Challenges and Opportunities of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Livelihoods of Residents in the High-density Suburbs of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

The term ‘lockdown’ has become a commonly used phrase globally. COVID-19 related lockdowns sought to curtail human movements to stop the spread of the virus. Consequently, these measures have had varying ramifications on people’s livelihoods. Interrogating these measures provides a fertile ground from which new lessons, best practices can be deducted, to inform and model future containment measures. This paper examines the lockdown-induced challenges and opportunities on livelihoods, based on experiences from Zimbabwe’s six wards of Bulawayo, in the first half of the year 2020. This study adopted a mixed method approach. Desktop review, and in-depth personal interviews were used to collect data from a randomly selected sample of sixty (60) key informants (KIs) comprising of the self-employed, formally employed, and unemployed residents were drawn from six (6) wards. Data were analysed using SPSS 21.0 version and reported through descriptive statistics, the percentage, and frequency distribution. Main findings show that: lockdowns implemented in various countries were modelled on the stringent Chinese mass quarantines. These quarantines were characterized by bans, restrictions, shutdowns, enforcement, working remotely. Other important findings were that lockdowns disrupted and collapsed small and emerging businesses, led to job losses and other livelihoods, and disrupted social life. Despite these drawbacks, the lockdown period provided new opportunities, the motivation to adopt and adapt to new survival skills, such as livelihood diversification, financial preparedness, and frequent utilization of modern technologies to construct livelihoods. The paper unravels the need to offer various assistance packages to businesses and vulnerable communities to sustain, and keep them afloat; plan, and implement public awareness activities to inform communities on anticipated hazards. These will help prepare businesses, and communities for disasters of varying magnitudes, and embrace, consultation and all-stakeholder participation in designing, planning, and implementing new initiatives, to ensure unit of purpose, commitment, and buy-in.