Mutizwa Mukute | Rhodes University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mutizwa Mukute

Urban Environmental Education Review

The Kutukula Umwini pa Chitukuko Cha m’maboma Ang’ono project was carried out in the Phalombe, Do... more The Kutukula Umwini pa Chitukuko Cha m’maboma Ang’ono project was carried out in the Phalombe, Dowa and Karonga districts in Malawi between April 2016 and June 2017 by Oxfam together with two local partner organizations, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and the Development Communications Trust (DCT). It aimed to enhance community capacity in tracking development resources at local council level through mobilizing and capacity strengthening activities, mentoring and accompanying public expenditure tracking (PET) coordinating groups, and working with media and other actors to conduct advocacy work towards gender-sensitive, transparent and accountable utilization of funds. This effectiveness review focused on assessing the significance of Oxfam’s contribution in the three districts with regards to two outcomes: 1) the district councils were accountable, responsive, inclusive and effective in managing the Local Development Fund, District Development Fund, and Constituen...

Southern African journal of environmental education, 2009

This paper reports on how Cultural Historical Activity Theory was used to identify and analyse co... more This paper reports on how Cultural Historical Activity Theory was used to identify and analyse contradictions; model and implement solutions in the learning and practice of permaculture at one school and its community in Zimbabwe. This is one of three sustainable agriculture workplace learning sites being examined in a wider study on change-oriented learning and sustainability practices (Mukute, 2009). It gives a brief background to permaculture and the School and Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE) in Zimbabwe. The paper focuses on how contradictions were used as sources of learning and development leading to 'real life expansions'. This demonstrates and reflects on the value of an interventionist research theory and methodology employed in the study to enhance participants' agency in sustainable agriculture workplaces.

Southern African journal of environmental education, 2013

This article discusses the combined use of top-down and participatory learning approaches during ... more This article discusses the combined use of top-down and participatory learning approaches during the course of a 42-month organic conservation agriculture project that is being implemented in eight districts of Mashonaland East Province in Zimbabwe. The initial 18-month project was extended by a further 24 months in order to build on what had been achieved by deepening organic conservation agriculture practices, by increasing the understanding of, and access to, markets, and by expanding farmer agency. The top-down approach involves farmer representatives, known as 'access farmers' in the project, undergoing training at training centres and then returning to their respective farmer associations to train other farmers in what they have learnt. Participatory learning includes farmer-to-farmer learning within and among associations, and trainers learning from, and acting on, farmer experiences. Expansive learning, which combines, and goes beyond, both approaches and allows for ...

Energy Research & Social Science, 2020

Sustainability, 2019

Across the world, organised groups of farmers participating in just and sustainability transforma... more Across the world, organised groups of farmers participating in just and sustainability transformations encounter multiple obstacles. Through solidarity manifested in iterative processes of questioning, co-learning, collective action and reflection, and value creation for themselves and for others, some succeed in overcoming them. This article investigates how a district organic farmer association in Zimbabwe is encountering and handling group solidarity challenges arising from shifting from local to district level coordinated organic production and marketing. Based on the use of change laboratory, this paper explores solidarity at the local niche and networked district level to seek insights into the qualities of T-learning.

International Review of Education, 2017

Environment and sustainability education processes are often oriented to change and transformatio... more Environment and sustainability education processes are often oriented to change and transformation, and frequently involve the emergence of new forms of human activity. However, not much is known about how such change emerges from the learning process, or how it contributes to the development of transformative agency in community contexts. The authors of this article present four cross-case perspectives of expansive learning and transformative agency development in community-based education in southern Africa, studying communities pursuing new activities that are more socially just and sustainable. The four cases of community learning and transformative agency focus on the following activities: (1) sustainable agriculture in Lesotho; (2) seed saving and rainwater harvesting in Zimbabwe; (3) community-based irrigation scheme management in Mozambique; and (4) biodiversity conservation co-management in South Africa. The case studies all draw on cultural-historical activity theory to guide learning and change processes, especially third-generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), which emphasises expansive learning in collectives across interacting activity systems. CHAT researchers, such as the authors of this article, argue that expansive learning can lead to the emergence of transformative agency. The authors extend their transformative agency analysis to probe if and how expansive learning might also facilitate instances of transgressing norms – viewed here as embedded practices which need to be reframed and changed in order for sustainability to emerge.RésuméTransgresser la norme : l’agentivité transformatrice dans l’apprentissage communautaire pour la viabilité en Afrique australe – Les processus d’éducation à l’environnement et au développement durable sont souvent orientés vers le changement et la transformation, et impliquent fréquemment l’émergence de nouvelles formes d’activité humaine. La façon dont ce type de changement découle de la démarche éducative et dont il contribue au développement d’une agentivité transformatrice dans les contextes collectifs est néanmoins peu connue. Les auteurs de l’article présentent quatre perspectives transversales de l’apprentissage expansif et du développement de l’agentivité transformatrice dans l’éducation communautaire en Afrique australe, à travers l’étude de communautés poursuivant de nouvelles activités socialement plus équitables et pérennes. Ces quatre cas d’apprentissage communautaire et d’agentivité transformatrice déploient les activités suivantes : 1) agriculture pérenne au Lesotho, 2) conservation des semences et récupération pluviale au Zimbabwe, 3) gestion communautaire du réseau d’irrigation au Mozambique, 4) cogestion pour la conservation de la biodiversité en Afrique du Sud. Ces études de cas s’appuient toutes sur la théorie historico-culturelle de l’activité (cultural-historical activity theory, CHAT) pour guider les processus d’apprentissage et de changement, notamment la troisième génération de la CHAT qui valorise l’apprentissage expansif en collectivité dans le cadre de systèmes interactifs d’activité. Les chercheurs en CHAT, dont les auteurs de l’article, argumentent que l’apprentissage expansif peut favoriser l’apparition d’une agentivité transformatrice. Les auteurs approfondissent leur analyse d’une agentivité transformatrice pour examiner si et comment l’apprentissage expansif peut aussi favoriser les circonstances dans lesquelles des normes sont transgressées – présentées ici comme les pratiques intégrées devant être recadrées et changées pour que puisse s’instaurer la pérennité.

Mind, Culture, and Activity, 2018

Heritage in co-engaged social innovation 1.1 Literature, biography and oral histories in co-engag... more Heritage in co-engaged social innovation 1.1 Literature, biography and oral histories in co-engaged research 12 1.2 A primacy of Mother Tongue in co-engaged learning 14 1.3 Commons, homestead and school sites of social innovation 17 1.4 An emerging perspective on heritage and social innovation in RCEs 23 Chapter 2: Water 2.1 Sweet water and the traditional practices of the Nguni people 29 2.2 Galela Amanzi installs a rainwater tank 33 2.3 Water harvesting from granite outcrops 35 Chapter 3: Energy 3.1 Igoqo wood piles and hot bags 41 3.2 Fire garden woodlots and fuel-efficient stoves 47 3.3 Heritage and social innovation 48 Chapter 4: Health 4.1 A heritage of traditional food plants in southern Africa 51 4.2 Cholera and hand washing 53 4.3 Amar/hewu, A healthy fermented food 56 4.4 Amar/hewu and enzymes in Mutare Teachers' College 57 4.5 Heritage and social Innovation 61

This monograph provides four different reviews on social learning literature. Rather than seeking... more This monograph provides four different reviews on social learning literature. Rather than seeking to be comprehensive, the reviews provide views on the social learning literature, from different perspectives. The papers scope aspects of the social learning literature, providing access to a wide body of literature(s) on social learning. This monograph should be useful for researchers interested in social learning in the fields of environmental education and natural resources management. In partnership with the SADC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 2020

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted socio-economic activities, including formal and... more Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted socio-economic activities, including formal and non-formal education, across the world at lightning speed. By mid-April 2020, it had interrupted the formal education of nearly 1.6 billion students in 192 countries. COVID-19’s disruption of education in Africa, and especially in southern Africa, has been severe for several reasons. However, educational responses to COVID-19 suggest that it has stimulated the appetite for developing educational innovations – silver linings to the COVID-19 cloud.This paper is based on interviews conducted with 56 parents, students and educators involved in formal and non-formal education in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We identified the main educational challenges in these countries as being concerned with adapting to: (i) online education and learning, (ii) continuity of education from home, and (iii) community-based learning in small groups. The silver linings that we ...

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