Asset-based community development and child poverty reduction : a Case Study of Bindura district, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Child poverty remains a global challenge with millions of children living in extreme income poverty in multidimensionally poor households (UNICEF, 2019a:20). This prompted the international call under the Sustainable Development Goals to end extreme child poverty and reduce by half children living in multidimensional poverty by 2030 (UNICEF, 2016a:85). In Zimbabwe, Mushunje and Mafico (2010:261) emphasise the need to find innovative ways to reduce child poverty. The goal of the study was to explore and describe how asset-based community development can reduce child poverty in Bindura district, Zimbabwe. The study employed the explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, which combined quantitative and qualitative research approaches in a two-phased study. Survey and case study designs were adopted in the respective phases. Quantitative data was first collected by means of a survey from a sample of 73 heads of households. Qualitative data which explained and interpreted the quantitative findings was then gathered through field observations, document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 23 participants, namely nine heads of households, three key informants and 11 children. The findings show that the multidimensional and overlapping manifestations of child poverty in the health, education and child protection domains are rooted in the multiple deprivations that characterise the households in which children live, namely constrained income sources, low income, low consumption expenditure, overcrowded housing conditions, constrained access to water and sanitation, limited ownership of durable household goods, and lack of human, social, physical, financial and natural assets. The study concludes that assets are central to child poverty reduction in the study area. In this regard, asset-based community development is identified as a strategy that can be employed to combine assets to reduce child poverty. In this context, the study recommends guidelines for an asset-based community development approach embedded in the principles of the sustainable livelihoods approach to reduce child poverty in Bindura district, Zimbabwe.