Southern Africa is in the midst of a major food crisis. Fourteen million people are reported to be at risk. Most commentators agree that since around 1990, livelihoods have collapsed in many areas, with an increasing number of people, particularly in rural areas, vulnerable. But this is 2003, following decades of post-independence development assistance and once-great hopes for the region as both the food basket and economic motor for the continent. What has gone wrong? Has “development” failed? Do we need to radically rethink the paradigms for development in the region? By focusing on Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, a complex story of livelihood change emerges.

Links to selected articles to download:

• Wild Resources Management in Southern Africa: Participation, Partnerships, Ecoregions and Redistribution by William Wolmer and Caroline Ashley
• Politics and Water Policy: A Southern Africa Example by Alan Nicol and Sobona Mtisi
• Land and Livelihoods: The Politics of Land Reform in Southern Africa by Edward Lahiff
• The Rural Poor, the Private Sector and Markets: Changing Interactions in Southern Africa by the SLSA Team
• Decentralisations in Practice in Southern Africa by the SLSA team
• Livelihoods in Crisis: Challenges for Rural Development in Southern Africa by Ian Scoones and William Wolmer
• The Politics of Livelihood Opportunity by Ian Scoones and William Wolmer