Informal Sector Development: A Strategy for Alleviating Urban Poverty in Zimbabwe +

Abstract

The World Bank, quoted in Mhishi (1998)estimatedurbanpoverty in Zimbabwe in 1990191to be 12%. The 1995 Poverty Assessment Study found that urban poverty was now 39%.What is evidentfrom these statisticsis that urban poverty is increasingat unprecedentedlevels.What is also evident from studies that have beencarriedoutis thatthosecaughtupinurbanpovertyresortto theinformalsector ~s a survival strategy. Of concern also is the likelihoodof more people living in cities thanin rural areas in the next millennium.The past eight years ofstrnctural adjustmentwithout unleashedmassiveretrenchmentsin both the public andprivatesector,andas weembarkonthe secondphaseof thereformprogramme, there are indicationsthat the formal sector will shrink even further. It is therefore evidentthattheonlysectorwithpotentialtocreatemorejobs is theinformalsector. It is against this background of increasing urban poverty, urbanisation and declining formal employment opportunities that his paper puts forward some suggestionsfor promoting the growth of the informal sector.