WATER: Early Rains Rekindle Interest in Rainwater Harvesting

In Thembekie Gwebu’s yard under the roof leaves stands a curious giant green plastic container with a plastic pipe connected to the gutter. She has been asked a number of times by curious visitors and passers-by what the contraption is, and she happily explains.

LABOUR-ZIMBABWE: Redundancy Discrimination Fears for Women

Unskilled female workers employed in Zimbabwe’s struggling textile, security and other industries say they are increasingly finding themselves at the front of the redundancy line in cases that the affected women say reek of gender discrimination.

Gender-Based Violence: ‘Zimbabwe Police Officers Forget Themselves’

Tasha Ncube* has no kind words for the police. Early last month, the 31-year-old mother of two was beaten several times by her husband over what she says were small arguments. This was the first time in a marriage that has gone for years without any such occurrence.

ECONOMY-ZIMBABWE: Consumers May be Happy But Workers Aren’t

South African retail giant Pick-‘n-Pay increased its stake from 25 to 49 percent in TM Supermarkets – Zimbabwe’s largest grocer – in October in a deal worth about 13 million dollars. But, while the champagne corks pop in the boardroom, employees are not upbeat.

ZIMBABWE: Failing to Address Schoolgirl Pregnancies

Concern over reports of growing numbers of pupils dropping out of school due to pregnancy has rekindled debate over the link between intergenerational sex and HIV infection among Zimbabwe's youth.

ZIMBABWE: Woman Metal Worker Breaking the Mould

At a time when more and more women around the world are taking up jobs in male-dominated domains, 41-year-old Sithabile Ruswa is also making her mark, albeit far from the air-conditioned boardrooms usually reported on.

ZIMBABWE: Neonatal Circumcision Yet to Gain Ground

Judith Sikhosana recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy. And while she has strictly followed the advice of health workers about the post-natal care for her child, there is one thing she is yet to understand: why nurses want her baby to be circumcised.

ZIMBABWE: A Long Dry Season

Headmaster Njabulo Mpofu has weathered long dry spells before, but the water troubles affecting his school in the arid Midlands region of Zimbabwe are severe.

ZIMBABWE: Children Crossing Borders in Search of HIV Treatment

A new type of migration is taking place in Zimbabwe. While in the past people crossed the borders into South Africa and Botswana seeking work and fleeing from their repressive circumstances, now a silent migration of HIV-positive children seeking antiretroviral treatment (ART) is taking place.

ZIMBABWE: Badly Needed Work Begins on Bulawayo Water System

Dispersing feasting flies and angry residents from a manhole cover spewing sewage from people’s homes and into the road: another day in the working life of Njabulo Siziba. It's a dirty, frustrating, thankless job as a civil engineer for Bulawayo city council, but help is at hand for Siziba and the city he serves.

ZIMBABWE: ‘Free’ Maternal Health Care Too Costly For Most

As African Union heads of state consider child and maternal health at the 2010 summit in Kampala, Uganda, the perennial question of user fees has reared its head in Zimbabwe. Fees for services are opening a growing gap between policy and implementation in maternal health care in the Southern African country.

ZIMBABWE: Pregnant Teens Shun HIV Treatment for Fear of Stigmatisation

At a local maternity clinic in one of Bulawayo’s high density suburbs, midwives are at pains to explain to a pregnant 15-year-old girl why she must be tested for HIV before she gives birth.

ZIMBABWE: Veggies Dried and Tasted

A resurgence of interest in dried traditional vegetables has opened up a market opportunity for women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: “Competing With the Dogs for Bones”

"People used to mock me, saying that I am competing with dogs for bones, but these taunts do not deter me," says Sibongile Mararike with no sign of rancour.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Selling Scrap Metal to Scrape By

Gugulethu Mkhwananzi is another one of the many unemployed women who have become features of everyday life in Bulawayo’s poor working class suburbs as she moves from house to house, looking for "rusted gold", or scrap metal.

ZIMBABWE: A Chance for Women’s Voices to be Heard?

As Zimbabwe embarks on writing a new constitution with the countrywide collection of public submissions starting on Jun. 23, not all women are upbeat about the process.

ZIMBABWE: Learning to Survive the Mean Streets

Twelve-year-old Tapuwa Bakare* darts through the traffic as irate motorists hoot at him and the tyres of speeding vehicles screech to a halt to avoid hitting him. Miraculously, the box filled with sweets and chewing gum that he carries does not fall from his grasp.

ZIMBABWE: EU and U.S. Exhibitors Stay Far Away from Trade Fair

Companies from the European Union and the U.S. will not feature at this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair despite the formation of a government of national unity last year.

ENVIRONMENT-ZIMBABWE: Future Generations Will ‘Inherit Only the Wind’

The plumes of smoke rising above the dense working class suburbs of Bulawayo are a sign of the environmental impact of Zimbabwe's electricity crisis.

WORLD WATER DAY: Water Everywhere but Not a Drop to Drink

When there are water cuts in Bulawayo, the plants in 59-year-old Ntombizodwa Makati’s vegetable garden are still watered - but she and her family go thirsty.

ZIMBABWE: Informal Sector Lures University Graduates

From the rickety old buses that miraculously make long cross-border journeys to the frustrating red tape at the border post, from fending off sexual advances from bus crews and customs officials to losing goods worth thousands of dollars, 28-year-old Irene Moyo has seen it all.