The advent of Coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) pandemic has caused much distress, despondence, fear and pandemonium across all nations of the world. In Zimbabwe, the emergence of the virus sent a chilling message of insecurity and need for conscientiousness and diligence, as the virus decimated humankind amid untold suffering. The pandemic came as a litmus test for the integrity and meticulousness of all the so-called professionals and institutions of integrity across the country, challenging them to stand equal to their tasks, titles and claimed astuteness. For Zimbabwe and Africa in general, the manifestation and ramifications of COVID-19, has raised so many questions around issues of peoples welfare and innovative research, especially amid the reality that the country is dependent on charity and donations from well-wishers for the vaccines it needs, over and above the modest amount it can purchase. This reality and related challenges pose interesting research questions addressed in this volume. A central question on the possibility and extent of home-grown solutions inspired by and tailored to the needs and predicaments of Zimbabwe and the African continent. The richness of the book is in the firsthand eyewitness accounts of scholars caught up in the COVID-19 challenge. The researchers in this volume have sought to capture developments, insights and evolutions as they unfold and progress. The book is handy for scholars in policy studies, risk and disaster management, social anthropology, political science, development studies, African studies and decolonial fields of studies.

This contributed volume, based on papers presented at a conference held in Zimbabwe in mid-2021, interrogates solutions to COVID-19-related problems and issues across agricultural, environmental and water sectors in Zimbabwe and assesses their scientific, economic and practical validity. Across 19 chapters, this volume unpacks the science, economics and politics of the pandemic with a focus on understanding its secondary and tertiary impact on Zimbabwe’s population. The volume is also dedicated to understanding the practical and policy-oriented approaches in tackling the pandemic and confronting the “new normal” of COVID-19. It brings together researchers, development practitioners and policy makers from various disciplines in an endeavour to understand COVID-19 trends and analyse the scientific options for mitigation, containment, innovation and ultimately pre-empt the possible emergence and impacts of other pandemics in the future

This contributed volume, based on papers presented at a conference held in Zimbabwe in mid-2021, examines the nexus between Zimbabwe’s health systems and the COVID-19 pandemic. The collection of papers contained here is diverse and covers topics from how health systems handled (or didn’t handle) surges to health communication during a global pandemic to economic and environmental impacts of the pandemic in Zimbabwe. Editors Drs. Edward Kunonga, Lazarus Chapungu, and David Chikodzi set the stage for these pieces with an introductory chapter that describes the health systems in Zimbabwe and offers an overview of the effects of the pandemic felt in the country. Their concluding chapter synthesizes trends and issues emerging from the chapters and recommends policy directions regarding health management systems in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the face of this and future pandemics.

This comprehensive book brings together reflections, lessons and insights relating to the post Covid-19 era in Zimbabwe. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has immensely affected all facets of humanity globally. Its impact on Zimbabwe is evident through its effect on socio-economic and education systems, politics, religion, infrastructural development, and health delivery systems. This book provides scholarly introspections into the lessons drawn from the pandemic in an effort to re-imagine the future possibilities of public health in Zimbabwe and beyond. Providing a platform for research that seeks to re-think global public health matters from a Decolonial school of thought, the book asks questions such as: What is the role of religion, linguistics, communication, education, economics, politics, and science in preparing Zimbabwe for possible future pandemics? How can the lessons drawn from the pandemic inform scholars to re-imagine the future trajectories of the country in the various domains? How can researchers evaluate the power and economic dialectics of COVID-19, navigate the tumultuous challenges generated, and come up with appropriate systems for future pandemics? Offering a realistic picture of the post COVID-19 era in Zimbabwe, the book will be a key resource to students and researchers across the fields of political communication, science communication, decolonial discourse, language and culture, as well as African Studies more broadly.

This book focuses on the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on the welfare of the urban poor in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe. The authors look through the lenses of the urban health penalty, the right to the city, complexity theory, and distributive justice theory. These four theories help situate the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the urban poor in the theoretical foundations that raise issues of how the poor are affected by disease/health pandemics, due to their living conditions. Uniquely, the authors use remote ethnography tools such as rich texts, video diaries and photo uploads to provide evidence-based stories of how COVID-19 mobility restrictions have affected poor urbanites in Harare. The book concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic mandatory lockdowns have deepened social and spatial inequality among the urban poor, threatening their right to the city. The socio-economic impacts can upsurge poverty, increase unemployment and the risks of hunger and food insecurity, reinforce existing inequalities, and break social harmony in the cities, even past the COVID-19 pandemic period. These socioeconomic impacts must be considered to make just cities for all, from a right-to-the-city perspective. The authors recommend that mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns should not only be treated as a law-and-order operation but as a medical intervention to stem the spread of the virus backed by measures to safeguard the livelihoods of the urban poor while also protecting the economy. This means governments should provide social safety nets to informal sector operators whose income-generating activities are affected the most during the time of emergencies like COVID-19. Planners and policymakers should re-envision pandemic-resilient cities that are just, equitable, resilient, and sustainable.

Higher education has changed significantly over time. In particular, traditional face-to-face degrees are being revamped in a bid to ensure they stay relevant in the 21st century and are now offered online. The transition for many universities to online learning has been painful—only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many in-person students to join their virtual peers and professors to learn new technologies and techniques to educate. Moreover, work has also changed with little doubt as to the impact of digital communication, remote work, and societal change on the nature of work itself. There are arguments to be made for organizations to become more agile, flexible, entrepreneurial, and creative. As such, work and education are both traversing a path of immense changes, adapting to global trends and consumer preferences. The Handbook of Research on Future of Work and Education: Implications for Curriculum Delivery and Work Design is a comprehensive reference book that analyzes the realities of higher education today, strategies that ensure the success of academic institutions, and factors that lead to student success. In particular, the book addresses essentials of online learning, strategies to ensure the success of online degrees and courses, effective course development practices, key support mechanisms for students, and ensuring student success in online degree programs. Furthermore, the book addresses the future of work, preferences of employees, and how work can be re-designed to create further employee satisfaction, engagement, and increase productivity. In particular, the book covers insights that ensure that remote employees feel valued, included, and are being provided relevant support to thrive in their roles. Covering topics such as course development, motivating online learners, and virtual environments, this text is essential for academicians, faculty, researchers, and students globally.

This book analyses the role of religion during the COVID- 19 pandemic and vaccination rollout in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of thirteen African countries to have fully vaccinated more than 10% of its population against COVID- 19 by the end of September 2021, but the country fell far short of the government’s own target for achieving 60% inoculation by December 2020. This book analyses whether religion played a role in explaining why the government’s pro- vaccine stance did not translate into high vaccination rates. Drawing upon various religions, including African indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam, the book considers how faith actors demonstrated vaccine acceptance, resistance or hesitancy. Zimbabwe offers a particularly interesting and varied case for analysis, and the original research on display here will be an important contribution to wider debates on religion and COVID- 19. This book will be useful to academics, researchers and students studying religious studies, sociology, health and well- being, religion and development.