Enhancing livelihoods in urban areas through provision of markets

City of Masvingo in conjunction with Great Zimbabwe University, Dialogue on Shelter for the Homeless People in Zimbabwe Trust and the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation has held a seminar on enhancing livelihoods in urban areas through provision of markets, with the aim of strategizing on how to establish legal markets and regulate black markets so as to improve the standards of lives.

One of the most important strategies for improving livelihoods for traders is to develop an effective and practical linkage channel that connects the traders to buyers of their merchandise. This link is essential as it provides these traders with a source of income but this can only be possible through engagements of the interested parties which are town planners, social service providers, traders, civil society organisations and government ministries.

The seminar highlighted on the need to establish linkages and increase engagements so as to come up with sustainable solutions which contribute to the development of the city and improvement on livelihoods.

The objective therefore is to have some form or degree of certainty of the consumer or buyers’ market hence the importance of the linkage. In most urban areas the general trend for traders is through the municipal market infrastructure. This medium is seen as the most effective selling stream due to the affordable rent rates charged for market stalls and the high pedestrian traffic movement flowing through the market.

The seminar identified how municipal markets operate from application to allocation, policies, and regulations & rules that impact all stakeholders.

With the aim to increase Council and vendor engagement and encourage youth participation, this seminar’s participants included Great Zimbabwe University Rural and Urban Planning students, representatives of vendors, academia, private actors, national, provincial and local government officials.