Impact of street environments on children‟s development

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CONTEXTUAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of the urban street environment on the development of street vendors‟ children in Zimbabwe. This chapter reviews related literature illustrating contextual variables that have an impact on street vending activities in some selected streets of the city of Harare. In this regard, the contextual framework gives insight into some historical events and factors that prevailed in Zimbabwe before and after independence that led to the proliferation of street vending. This chapter gives insights regarding the violation of children‟s rights as they spend most of their early childhood in urban streets. I hoped this conceptual analysis of street vending would facilitate my in-depth understanding of the nature of street vending in Harare and the life experiences of street vendors‟ children. Poverty, as a major factor that drives people to engage in street vending, and its impact on children‟s development will be also examined. Adequate nourishment, health and a sense of safety and security, which have effects on young children‟s development, are also looked into. Lastly, an assessment is made of street environments as the location where young children develop.

CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK

The contextual framework to explore the impact of the urban street community on the educational development of street vendors‟ children in my study focuses on, among other things, economic and political variables defining the post-independence socio-cultural and educational circumstances in Zimbabwe. Historical events, such as ESAP, the agrarian land reform programme, Operation Murambatsvina (Operation Restore Order), hyperinflation, rural-to-urban migration and unemployment, had a severe impact on the drive towards urban street vending mainly in the capital city – Harare. The contextual framework highlights the rights of the child as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (AU, 1990), the Constitution of Zimbabwe (GoZ, 2013) and the Children‟s Act (GoZ, 2001).

Historical background of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a country in Southern Africa, measuring 390 800 km2 in size (Davis, 2005:438). It is land-locked (does not have a sea coast) and its neighbours are Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. Shizha and Kariwo (2011:3) remark that the country lies on a high plateau between two river basins – the Zambezi in the north and the Limpopo in the south. The climate and rich soils of the country, according to Shizha and Kariwo (2011), made agriculture very successful until the land reform programme in 2000.
A variety of resources, which include wild life and historical and natural sites such as the Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe, have been the foundation of a flourishing tourist industry (Maponga & Musa, 2009). Annual Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas(2011:1) concurs that Zimbabwe was one of the richest and relatively developed countries on the African continent before the turn of the 21st century. Its economy was based mainly on mining, agriculture and, until recently, tourism and manufacturing, tobacco and gold being the main exports (Mlambo, 2014:2). After a successful rise in the 1990s with 1.4 million tourists since the land reform programme, tourism declined in 1999 and figures indicated a 75% fall in tourism to Zimbabwe by December 2000 (Shizha & Kariwo, 2011:3).
The 2012 national census indicates that the population of Zimbabwe is estimated to be 13.061 million (Central Statistical Office, 2008), the population being relatively young, with 41% aged below 15, and 4% aged above 65 (Maponga & Musa, 2009). Baynham, Cornwell, Esterhuysen, Fair, Kotelo and Leistner (1998).remark that the official language is English, but the vast majority of the people (about 75%) are Shona-speaking, based on various dialects of Chishona. Mlambo (2014) concurs that Zimbabwe is a multicultural society.
According to Mlambo (2014), Zimbabwe was the home of native black people, starting with Stone Age hunter-gatherers, until it was occupied by the British in 1890. The British colonisation started with the arrival of Cecil John Rhodes, who was sponsored by the Pioneer Column (a group of settlers who migrated from South Africa to the then Southern Rhodesia for reasons of colonisation and occupation) in 1890. This marked the start of an eighty-year-long colonial dispensation that saw the slow growth of a white settler population and development of a modern economy based largely on mining, agriculture and, eventually, manufacturing. This modern economic growth relied heavily on cheap African labour (Mlambo, 2014). Zimbabwe was named after the ancient Great Zimbabwe shrines built of stone, which are near Masvingo, which was formerly called Fort Victoria (Mlambo, 2014:1).
Shizha and Kariwo (2011) state that the country was called “Southern Rhodesia” until 1965 and Rhodesia until 1980. Before 1964, “Rhodesia” had previously referred to the countries made up of Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia, which was the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Shizha & Kariwo, 2011:4). The Federation, according to Mlambo (2014), was a union of modern Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. During that period, Zambia was called “Northern Rhodesia”, while Zimbabwe was “Southern Rhodesia”. The socio-economic and political base of the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was racially defined. The white colonial regime assumed control of the national economy as well as the political governance of the country, while indigenous Zimbabweans were relegated to the periphery of socio-economic and political importance (Mlambo, 2014:5).
The country was temporarily renamed “Zimbabwe-Rhodesia” between June and December 1979, a name that was created by the leaders of an internal political settlement deal between the Rhodesian Front, under the control of Ian Douglas Smith and the African National Council, an organisation that was led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa (Shizha & Kariwo, 2011:4). Zimbabwe gained its political independence on 18 April 1980, after a prolonged war waged by two main political parties, namely the Zimbabwe African National Union, led by Robert Gabriel Mugabe, and the Zimbabwe African Peoples‟ Union, which was led by Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo (Mlambo, 2014). The British had governed the country for nearly 100 years from 1890.
Among other cities and towns, such as Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Kwekwe, Kadoma and Masvingo, Harare (formerly known as “Salisbury”) was named the capital city of Zimbabwe. Harare is Zimbabwe‟s largest and capital city. Figure 2.1 depicts the urban outlay of Zimbabwe, with its major cities.
As the study is situated in the streets of Harare, this city is discussed in more detail.

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Harare

Harare is located in the north-east of Zimbabwe and it is the most popular city in the country. According to ZimStart (2012) the city has a population of 2 123 132. Harare has experienced a huge growth in street vending. For the past ten years, Harare has experienced more vending activities than the majority of other urban centres where one can find a wide range of merchandise along street pavements. Chief among these, are fruit and vegetables, food, medical drugs, cell phone accessories as well as clothes (Njaya, 2014:70). Figure 2.2 shows the map of the greater Harare.

DECLARATION 
RESEARCH ETHICS CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE 
ETHICS STATEMENT
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
ABSTRACT 
PROOF OF LANGUAGE EDITING
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
CHAPTER 1: ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 RATIONALE OF STUDY
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.4 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.8 LAYOUT OF THE THESIS
CHAPTER 2: CONTEXTUAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.3 MAJOR FACTORS LEADING TO STREET VENDING IN ZIMBABWE
2.4 CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF STREET VENDING
2.5 IMPACT OF STREET ENVIRONMENTS ON CHILDREN‟S DEVELOPMENT
2.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.3 THEORIES ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT
3.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
4.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
4.4 RESEARCH APPROACH
4.5 RESEARCH METHODS
4.6 TRUSTWORTHINESS
4.7 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
4.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 GAINING ENTRY
5.3 BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY
5.4 OBSERVATION DATA
5.5 PARENT INTERVIEW AND CHILD INTERACTION DATA
5.6 SOCIAL WORKER INTERVIEW DATA
5.7 SYNTHESIS
5.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 CHAPTER SUMMARIES
6.3 SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
6.4 RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS
6.5 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
6.7 FINAL REMARKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
APPENDICES

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Department of Early Childhood Education)

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