Vulnerability and resilience in crisis : urban household food insecurity in Harare, Zimbabwe

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-222).
Within the context of demographic growth, rapid urbanization and rising urban poverty which characterizes much of Sub-Saharan Africa in the 21st Century, this thesis examines the urban poor's vulnerability to food insecurity and analyses the strategies that households adopt to enhance their resilience in this challenging environment. Harare is the study site, providing an acute example of a city (and country) 'in crisis', and a context in which formal food markets have failed to meet the needs of the urban poor, within a generalized collapse of the economy. The central question, then, is how do the urban poor meet their food needs under such conditions of extreme material deprivation?