this vein

the research will thus also inform relevant stakeholders on some policy decisions

that might need to be taken in order to complement safety nets.

As a way of ensuring that the research findings will be taken up into policy making

the research process will primarily prioritise the involvement of all key stakeholders

in the research process. To date some key government and related stakeholders

have already been informed about this research process as highlighted in the table

above. The research will thus maintain constant touch with these stakeholders so

that they are fully aware of what the research process intends to achieve. The

research will also endeavour to be very clear on policy issues that need to be

addressed as such clarity helps in lobbying for the research findings to be used by

policy makers or other interested parties.

The research process will strive to identify relevant audiences for both the research

findings as well as the research process itself. This is driven by the belief that

policies can only be relevant if they target the right people but above all, if they are

being implemented by relevant stakeholders. The research process will also build

strong networks with the media and also take advantage of the new age media like

social networks and the internet so as to ensure that the findings of the research are

in the public domain thus influencing the policy planning process. As a way of

maintaining constant contact with all the relevant stakeholders as well as advocating

and subsequent implementation of the research findings, funds permitting, the

researchers intend to organise a post research conference where all the relevant

stakeholders will take part and get an opportunity to unpack the research findings

with the intention of ensuring that such findings inform the policy making process in

as far as safety nets in Zimbabwe are concerned.

Proposed Timeframe

Estimated Duration ACTIVITY

Month

2 weeks

PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES 1 2 3 4 5

Coordination with local partners in selected sites( Social Welfare DA for permission to conduct study), setting up meeting and appointments

Designing key indicator systems

Development and pre-test of data collection instruments and manuals for field operations

Development of research findings database template,

3 weeks

DATA COLLECTION

Literature review:

Review of Existing Records

Focus group discussions

In depth interviews

2 weeks Data processing and analysis

1 week Report writing

CONCLUDING ACTIVITIES

1 DAY Stakeholder meetings: consultation with stakeholders on findings

Presentation of interim findings to PeP

1 WEEK Making of final report

1 DAY National conference