Papers by Christina M Shitima
African journal of empirical research, Mar 2, 2024
Poverty, Inequality, and Innovation in the Global South
Lakes & Reservoirs: Science, Policy and Management for Sustainable Use
Five years ago, I was happy to receive the news that I won a scholarship to start a PhD program a... more Five years ago, I was happy to receive the news that I won a scholarship to start a PhD program at the University of Antwerp. For me, pursuing PhD studies was a necessary step to advance my personal career and, particularly, to sustain my faculty position at the University that I work for. A year after, I started PhD with my research focusing on analysis of household's development xxi ABSTRACT More than a decade ago, the Tanzanian government reformed its policy on the governance of water resources from a predominantly centralized system to a more participatory approach. The implementation of the policy required a simultaneous consideration of both the ecological and social cultural context of the basin and involvement of different stakeholders during the planning and management of water resources. The policy implementation was expected to conserve basins resources without negatively affecting livelihoods of people who depend on river basin resources (RBR). Despite the water policy reform, RBR in Tanzania are still degrading. While the factors for the RBR degradation are well articulated in literature, there is still a knowledge gap in terms of individuals' characteristics that govern their use of RBR in Tanzania. From this vantage point, our study sets out to investigate in more depth the factors that influence the uses of RBR in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts to inform policies on the improvement of rural livelihoods while at the same time protecting the river basin natural resource bases. More specifically, we analyse household characteristics that govern decisions regarding RBR use and assess linkages between people's access to RBR 1 , choices of development strategies and degradation of RBR. The study uses data collected from households residing along Kilombero Basin and Simiyu Basin. Intra-household data were collected from different household members aged 18 and above who carry out different socioeconomic activities. A mixed methods research design, the qualitative-quantitative-qualitative approaches, were used in a sequential manner to answer the research questions. Findings show that informal social relation factors influence both practical rights to use RBR and benefits from the use of resources, which further result in diversities in occupational choices. While almost everyone practices seasonal farming to provide food for household consumption, informal social relation factors and access to social and financial capitals, affect participation in activities that are used for income generation. Lastly, yet importantly, gender, participation in multiple activities and environmental awareness are important factors for people to practice pro-environmental behaviour. 1 We define individual access to RBR in terms of practical rights to use household owned RBR to pursue different livelihood activities and the ability to benefit from the goods that were produced from the use of RBR.
Journal of international women's studies, 2018
This study uses intra-household and intersectionality theories to analyze the relative benefit th... more This study uses intra-household and intersectionality theories to analyze the relative benefit that household member’s gain from the use of goods produced by households living along the Simiyu River in Tanzania’s Meatu District. The ability to benefit from the use of goods produced by a household is defined as the freedom that a person has concerning decision-making about the goods that are produced within the household. Data were collected from different household members, including household heads, spouses and children who were 18 years and older and who were involved in the production of goods. The study findings highlight that the ability to benefit from the use of goods produced by a household differs between men and women, the old and young, and between members who have a different relationship to the household head, which suggests that differences in social identities associated with age, gender and marital status are important. Furthermore, some people are positioned at the ...
Afrika Focus, 2018
This special issue brings together a selection of peer-reviewed studies, some of which were prese... more This special issue brings together a selection of peer-reviewed studies, some of which were presented in a two-day conference in August 2017 entitled @ccessible development. The conference took place in the rural setting of Mzumbe University at the foot of Tanzania's Uluguru mountains. Over the course of a week the external contributors, including a number of invited international speakers, engaged in academic exchange with a group of young Tanzanian researchers. Within the frame of a 6-year inter-university collaboration with Flemish universities on the overall topic of 'Governance and entrepreneurship through research, education and access to technology in Tanzania' a dozen or so researchers have sought to develop Mzumbe University's special focus on rural development and use of digital technology. We would like to acknowledge the role of the conference donor VLIR-UOS in its support for these academic contributions that create a synergy combining 'digitalization for development' (D4D), sustainable entrepreneurship, and natural resources management. The standard format of a published collection typically involves tackling the given theme, in this case accessible development, from a comparative angle, gathering studies from different locations in Africa or across the South-and from the perspective of the same discipline. As a multidisciplinary journal, it is fitting that Afrika Focus approaches the topic of this issue from the various perspectives of several disciplines, including Pedagogy, Economics, Political Science, Information Studies, Digital Anthropology, and Development Studies. The Eastern African region features centrally in these studies. In about half of the cases the rural district of Mvomero in Morogoro Region forms the research setting. Before briefly introducing the studies, a few words are necessary on the theme that brought them together in the first place. All papers partake of a similar evolution of thought that has permeated the disciplines concerned. After paradigm: Making development accessible Postcolonial relations between North and South evolved from development aid to development cooperation. Implicit in this change is a shift from a one-directional dissemination to a two-way exchange of knowledge. The shift has not been easy. A rarely articulated concern understood on both sides of the fence is the question of what knowledge
Afrika Focus, 2018
This paper applies intersectionality theories to investigate how informal social relations factor... more This paper applies intersectionality theories to investigate how informal social relations factors in terms of age and gender interact to affect people’s access to river basin resources (RBR) in Tanzania. Access to RBR is defined as practical rights to use RBR and benefits that are accrued from the use of RBR. Data were collected from a survey conducted among households living along the Kilombero River in Tanzania. Three villages that differ in cultural backgrounds i.e. a fishing community, an agro-pastoralist community and a village with people from multi-cultural groups were included in the survey. A multivariate probit model is used to determine access in terms of practical rights to use RBR, and a generalized ordered logit model is used to determine access in terms of benefits from the use of RBR. Findings show that both practical rights to use RBR and benefits from the use of resources are highly gendered, though their impact differs according to age groups and cultural groups....
River basin resources contribute in diverse ways in the livelihoods of rural people in Tanzania. ... more River basin resources contribute in diverse ways in the livelihoods of rural people in Tanzania. People living around these areas depend on small scale agriculture, subsistence forestry, artisanal fishing, livestock keepings, artisanal mining and small-scale trade as sources of livelihoods. While it was expected that these important livelihood assets would be used in sustainable ways, the destructive practices behaviour related to the use of basins resources are increasing. Increase of population, declining of agricultural productivity without increase of employment in industrial sector are among the factors that lead to competition for the use of river basin resources. This paper aims at providing an analytical framework that elaborates the relationship between people’s access to and control over resources and sustainability of River basin resources in Tanzania. It uses the concept of livelihood framework, together with institutional theories to build the analytical framework that ...
East African Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation
This study engages with the debate in the literature on access to livelihood resources and liveli... more This study engages with the debate in the literature on access to livelihood resources and livelihood diversification to show how differences in people’s access to resources result in differences in the choices of development strategies (DST) that people pursue for livelihoods’ enhancement. It uses a multinomial logit model to analyse how access to social and financial capitals affects people’s choices of DST in the rural river basin areas of Tanzania. Further to that, the study links the findings with policy initiatives related to the conservation of river basin resources (RBR). The study uses survey data which were supplemented by qualitative data gathered through focus group discussions. Findings show that both access to social and financial capitals affect the choice of secondary DST, though access to social capital seems to be more important in Kilombero, and access to financial capital more important in Meatu. In Kilombero, access to social capital is an important factor for p...
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Papers by Christina M Shitima